Virtual assistants include Amazon Alexa and Google Home: devices which you can speak to, and they will understand what you say and respond (or carry out the requested action).
Saying things like “Alexa, what’s the weather like tomorrow?” or “Okay Google, tell me a joke” will make your smart home device reply in less than a second – something almost unimaginable a decade ago.
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
The touchscreen-enabled Amazon Echos (the Echo Shows) are really useful devices, giving easy access to smart home management, playing music – and YouTube. You can just say “Alexa, open YouTube” and you have instant access to over a billion videos. Awesome. Unless, of course, you sometimes put YouTube on for your children – and they … Read more
It’s always tough when a new error light pops up on your favorite device. However, it gets even tougher when there is conflicting information about how to fix the problem. Let’s settle once and for all how you can fix the orange bar on an Amazon Echo Show. The solid orange bar on your Amazon … Read more
Audio problems can seem like they suddenly pop up in Amazon Echo devices. It can suddenly sound like your audio is glitching or like your favorite podcast has turned to static. Luckily, fixing Amazon Echo audio problems is usually just as easy as a quick reset. Distorted audio from an Amazon Echo device can be … Read more
Amazon Music is one of many popular music streaming services available today. It’s designed to work seamlessly with Amazon Echo devices, and most of the time, they do. But what happens when you get hit with an error message? One of the most common error messages many Alexa and Amazon Echo users encounter is, after … Read more
There’s a big security update that’s coming to Wi-Fi routers across the country and it’s coming soon. The WPA2 standard is set to be replaced by WPA3 over the next few years. This leaves us with some pretty big questions about our smart home ecosystems that are all tuned to run on WPA2. WPA3 is … Read more
No one likes a lot of clutter – unless of course, you’re one of those hoarder folks. But in general, most people don’t like clutter or extra, unnecessary stuff. This includes extra tech. We all want our smart homes to be streamlined, well-oiled machines as it were, and don’t want to deal with things that … Read more
Wyze continues to hold its own among its competitors in the smart home camera sector today – and for good reason! One main reason they maintain their foothold is because of the convenient combination of affordability, functionality, and quality. Altogether, this has made them one of the most sought-after smart home security cameras. In addition, … Read more
Philips Hue recently confirmed that the Hue ecosystem will soon have a software update to support “Matter”, the connectivity standard that aims to finally introduce a common smart home communication ‘platform’. However this update will be made to the Hue Bridge V2, meaning that individual Hue lights and components will NOT be Matter or Thread … Read more
People sometimes use the terms “Amazon Alexa” and “Amazon Echo” interchangeably, as though they are the same thing. But they are actually different. Amazon Alexa is the smart cloud platform used by Amazon, and this can be accessed on our phones, through our smart watches, in our cars – and yes, through Amazon Echo. Amazon … Read more