If you plan to turn your house into a smart home, choosing a digital voice assistant is one of the first steps. On the surface, it seems like a simple decision—pick the one you’re familiar with. But the choice of a home assistant shapes the…
Smart outlets have become de riguer in modern homes, as they offer an express route to automating non-smart devices such as lamps, fans, and myriad other appliances. Moreover, their rapid adoption can largely be attributed to the integration of voice assistants, enabling the use of…
It seems Amazon Alexa- and Google Assistant-compatible accessories steal the connected home headlines these days, yet products with Apple HomeKit compatibility are still widely popular and new HomeKit accessories continue to hit the market. But to get maximum return on your HomeKit investments, a HomeKit…
Zeroing in on doorstep package theft, Amazon has partnered with garage door opener maker Chamberlain in the launch of the Amazon Key In-Garage Delivery service. Available now to Prime customers in 50 U.S. cities—including our home base of Austin, Texas—the service requires a Chamberlain myQ…
Update 15 March, 2019: IKEA has delayed launch of their smart shades in Europe to later in 2019, and an exact date has not been made known, This means they will be coming even later to the U.S. Below is our original article on these…
Smart locks prevent you from fumbling with physical keys and can also allow you to grant temporary access to someone such as a house sitter or delivery person. But, the market is growing, and it can be difficult to determine which one to buy. This…
Americans spend an average of 90% of their time inside, where pollutants can be up to five times more concentrated than they are outside, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). These pollutants, such as mold or carbon monoxide (CO), pose health risks ranging…
Giving homeowners another choice for controlling air circulation in their dwellings, Lutron announced at CES 2019 they will launch the Caséta Wireless Fan Speed Control in March 2019, enabling flexible smart control for non-smart ceiling fans. The in-wall fan control joins the rest of the…
What does electric vehicle and energy innovator Tesla have in common with smart lighting pioneer Nanoleaf? As it turns out, both companies seemingly want to cover major surfaces of your home with state-of-the-art technology products. In the Tesla case, they intend to reinvent your roof…
With the recent launch of macOS Mojave, Apple has finally brought the Apple Home app and HomeKit accessory control to the Mac. The integration also enables Siri voice activation control for HomeKit on the Mac ecosystem for the first time, which may be a bigger…
Filling a gap in the Apple HomeKit home automation ecosystem, Rachio has added HomeKit compatibility to their latest smart irrigation controller, the Rachio 3. The Colorado-based company says this is the first smart irrigation controller with onboard HomeKit firmware. The integration facilitates control with the…
The first visible fruits of ASSA ABLOY’s acquisition of Silicon Valley smart lock maker August Home in 2017 have reached market, in the form of a new line of locks branded as Yale Assure Locks - Connected by August. Yale, a long-time member of the…
Smart home technology is among the best things to come out of Silicon Valley in recent years. The ability to control your home from your smartphone or with your voice, even when you’re not there, can be quite compelling. Summer can be the perfect time…
There are all sorts of smart devices that you can purchase to make your home run a little bit smoother. Alexa lets you order from Amazon without ever opening your laptop. Smart thermostats can help you lower your home’s energy cost by allowing you to…
There are a variety of watchOS apps that enable you to control your smart home accessories from Apple Watch. Variances in functionality and interface make evaluating each app a prudent endeavor, especially if you're seeking a premiere app that lets you get the most out…
There are smart door locks and intelligent room lights and thermostats, so why not smart garage door controllers, too? As it turns out, you can buy those and there are a growing number to choose from. Here are five of the best ones. [1] Chamberlain…
Do you often wonder why you sneeze a lot indoors or find your allergies flaring up? It could be because there’s room for improvement regarding your home’s interior air quality. There are smart home accessories for almost everything, including those that monitor air quality. Here are…
It has been a long time in coming. The Apple Home app—the Cupertino company's elegant interface to Apple HomeKit smart home accessories—is finally coming to the desktop of the Mac with the upcoming Fall 2018 release of macOS Mojave. Until now, the Home app was…
Since the launch of Apple iOS 10 and the Home app, Apple TV devices have been stealth-like participants in the Apple HomeKit ecosystem as HomeKit hubs, but have never made an appearance in the Apple Home app itself. That all changed with the release this…
Chances are high that you are reading this on a mobile device. And if that device is from Apple and running iOS 9, 10, or 11, you have the option to get this and all other Digitized House content around the connected home straight from the Apple…
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