Since its introduction, the Amazon Smart plug has become increasingly popular with smart home users around the world. These simple, easy-to-operate smart plugs have helped many turn their normal or ‘dumb’ appliances into smart appliances, making it possible to integrate these appliances into their already functional smart homes. Being manufactured by Amazon, this smart plug … Read more
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
I was recently filming for another YouTube video, and I realized that I kept saying “Google Home” but I hadn’t discussed how “Google Home” can actually mean four different things. Hence I wanted to shoot this video and discuss the four things it means, why Google have made this so confusing, and why the situation … Read more
The Google Home range – which includes various Nest smart speakers and hubs including the ‘Mini’ devices – is a line of products known as ‘smart voice assistants’, and they rival Amazon’s Echo line-up. One of the features from Amazon Echo is the ability to ‘drop in’ on an Echo from anywhere in the world … Read more
“Digital wellbeing” is an idea that appeared a few years ago, and it aims to address addiction to digital technology – such as social media and computer games – by limiting how much time can be spent on them. Smartphones increasingly offer this feature too, and it was recently rolled out to the Google Home … Read more
Google’s range of smart speakers – the Google Home range – are great: they provide a large number of benefits and features for free, and you can also play loads of music through Spotify, YouTube music and more. But I seem to remember that Google sells an item that improves WiFi coverage throughout the house … Read more
Google’s range of smart speakers – the Google Home range – are a rival to Amazon’s Echo range. Google Home devices (including the Google Mini and Nest Mini) give weather updates, play music, supports timers and gives reminders, and a whole lot more. But does this cost money? Also the devices can be controlled by … Read more
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
Google’s smart voice assistant – the ‘Home’ range – is great. It can play music, search (and read back) the internet, read your calendar entries, and a whole lot more. So logically, since Google also produce email (via Gmail) and mobile phones (via the Google Pixel range), Google Home can also read emails and text … Read more
I am a big fan of using white noise and relaxation noises as a sleep aid, and so I wanted to shoot a quick video to showcase the 15 different commands you can issue to Google Home to play sleep sounds (without any separate subscription or installing a third party skill): Video Transcript Hey YouTube, … Read more