How to Only Run Alexa Routines If You’re At Home

Alexa App Routine Triggers

Routines using Alexa have time and again proved extremely useful in the everyday function of our smart homes. They help make our daily lives that much easier – most of the time. Now, what if you want to take routines a step further? Perhaps you want them to run only when you’re home and can … Read more

Smart Lights That Change Color Temperature Based on Time of Day (A How-To Guide)

Smart Light with Orange Lighting

Smart lights are awesome, as many people can agree. The ability to control more than one light with just the mere touch of a button or voice command is extremely convenient in a variety of situations.  They’re convenient, they can be festive, and can really help set the mood at home. Smart lighting can affect … Read more

Is Philips Hue Z-Wave or Zigbee? Can It Support Both?!

A Philips Hue White Ambiance E14 single bulb box, with the actual bulb outside it (resting against the box).

Philips Hue’s popularity has earned it a place in the smart homes of many – maybe even yours! And while oftentimes smart lights use Wi-Fi to connect to their respective apps, Philips Hue doesn’t. There seems to be some confusion as to whether they use Zigbee or Z-Wave, or if they can even support both. … Read more

Using Wyze Without a Subscription – What Works and What Doesn’t

Screenshot of the Wyze Cam Plus webpage

In order to help people get the best use out of their cameras, Wyze offers a few subscription services. In addition to Cam Plus, Wyze’s most popular plan, they’ve recently added Cam Plus Lite, Cam Plus Pro, as well as Home Monitoring. These subscriptions add on a few enhanced capabilities, giving you new ways to … Read more

Say My Name: A Guide to Amazon Echo’s Voice Recognition Feature

Pronunciation options in Alexa app

The Amazon Echo is a popular fixture in many smart homes. And as anyone who has one knows, it works primarily by responding to voice commands. Via the Alexa app, your Echo can even remember your name and your voice. But how?  How does the voice recognition feature in the Amazon Echo work? And what … Read more

Why Your Ring Battery is Dead After Charging or Hardwiring It

Ring Doorbell brought inside to charge

Some Ring users unfortunately know this scenario all too well – myself included! You’ve just charged your Ring Video Doorbell or its battery. Then, within a couple of weeks or even days, you get the notification that the battery is dying or dead – again! How are you supposed to keep your home secure if … Read more

Fixing Amazon Echo ‘Device Doesn’t Support That’ Errors

Groups in the Alexa app

Our Amazon Echos no doubt do a lot of awesome things. Sometimes, however, they don’t always work as they should. Error messages happen, and while sometimes they’re valid – sometimes they aren’t. Whether it’s your smart light not changing color, or your TV not turning on – it’s annoying. You ask Alexa to do something, … Read more

How To Make Your Amazon Echo’s Door Chime Louder

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

Amazon Echo’s are great little devices, right? They play our music, give us traffic updates, and even introduce us to new recipes. If you have video doorbells, they can even let you know when someone is at the door. Of course, this feature is only useful if you can actually hear the doorbell notification. Sometimes … Read more

Are Your Ring Motion Schedules Not Working? Here’s What To Do

A screenshot of a motion schedule from the Ring app

If you own Ring smart home cameras, you know that one of their most attractive features is customizability. You have the ability to configure your cameras to work the way you want them to. One such option is the ability to create motion schedules.  These are convenient because you can cater them to when you … Read more

How Long Ring Keeps Videos on Their Servers (Even Deleted Ones)

The "This event will be deleted" warning on the Ring app

Smart home cameras and the information age go hand in hand. The ability to save the videos that our cameras record is important. Whether you’re saving video needed to prosecute someone who vandalized your home, or you caught some amazing nature footage, saving video is critical. However, at some point, whether it’s space in your … Read more