With voice assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant quarterbacking most connected home devices, the smart home hub might seem like a relic of yesteryear. But Hubitat's Elevation hub offers a level of privacy unparalleled by its larger competitors. For $110, the Hubitat hub will process all the automation and voice control (with Alexa and Google Assistant) locally, rather than on the cloud.

For many consumers, the added privacy won't be worth the cost and setup. But for security- and privacy-minded customers, Hubitat might have a clever, fairly cheap solution to the rapidly expanding problem of data collection in big tech.

Read our Hubitat first take.

So you have a remote-controlled ceiling fan, but you're always losing the remote and just using the wall switch anyway? Bond has the answer. Basically, it connects your ceiling fan to an app, to Google Assistant or to Alexa. Then you can stow the remote and just tell your voice assistant to switch the fan on or off.

Read our Bond review.

The Echo Flex is a sort of jack-of-all-trades. It has an Alexa-powered speaker and a USB port for adding one of a range of modules, from motion sensors to nightlights. The Flex is a great gadget to bring the smarts of Alexa into the nooks and crannies of your house that don't merit a whole speaker, but where it might be nice to have quick access to setting timers. The modular design also means you get some cool extra features, to make the gadget more security-oriented or more helpful for lighting a dark hallway at night.

Pretty much anyone who uses Alexa could find a useful spot for the Flex.

Read our Echo Flex review.