I’ve loved smart homes since I purchased my first Amazon Echo device (well, apart from when Alexa completely mishears me…!). I’ve since purchased a range of other smart devices, and pretty much every part of my house contains at least one smart home device – including my attic and detached garage! It’s so easy to … Read more
When you find out that you’re going to be a parent, thinking about smart technology around you home probably isn’t top of your priority list. However smart devices can be really helpful, so I wanted to cover my favorite 8 features that I’ve found useful since becoming a dad. Feel free to jump to specific … 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
A single-zone smart thermostat can either put the whole house’s heating on, or off. It can’t control individual rooms (well, not without automatic dampers – which are rarely fitted in residential homes). In my opinion, this is one of the many flaws of smart thermostats. But what about smart radiator valves? Can these swoop in … 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
When you plug a device into a smart plug, it’s sometimes easy to forget that the device itself isn’t suddenly smart. And by that I mean that it’s still the same old device, merely plugged into a smart plug which can turn it on or off. A standard light – even one which supports dimming … Read more
So you’ve just found out that you’re expecting a little one? Congratulations, that’s awesome! Speaking as a fairly new dad myself, I’m sure that clearly the first question you’ll be asking yourself is “How can I hook-up two Echos to function as a DIY baby monitor“? Since this is obviously an important topic, I thought … 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
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
Various sci-fi and futuristic TV shows and movies cover people controlling technology with their minds. This might be via brain waves being captured by a funny looking hat, or by putting a small implant (chip) near/into the person’s brain. Whilst this sounds like pure fiction, senior Intel researches predicted in 2009 that we would soon … Read more