India, April 30 -- Opening thoughts. This will be a cool(er) and a slightly different edition of Wired Wisdom. Not that we're uncool every other week, but I believe with the summer well and truly here, it's important to have a conversation about home air conditioners. It is likely you are contemplating buying one, or know someone who is. Information is priceless. Some of you may have read my Hisense Intelli Cool Pro analysis a few weeks ago. Impressive, I'd noted, on a number of parameters including cooling efficiency and the feature set.

While I was writing that, it got me thinking: Are there some standout Smart AC themes of 2026? There had to be some, it simply can't be another incremental year. Turns out the more I looked, there are t...