Whenever I consider buying some new smart home gadget, I think of the holy grail scene at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: "You must choose, but choose wisely."

While the consequences aren't quite as grave, choosing poorly among countless security cameras, phone-controlled door locks, automated light switches, and other smart appliances can still inflict pain. Because these products often rely on the internet to function, their smartness is at the whim of whatever company is paying the server costs, and the threat of having features changed, pared back, or eliminated is ever-present.

Some recent examples:

• Earlier this month, Under Armor discontinued its mobile fitness apps, which among other things allowed users of its $180 smart scale to track their weight over time. The scale is no longer any more useful than the digital bathroom scales that sell for about $20.
• Last November, Best Buy disconnected its entire smart home platform, so that users could no longer operate their security cameras or control their smart light switches and wall plugs via mobile apps. Although the store reimbursed customers for the hardware, it didn't refund their installation costs.
• Also in November, Wyze removed person detection from its cheap security cameras. Turns out Apple bought the company that was providing the requisite image processing, leading it to terminate its contract with Wyze.

None of us have the foresight to predict these kinds of things, but in the same way that an investment firm picks stocks for a mutual fund, we can at least perform some due diligence before making any decisions.

Unlike buying a phone, which you might replace after two or three years with little effort, smart home products might live in your house for a decade or more. Swapping them out can be a major hassle, and if they're part of a broader ecosystem of devices you've invested in, replacing one device might also require replacing a bunch of others. Before buying anything, you have to consider not just the product itself, but the company behind it and all of the circumstances around it.

Here, then, are some questions you have ask yourself first:

• Is the company on solid footing and have a strong track record for product support?
• Is the product one of that company's core competencies, or more of an experiment?
• Is there some competitive threat or new technology on the horizon that will soon render the product obsolete?
• Does the product work well with others from different companies, or is it entirely dependent on its own ecosystem to function?
• What's the cost of buying in and what's at stake if things don't work out?

I'm going to give you one more example that's a little more nuanced than the ones I mentioned earlier, and that's the case of Sonos.

The venerable connected speaker brand has been in the news a lot lately, but not for the best reasons. Last week, Sonos announced that it would stop supporting "Legacy" speakers, some of which were manufactured as recently as 2015. Although Sonos says it will provide a way for these speakers to keep working together, they may not be able to synchronize audio with newer speakers in the same home, essentially splitting users' home audio systems apart.

This represents the other shoe dropping after Sonos announced a much-criticized recycling program for some older speakers and amplifiers. In exchange for a 30% percent discount on newer products, users must permanently disable their older devices, preventing them from being repurposed or resold.

While all of this was happening, Sonos also sued Google, claiming that the search giant stole its ideas while building the Google Home line of smart speakers. Sonos also testified before Congress as part of a hearing on tech company monopolies, arguing that Google has kneecapped Sonos' business by selling speakers at rock-bottom prices.

Taken as a whole, these stories to me suggest a company in desperation. While it's true that tech giants like Google aren't fighting fair, it's also true that Sonos was caught snoozing by the rise of smart speakers, and now it's scrambling to overhaul its software in hopes of maintaining a competitive ecosystem. The result is a hasty abandonment of older products, executed in a way that will hurt some of Sonos' most loyal customers.

I bring all of this up because it's something that any prospective buyer of whole-home audio systems must now be thinking about. Sonos speakers cost hundreds of dollars, and outfitting an entire home with them can easily run into the thousands. Is going all-in on Sonos a sound investment given everything that's happened over the past month or so? I'm not so sure.

None of which is to say that you must always take a conservative approach to buying smart home gear. If you're willing to take some risks, and you have the disposable income to do so, have at it. But by approaching the whole category with the mindset of an investor, you'll hopefully avoid making too many bad bets.
 

While I think it's a fine idea to pay for the publications you value most (ahem), subscribing to every website that throws up a paywall just isn't feasible.

Fortunately, I've found a workaround that can bypass the paywall on pretty much any site where you're given a limited number of free stories to read. Just head to Startpage.com, then search for either the headline or the URL of the article you're trying to read. Once you've found it in the search results, click on the "Anonymous View" option next to the article link. The article should open in a new tab with no paywall.

What is Startpage? As I mentioned back in December, it's a search engine that gets results from Google but doesn't track anything about you. When you open a page in Anonymous View, Startpage loads it through a proxy server, thereby hiding your own device's IP address and other identifying details. This in turn tends to fool the free article counters on most of the websites I've tried, including ones that are getting wise to other tricks such as loading the page in a private or incognito window.
 

Chromebooks' longer lifespan: One of the core ideas behind Chromebook laptops is that they get better over time instead of degrading with age, so it always seemed strange to me Google initially gave them just five years of software and security updates. Google eventually extended support to 6.5 years for many Chromebook models, but now it's going a step further, promising eight years of updates for all Chromebooks coming out in 2020 onward.

Generally speaking, I've soured a bit on Chromebooks lately. The introduction of Android apps has muddled the platform's appeal, Windows PCs have improved in key areas like startup time and trackpad quality, and iPads have grown into the cheap-and-simple computing role that Chromebooks originally tried to fill. Maybe the extended support is a sign that Google is getting back to the roots of what made Chromebooks interesting in the first place. Too bad it's too late for my old 2012 Samsung Chromebook, which now runs Linux instead.

Google's new screen time tools: In other Google news, the company is continuing to experiment with "Digital Wellbeing" tools that try to curb unhealthy screen time. The latest batch includes a "Screen Stopwatch" Android wallpaper, which counts how much time you've spent on your phone that day, and an "Activity Bubbles" Android wallpaper that visualizes your screen time as bubbles that gradually fill the screen. On the stranger side, there's also a printout envelope and companion app for the Pixel 3A that blocks you from doing anything except making phone calls. I liked Google's previous experiments better--most notably the Desert Island app, which genuinely changed how I use my phone--but I'm glad the company is still flicking at the digital distraction problem in funky ways.

Apple's encryption backtrack: I don't want to get too deep in the political weeds on this, but last week's reporting around Apple abandoning plans to fully encrypt iCloud backups is still worth noting. With end-to-end encryption, Apple would effectively have thrown away its own keys to users' iCloud accounts, ensuring total privacy against government snooping or a potential breach of Apple's servers. Pressure from the FBI (which often requests access to users' iCloud accounts in its investigations) may have been a factor, but Apple also might have been skittish about offering a system that could easily lock users out of their own accounts. If your Apple ID were lost or stolen under this system, you'd lose access for good.

Bear in mind that you can still create a fully-encrypted backup the old-fashioned way, through iTunes, but from a privacy angle there's not much point in doing so if you're also sending backups to iCloud.

Fridge filter DRM: First, Keurig tried to block users from brewing unauthorized K-Cups. Then, HP tried to reject off-brand ink from its printers. Now, GE is getting in on the act by refusing third-party water filters in its fridges. In a nod to Keurig's tactics, GE is using an RFID chip reader to make sure customers are installing its official $50 filters, rather than unofficial ones that cost around $20. Granted, it's possible to hack around this by peeling the RFID sticker off GE's "bypass filter" (which only dispenses unfiltered water) and lining it up with the reader inside the fridge, but obviously customers shouldn't have to do this. We can only hope the backlash from this hostile behavior costs GE more than whatever the company might make in filter sales.

The sorry state of Fry's: I haven't been into a Fry's store since living in Los Angeles nearly a decade ago, but the emaciated state of the west coast electronics institution is really sad to see. Earlier this month, Kyle Hansen of the YouTube channel Bitwit toured one of the chain's stores--apparently the Burbank location, based on the crashed UFO above the entryway--and found its shelves almost entirely depleted.

Fry's has insisted that it's not liquidating or closing its stores, telling the Mercury News in October that it's merely switching to a consignment model, in which suppliers only get paid after their products get sold. But that switch in itself is a sign of trouble, and the chain's promises last year that it would soon restock its stores clearly haven't panned out yet. I count myself lucky to have a Micro Center--a less-sprawling electronics chain with similarly geeky vibes--here in the Cincinnati area, but feel for my west coast pals who are losing the ability to buy PC parts and other tech gear on a whim.
 

If you took advantage of the Nvidia Shield TV tube deal that I emailed about yesterday, you might want to cancel that order. B&H is now selling it for $125 when you clip the coupon on the product page, resulting in a $25 discount. Other retailers are still selling the Shield TV tube for $130, but if you've never used Google Shopping before, you can take an extra 20% off when buying through Best Buy with the code JANSAVE20.

Other deals worth mentioning:

• B&H is selling the Pixel 3a smartphone for $350, which is $50 off the regular price, but it's also including a $100 B&H gift card.
• Newegg has refurbished Jabra Elite Active 65t wireless earbuds for $50. When bought new, they cost about $130.
• Once again, Apple's latest iPad is down to $330 on Amazon, for a discount of $99. Never pay full price for an iPad.

A bit of personal news: After a couple of fruitful years of full-time Android phone use, I'm fulfilling my sworn duty to provide well-rounded tech coverage and switching to an iPhone XR. My trusty Google Pixel 2 XL remains at the ready for testing purposes, but I'm looking forward to getting reacquainted with daily iPhone use and turning that experience into more tech advice for you all. If you have any questions to that end, please reach out!

On a related note, this week's live chat will be on Friday at 2 p.m. Eastern time. Head to this room when the time arrives or click here if you'd like to get on the email reminder list.

Until next week,
Jared