Smart home hubs had one job. They're finally doing it.

Smart home hubs had one job: keep the lights obedient when the wifi hiccuped. For a decade they failed it spectacularly, and the hub became the most-returned gadget in the drawer. A new generation finally moved the logic off the cloud and onto the box itself.

The fix is boring and it’s the only thing that ever mattered. When the router dies at 2am, the hallway light still knows what to do — and for the first time, nobody had to reboot the house.