Miscellaneous articles, news, tips and tricks relating to smart home tech and home automation devices.
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
I previously written about the disadvantages of smart homes, and somehow came up with a list of 19 reasons. Whilst everything I covered is valid, there’s more that’s good about smart homes than bad – so I wanted to cover 25 reasons why I think smart homes are awesome here. Whether it’s getting news and … Read more
If you search for “Nest Protect” – the Nest Protect Smoke Alarm and CO alarm – you’ll be greeted with Google’s logo and the words “Google Nest”. It’s clearly a Google smart home product: So logic would dictate that you can manage Nest Protect in your Google Home app, right? Well, for over half a … Read more
When it comes to controlling your new smart home device, you’ll probably see that most devices nowadays “support Alexa”. Some support Google Home, too. However you may also have seen people talk about their ‘SmartThings Home Hub’, or perhaps their ‘Home Assistant hub’ running from a Raspberry Pi. So what gives? Do you need a … Read more
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