Why Does My Nest Doorbell Keep Going Offline?

WiFi faulty error sign

The Nest Doorbell is great for both convenience and home security. It lets you know when a package has arrived as well as sending you videos of who has come for a visit, but what good are these features if the device can’t stay connected to the internet? Connectivity problems are a huge issue with … Read more

Why I Love This ‘Hidden’ Smart Lighting Feature – New Video

Youtube thumbnail of me holding a Hue Motion Sensor and the text Loads of ways to achieve this

When people think of smart lighting, they usually think of the obvious: full color (RGB) bulbs. Setting rooms to bright green, or dancing to strobe lighting effects. But I actually prefer a less discussed smart lighting feature: motion sensitive lighting. This is simple to set up, and it feels like something out of sci-fi. I … Read more

How Do You Unstick Or Remove a Ring Sensor (Contact or Motion Sensors)?

Me holding one of my Ring Contact Sensors

We tend to forget about the placement of our bring sensors and once they’ve been up for a while, but there’s actually plenty of good reasons why you’d want to move a Ring sensor after you’ve installed it. You might want to move your Ring sensors in order to improve the plan for your home … Read more

Ring Chime Won’t Enter Setup Mode: What To Do

Me holding my Ring Chime which has just bricked itself

Last month I setup a new Wi-Fi mesh system to improve my home’s Wi-Fi reach, but instead of keeping the same network name and password, I decided to move all my devices over to the new Wi-Fi details one-by-one. Overall this worked fairly well: I updated 2-3 devices a day, and after a few weeks, … Read more

How Many Philips Hue Outdoor Lights You Can String Together

Philips Hue 40W outdoor power supply

The outdoor smart lights from Philips Hue allow you to extend the convenience and utility of smart lighting to the outdoors. However, it can be tricky to get power to all of these outdoor lights. Here’s where the Philips Hue outdoor power supplies come in. These power supplies, along with extension tables and T connectors, … Read more

Ring Disconnected From Wi-Fi (And Might Not Easily Reconnect)

Ring doorbell wifi error on app

Wi-Fi issues are some of the most common problems to have with Ring devices. It seems like they flicker out every now and then and it’s hard to tell why. However, there are some tips and tricks we can do to figure out why the Ring devices are disconnecting and make sure that they have … Read more

5 Simple Ways to Christmas-ify Your Smart Home – New Video

A YouTube thumbnail showing me after lazily throwing a smart lightstrip on a Christmas tree

Smart homes are great, but sometimes it’s not always clear how to use smart devices to make your home more Christmasy. This video covers five simply ways that you can use common smart devices to smarten up your Christmas. The individual sections of the video are at the timestamps below: 0:00 – Intro 0:19 – … Read more

Change A Ring Device’s Wi-Fi – Without Undrilling Or Removing It!

Ring Doorbell with white spinning circle showing it is in setup mode

This is a problem that’s going to happen to all of us sooner or later. At some point in owning a Ring device, you’re going to need to change the Wi-Fi network. Knowing how to change the Wi-Fi network easily on your Ring devices is going to save you a lot of hassle. Rather than … Read more

Can’t Change Ring Alarm Wi-Fi (It Won’t Enter Pairing Mode?!)

The WiFi and power LEDs on the Ring Alarm Base Station gen 1

I’ve spoken before about how I prefer Ethernet (network cable) to Wi-Fi. This is for a number of reasons: to prevent Wi-Fi jamming, to avoid having to re-enter Wi-Fi passwords all the time, and for better reliability. So when I recently ran out of free Ethernet ports on my home’s router, I grimaced… but I … Read more