New Video – How Ring Recovered From December 2019 (Ring App Privacy Run-Through)

YouTube thumbnail saying "Ring's terrible 2019 press: how did they respond?"

Ring had a bad end to December 2019, with various news items in the mainstream press about different breaches and hacks, including the very worrying story of parents who noticed that a ‘hacker’ was watching their children play via the nursery’s Ring camera. Ring therefore released various new app features at the start of 2020 … Read more

Can Ring, Nest, Wyze & Eufy Smart Cameras Be Hacked?

Various light glare from a Ring recording, due to sudden light, when in night vision mode.

The world of smart home technology has developed quickly and for the most part, it’s an exciting and positive change. Being able to control your smart home with ease, whilst checking in on video feeds when you’re out and about (or simply in another part of the house) has never been easier. It’s fun, convenient … Read more

The Ultimate ZigBee Smart Light Strip Roundup

Dark kitchen with light strip below wall cabinets

Smart light strips are an awesome invention – they can instantly add interesting yet subtle lighting to various areas around your house, and their color can be quickly changed or dimmed to suit your needs. ZigBee (not Wi Fi) smart strips have added benefits too, but with so much choice, which one should you get? … Read more

Can LIFX Bulbs Sync With Music and TV?

Marketing image of the LIFX app's "Schedules" page, with a 3D rendered house in the background.

One of the nice features of smart bulbs is that not only can then change color (and be dimmed), but since they’re a digital product, they can be programmed to do other interesting things such as ‘dance’ along with music or change color to reflect a movie on TV. Philips Hue have great support for … Read more

New Video – Looping Amazon Echo/Alexa Songs (& Within Playlists and Routines)

YouTube thumbnail showing how to loop songs on Amazon Echo devices.

Being able to repeat sounds and songs (via Amazon’s “loop mode”) on your Amazon Echo devices is a really useful feature – it can save you money (compared to paying monthly subscriptions for “premium music” on third party white noise skills), and it’s also useful for parties, night-time or where you simply love a new … Read more

Amazon Alexa & Echo: Looping Songs, Playlists and Routines

One of my Echo Dots on the floor, plus a screenshot of the Amazon Music's playlists section next to it.

One of the nice features within the Amazon Alexa platform is the ability to loop music playing on your Amazon Echo devices, whether it’s an individual song or a playlist. You can also (sort of) loop songs kicked off from routines, granted with some caveats. This guide covers how to do this. Looping music on … Read more

Echo Show Calendar Guide: All You Need To Know

Echo Show calendar home card, showing tomorrow's upcoming event of "Create an amazing businesss"!

I’m one of those people who like to organize everything via their calendar. I need to ring a company up? Put it in the calendar (otherwise I’ll totally forget!). My wife asks me to hang something on a wall? I put it in the calendar… but probably still forget to do it! But either way, … Read more

New Video – Echo Show Calendar Overview: What Works Well… And What Doesn’t!

Me clicking something on the Echo Show's monthly calendar view.

I’m one of those annoying people who likes to track everything in their life on a calendar! Whilst I’ve used the calendar features on my other Echo devices, I love the calendar on the Echo Show – mainly because you can visually manage your calendar due to the Echo Show’s touchscreen. The Echo Show’s calendar … Read more

Amazon Echo Speaker Comparison (For The Whole Range)

A new Echo Dot (sandstone color) in setup mode with an orange ring going around it.

The speaker quality on Amazon’s Echo range has improved with each generation released, with the speaker of the third generation Echo Dot being 60% bigger than its ‘younger brother’ (the Echo Dot 2nd Gen). For example, the 1″ speaker on the 2nd Gen Echo Dot was only designed for being an assistant and an alarm … Read more