Tristan Perry 
I love most of the features that Echo provides… apart from the weather forecasting, that is. That’s because I moved house a few years ago, but it still gives me the weather forecast for my old town. Also, Alexa uses AccuWeather which – despite its name – isn’t always the most accurate. As a result, … Read more
You wake up in the middle of the night to a sound outside your front door. You check your phone and see that you have a Ring motion alert. You check it… only to see a burglar stealing your actual Ring Doorbell! Wait, what? The Ring Doorbell is meant to prevent burglars, not actually get … Read more
When talking about the benefits of smart plugs, I usually give the example of being able to turn your slow cooker on from work, so that you come home to a perfect meal. This relies on a key benefit of smart plugs: being able to turn them on and off whilst you’re away from your … Read more
The Ring Alarm is there to protect you and your house 24/7, right? After all, it’s an alarm system so it should be built to withstand a range of basic security attacks… which includes obvious attacks (e.g. a window being smashed) but also the less obvious attacks: someone jamming the WiFi signal of your house, … Read more
Our neighborhood has quite a few outdoor cats that come out at night. Most of the time they just walk around, but sometimes they chase each other… or lick themselves! So I rounded up a month’s worth of footage of the local cats, captured by my Ring Doorbell Pro: I’ve included every single cat clip … Read more
Amazon regularly do bundle offers on smart devices, such as smart plugs with an Echo or Echo Dot. But why are they often included as a bundle – can you effectively use smart plugs with an Amazon Echo? Whilst you probably won’t want to plug your Echo into a smart plug (unless you have privacy … Read more
An enclosed light is a housing which is completely sealed off, such that any light must shine out of the partially see-through exterior surface (usually glass or translucent plastic). Enclosed light fixtures are good where you want light to shine mainly downwards, without any ‘being wasted’ out of the side or top – bathrooms and … Read more
Ring’s range of doorbells and cameras work by only recording when motion is detected (or the doorbell is pressed). This saves electric use or battery power, bringing down the costs of running your device. It also saves Ring money in cloud storage fees! But what happens if you live in an area with lots of … Read more
I am a big fan of using white noise and relaxation noises as a sleep aid, and so I wanted to shoot a quick video to showcase the 15 different commands you can issue to Google Home to play sleep sounds (without any separate subscription or installing a third party skill): Video Transcript Hey YouTube, … Read more
ecobee, the Canadian smart device manufacturer best known for their line of smart thermostats, unveiled a HVAC air filter subscription service in April 2020. You get regular shipments to ensure you change them, along with reminders on your smart thermostat. But are they worth it? ecobee’s HVAC air filters are good quality and it’s very … Read more