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: Video Transcript Hello, I’m … Read more

New Video – Four Amazon Echo Show Features That I Like (#shorts YouTube video)

Echo Show 8 front - powered on

A YouTube #shorts video covering four features that I like on the Amazon Echo Show in less than a minute. The four features I cover on my Amazon Echo Show 8 device are: Video Transcript Hello, I’m Tristan from Smart Home Point, and I wanted to cover my favorite features on the Echo Show device. … Read more

New Video – Ring Smart Alerts (Rich Notifications) – A Really Useful Feature

YouTube thumbnail for my newest video, covering Ring Smart Alerts (Rich Notifications)

Ring have recently released a new feature called ‘smart alerts’ or ‘rich notifications’, which basically sends an image (snapshot capture) alongside any alerts it sends out. So if someone clicks your Ring doorbell, you’ll see an image of that person. If your Ring camera (and doorbell) detects motion, you’ll also see an image of the … Read more

New Video – ZigBee (& WiFi) Smart Light Strip Options – When Philips Hue Is Just Too Expensive!

YouTube thumbnail showing me talking at my desk.

If you’re looking to add smart light strips to your home but you find that Philips Hue’s Lightstrip Plus options are too expensive, what options are open to you? This is the question I was asking myself when planning to add smart light strips to my kitchen. I firstly wondered whether ZigBee or WiFi would … Read more

New Video – Kitchen Smart Lighting: Ideas, Considerations & What I’m Planning To Do

YouTube thumbnail showing me in my kitchen, with the text "Kitchen Smart Lighting Ideas"

This video explores adding smart lighting within your kitchen, looking generally at what you need to consider and different ideas based on other people’s kitchen smart lighting projects. I also touch on what I’m planning on doing for my own kitchen’s smart lighting: Video Transcript Hello YouTube, I’m Tristan from Smart Home Point. So today … Read more

New Video – Echo Show Light Control: Kinda Useful, But Key Features Missing

YouTube thumbnail showing an Echo Show in the foreground, table lamp in the background and the text "So near and yet so far..." overlaid.

The touchscreen on the Echo Show allows you to control your smart light bulbs from the “Smart Home” menu, which is fairly useful if you want to quickly control your smart lights through your Amazon Echo device, but it’s also limited as it’s missing some key features that mean you have to resort back to … Read more

New Video – How Ring Recovered From December 2019 (Ring App Privacy Run-Through)

YouTube thumbnail saying "Ring's terrible 2019 press: how did they respond?"

Ring had a bad end to December 2019, with various news items in the mainstream press about different breaches and hacks, including the very worrying story of parents who noticed that a ‘hacker’ was watching their children play via the nursery’s Ring camera. Ring therefore released various new app features at the start of 2020 … Read more

New Video – Looping Amazon Echo/Alexa Songs (& Within Playlists and Routines)

YouTube thumbnail showing how to loop songs on Amazon Echo devices.

Being able to repeat sounds and songs (via Amazon’s “loop mode”) on your Amazon Echo devices is a really useful feature – it can save you money (compared to paying monthly subscriptions for “premium music” on third party white noise skills), and it’s also useful for parties, night-time or where you simply love a new … Read more

New Video – Echo Show Calendar Overview: What Works Well… And What Doesn’t!

Me clicking something on the Echo Show's monthly calendar view.

I’m one of those annoying people who likes to track everything in their life on a calendar! Whilst I’ve used the calendar features on my other Echo devices, I love the calendar on the Echo Show – mainly because you can visually manage your calendar due to the Echo Show’s touchscreen. The Echo Show’s calendar … Read more

New Video – Google Play Music Is Closing! Why Google Home Is (Now) Useless For Me

YouTube thumbnail showing me talking, a crossed out Google Nest Mini, and the text "Getting Rid Of My Google Home/Nest"

My first ever video covered how to listen to free music (with no ads) on your Google Home/Google Nest devices. One of the methods relied on Google Play Music, where you could upload your own music library and play these songs on your Google Home. Unfortunately Google Play Music is shutting down in December 2020, … Read more