Miscellaneous articles, news, tips and tricks relating to smart home tech and home automation devices.
When you have dozens (or even hundreds) of smart home devices – from smart speakers to smart bulbs, and smart plugs to cameras – you might be struggling to manage them all. After all, they’re probably all from different brands – meaning that you’ll probably have 10 different mobile apps! And even if the devices … Read more
Ring’s devices can be linked together to provide closer integration, and it’d be nice if motion detected on a Ring camera (especially an outdoor one) could trigger the Ring alarm to sound. But is this possible? I’ve always been curious about this so I wrote this article to find out can ring camera trigger alarm. … Read more
I purchased my first Echo device back in 2016, and I’ve always found it quite useful, although my wife wasn’t convinced at first. But over time, as we’ve discovered more Echo features – and also purchased new smart home devices – we’ve both come to appreciate smart home technology a lot more. At the same … 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 systems attack… which includes obvious attacks (e.g. a window being smashed) but also the less obvious attacks: someone jamming the WiFi signal of your … Read more
Ring Protect is a paid-for plan that stores footage from Ring cameras and doorbells in the Ring cloud, ready to access 24/7 (along with extra features for the Ring Alarm system). Amazon Prime is a paid-for plan that gives access to a range of Amazon products and services. Amazon own Ring. Therefore Ring Protect should … Read more
Some smart locks are keyless, not requiring (or allowing) any sort of key at all. However other smart locks come with a physical new key, usually as a backup option incase the smart functionality fails. But what happens if you lose your key – can you rekey this backup smart lock? This would be a … Read more
I sometimes wish that I lived in a posh mansion with a dedicated doorman, but failing that a standard doorman would work just fine: (via GIPHY) Of course, not all of us have that luxury either! The next best thing is a front door that automatically unlocks itself as you approach it, so that you … Read more
I was recently taking my 11 month old 10 kg (22 lb) baby son downstairs and doing a few things with him in my arms, when I realized that I’d issued a few voice commands almost subconsciously: what’s the weather like tomorrow, turn on my lights, and playing Baby Shark. This subtle shift away from … Read more
I had always been a bit unsure about smart lighting due to their cost, but I realized of a perfect smart light usecase around my home (turning on and off four side lamps in the evenings). So I went out and purchased four E14 candle Hue bulbs (White Ambiance), along with a B22 starter kit … Read more
When reading about smart homes, you’ll probably have seen ‘Amazon Alexa’ and ‘Amazon Echo’ used almost interchangeably, but they’re actually quite different. It’s almost like the difference between a guitar player and the guitar… one (the player) uses a tool (the guitar) to do something (play music). An Amazon Echo is a voice activated, internet … Read more