Using Smart Light Bulbs In Ceiling Fans

A traditional ceiling fan

Ceiling fans are a great invention: they make a room’s temperature feel around 5-8 degrees cooler than it otherwise might. The light is often adjustable too, allowing for the light to be dimmed to provide ‘mood lighting’ as required. But sometimes you’ll want more control over the lighting than the current fixture provides – which … Read more

Controlling Smart Homes With Your Brain: Sci-fi or Reality?

Marketing image of NeuroSky's Brainwave Starter Kit, including the headset and details about the mobile and computer control apps.

Various sci-fi and futuristic TV shows and movies cover people controlling technology with their minds. This might be via brain waves being captured by a funny looking hat, or by putting a small implant (chip) near/into the person’s brain. Whilst this sounds like pure fiction, senior Intel researches predicted in 2009 that we would soon … Read more

The Complete List Of All Smart Home Devices (From 2008 Onwards)

A Google Home Mini device placed on a wooden shelving unit

Smart home tech has exploded in popularity over the past decade, and it’s sometimes hard to keep track of every new product which is available – especially when ‘Google Home’ rebranded to ‘Nest’, or when Amazon Echo are up to their 4th generation of certain devices! So that’s where we come in! We have spent … Read more

Blocking Specific Songs On Amazon Echo/Alexa & Google Home

Block annoying songs on Amazon Alexa/Echo or Google Home

If you’re fed up of your child playing “Baby shark” or “I am a gummy bear” over and over, or someone else playing a song that upsets or annoys you, you might be wondering if there’s any way of blocking certain songs through your smart speaker. There are a number of ways to block songs … Read more

New Video: Block ANNOYING songs on Alexa/Echo or Google Home

YouTube thumbnail image for my 'Block ANNOYING songs on Alexa/Echo or Google Home' video

Please check out my newest YouTube video, which looks at how you can stop specific songs from playing on any Amazon Alexa/Echo and Google Home device. This covers the two main methods discussed in an upcoming article on how to block certain songs on Echo and Google Home. Video Transcript Hey YouTube, it’s Tristan from … Read more

How Power over Ethernet (PoE) Can Improve Your Smart Home

A Netgear network switch installed on a piece of wood in a loft, with three ethernet cables going in and one power cable (for the switch) in the back.

Whilst looking at smart doorbells for my house, I came across the Ring Doorbell Elite – which is powered by an Ethernet cable. This reduces the need for running electrical cable to power it, whilst also guaranteeing interruption-free video uploads. Power over Ethernet therefore seems like the perfect fit for smart homes… right? Ethernet cable … Read more

Nest Hello Doorbell: 18 Questions/Answers You Need To Know

A marketing image of a black Google Nest Hello Video Doorbell (on a white background).

The Nest Hello Video Doorbell was released in 2018, and whilst it’s sold decently well, Ring still rules the smart doorbell market. This means that whilst people have lots of questions about the Nest Hello doorbell, some of these questions go unanswered. Other answers are incomplete. Hence I wanted to create this FAQ which answers … Read more

New Video – Smart Thermostats Are Pointless (11 Reasons Why)!

YouTube thumbnail showing Tristan, a Nest thermostat and the text "Pointless?" and "A waste of money".

I have posted a new video on YouTube covering 11 reasons why I think that smart thermostats are pointless and can potentially be a waste of money, which is the video version of my ‘11 Reasons Why Smart Thermostats Are Pointless‘ article: Video Transcript Hey YouTube, it’s Tristan from Smart Home Point here. As you … Read more

Why I Chose The Ring Doorbell Pro For My House

A Ring Doorbell 2 and Ring Doorbell Pro side-by-side, showing how the Pro is much smaller than the '2'.

I live in a new build development, and due to a few initial teething issues with the property developer, we all setup a Facebook group to keep each-other informed. A year ago, one of my neighbors reported that someone was trying their door handle at 3am – i.e. an opportunistic thief. Other neighbors said this … Read more