Smart Plugs With A Physical Remote: Why, How & What To Buy

Woman Controlling Smart Plug Using App On Mobile Phone

Smart plugs are pretty useful devices – allowing you to easily control your appliances with a phone app, preset timers, and even your voice. But it’s not always practical to take your phone out every time you want to control it. Alternatively you can use a smart speaker, but remembering the correct voice command to … Read more

How To Dim Philips Hue Lights Without A Dimmer Switch

A table lamp with Philips Hue E14 candle bulb, dimmed to 1% brightness

With everyone spending a little extra time at home these days, many people have started exploring smart lighting products like Philips Hue, to add a little extra atmosphere to their living space. If you’ve chosen to purchase Hue smart lights, you may have considered purchasing the popular Hue Dimmer Switch in order to dim and … Read more

New Video – Amazon Echo: Change Alexa’s Flash Briefing News & Weather To Suit You

YouTube video showing me, an Echo Dot in listening mode and the textg "Improve Alexa Flash Briefings"

The Flash Briefing feature on Amazon Echo devices is quite useful, unless you dislike the news or weather provider – in which case a very useful feature quickly becomes wasted. Thankfully it’s quite easy to change the news and weather provider used for your flash briefing, along with adding loads of other briefing sources – … Read more

New Video – Google Nest Home News – How To Make It Less… Boring!

YouTube thumbnail showing me asleep, with a Google Nest Mini and the text "Fix 10+ minute news updates!"

So… I recently asked my Google Nest Mini device for a news update, and it went on (and on and on…) for over 10 minutes. TEN MINUTES! Luckily I have a short attention span and I fell asleep around the 7 or 8 minute mark. Nonetheless, this default behavior can be quite frustrating. Luckily Google … Read more

How Ecobee Smart Thermostats Work With Underfloor Heating

A marketing image of the 2019 ecobee SmartThermostat black model with the temperature being displayed on screen.

If you are someone who doesn’t like stepping onto a cold floor in the middle of the winter and would prefer to wake up with a cup of coffee instead, then you might have invested in an underfloor heating system. At the same time, you might have heard that a smart thermostat can help you … Read more

New Video – My Kitchen’s Smart ZigBee Light Strip Install (+ Should You Use A Diffuser Channel?!)

YouTube video showing my smart light strips in the background of my kitchen, and me in the foreground

So I finally go around to installing the custom DIY light strip that I created in a previous video. These smart light strips are ZigBee based, meaning that I can control them through my Philips Hue app. I created my own light strips because I have a dishwasher in the way, breaking the run of … Read more

New Video – Ring Floodlight Cam Brightness: Is 3,000 Lumens Enough?!

YouTube thumbnail showing me wearing sunglasses, the Ring Floodlight Cam and the text "Bright enough?"

The Ring Floodlight Cam should be bright. After all, it’s a floodlight! But is its 3,000 lumen total light output (from two 1,500 lumen lights) bright enough? I wanted to answer that question in this video, which compares it to other outdoor lights and also talks generally about when the Ring Floodlight Cam’s brightness will … Read more

New Video – Ring Floodlight Cam ‘Broken’ Issue: Don’t Make This Mistake

YouTube thumbnail showing a Ring Floodlight Cam hanging from its mount ball socket, and the text "Whoops!"

I recently purchased a Ring Floodlight Cam after it went on sale during Amazon Prime Day. I’d been really looking forward to this item, so when I ‘broke’ it by mistake during install – and when I read other people online say their cameras had the same issue – I was really disappointed. Thankfully I … Read more

New Video – Funny Amazon Echo Easter Eggs (#shorts YouTube video)

Echo Show easter eggs - beat box - and me

A YouTube #shorts video covering some funny easter eggs that I’ve come across on my Amazon Echo Show (although they’ll work on all Echo devices), in less than a minute. Buy the Echo Show now on Amazon here. The easter eggs I cover on my Amazon Echo Show 8 device are: 0:00 Intro 0:06 Self … Read more