When the concept of a smart home is mentioned, we tend to visualize a household where all appliances and accessories are connected through a Wi-Fi network and managed automatically with smartphone apps. However, wireless communication is not necessarily mandatory for a smart home, and wired…
Today’s increasingly popular smart home technologies impress the neighbors and make us marvel at how far innovations have come in the last decade or so. However, these gadgets do more than just provide bragging rights and give fascination. They can also offer a much broader…
According to recent research by consultancy IFSEC Global, more than 90 percent of security system installers view home automation as a significant growth market. Verisure, Europe’s leading alarm monitoring company, offers more than just protection against intruders. Its growing smart security solution includes climate control,…
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…
ASSA ABLOY built their award-winning ENTR smart door lock to blend seamlessly with European contemporary smart home design. Now, the product is available in a new black colour, as well as the original white, to complement any colour scheme. Installing an ENTR lock requires no…
Putting a sharper point on the Works with Alexa mantra, shelves in the new Austin, Texas, Amazon Books store go well beyond books to offer a wide variety of third-party connected home products compatible with the Amazon Alexa digital assistant, making it easier than ever…
As a consolidation movement continues among connected home product companies, Internet of Things (IoT) device maker iDevices—a pioneer in development of Apple HomeKit accessories—was acquired in April 2017 by Hubbell Incorporated, a large multinational electric, electronics, and lighting manufacturer. Similarly, leading Silicon Valley smart door…
After creating buzz around the Apple HomePod speaker at their Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June of 2017, the Cupertino company has announced their first play in the voice-activated speaker game will be available for pre-order on January 26 and reach the shelves of Apple…
More and more people with disabilities choose to live in their own homes. This creates new challenges for domestic design: the typical set-up for a residence can include multiple barriers to independent living. And the biggest barrier of all? The front door. An ENTR smart…
So, you ask, did CES® 2018 yield a watershed moment for the connected home? If the number of water-related devices introduced this week in Las Vegas was any indication, your home may be on course for a flood of new devices designed to help save…
Will 2018 be the year when Apple HomeKit smart-home accessories finally take off? With CES® 2018 kicking off in Las Vegas on January 9, Belkin fired one of the first volleys intended to put the Apple HomeKit community on notice: They announced their $40 Wemo…
So Christmas Day 2017 has passed, but that smart-tech product you had your eye on did not materialize under your holiday tree. Hooray for gift cards, those safer-than-a-bitcoin alternate currencies that are burning a hole in your digital wallet. Here is a quick recap of…
The cameras on our smartphones keep gaining in resolution and flexibility, but there is only so much manufacturers can do with optics given the extremely thin confines of the phone’s shell. That’s where the Moment line of smartphone accessory lenses enter the picture, with a…
It has been a year since Apple began shipping their AirPods—the Cupertino company’s first wireless earbuds—yet the product is still on a back-order delivery schedule. As we write this just a few days before Christmas 2017, Apple is showing a January 10, 2018 delivery date…
The smart home would not be possible without its private wireless network, as nearly every accessory requires a unique IP address and a Wi-Fi connection. But those home-based networks can have dead spots and areas where bandwidth is less than optimal. Samsung has joined the…
A common downside to the hi-tech accessories in our connected homes is their insatiable appetite for plug-in electrical power. And of course, wall outlets are never located where they are most needed, so extension cords, power strips, and surge protectors are the standard, often-inelegant solution.…
There was a time when Clocky defined the evolving genre of smart alarm clocks. As the alarm clock on wheels that jumps off your nightstand and runs away beeping if you tap the snooze button, Clocky remains an innovative solution to waking up on time.…
For parents looking to purchase smart gifts for their children of ages 5 through 12 that are designed to educate as well as entertain, they need look no further than the Osmo Genius Kit. The kit works with an Apple iPad and transforms the tablet…
We have used the Sonos multi-room audio system for years, and have continuously enjoyed its high audio fidelity and the expansive set of audio and music services available through a few taps in the Sonos app. But until recently, the system did not have voice…
The Qi wireless charging standard recently got a huge boost as Apple embraced the technology and built it into the new iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X smartphones. Apple plans to bring their Apple-branded AirPower QI charger to market in 2018, but consumers…
Send this to a friend