Emporia's smart plug on a wood table. If you are just getting started in your smart home journey, there's one thing that's essential: the simplicity of a smart plug. You can plug it into a standard ...

If you have any kind of outdoor lights, Christmas lighting, speakers, or other outdoor electronics, chances are they aren’t really smart. And if you try to add smart home functionality, regular smart ...

Most smart plugs and their app-based controls are designed for indoor use. For outdoor smart plugs, you need to find a specialized model — which is where our hours of testing at CNET come in handy.