The promise of autonomous cars holds a great deal of interest for me. Both as someone who loves to drive, and someone who would love to have to actually drive the car less. For me these are discrete activities. Bit of snow on the ground, or a nice (empty) winding road, I want to have some fun. But the slog […]
Read more
Ok… I am a sucker for fancy kitchen gadgets, and adding “smarts” to the mix only makes them more interesting. I like the idea of being able to check in my my food from another room in the house via the camera in the oven/toaster/air fryer, dehydrator, etc. Which is there, and this is the awesome part (assuming it really […]
Read more
Personalized room based home automation is tricky business. Not everyone wants to install RFID readers in the doorways, or carry around the cards :). Roomme takes on this problem by using a $69 smoke alarm sized BTLE sensors attached the ceiling in each room that senses when your mobile phone enters the room to trigger a scene. The approach is […]
Read more
We have a love/hate relationship with our robot vacuums. Our Roomba mostly works OK (apart from the persistent beaching events), but the Neato is affectionately* named “Help Me” because of how much intervention is required to actually get it to complete a run. Some of this comes down to the underwhelming intelligence in the device, and some of it is, […]
Read more
Smart bicycle safety products are becoming more common, and I think it’s great. I especially like that the COSMO bike light provides several features that are fantastic for safety oriented road cyclists while allowing you to supply your own helmet. Aside from the obvious tail light, it also acts as a brake light, and turn indicator (via handle bar mounted […]
Read more
The BTLE/Wi-Fi (via hub installed within BTLE range) enabled LOCKLY deadbolt is one of the fuller featured smart locks I’ve run across. Naturally it has the keycode entry method, but not only do the numbers move for extra security, it also sports a fingerprint reader. Oh, and a physical key – if you’re into that sort of thing. It also […]
Read more
I’ve never been good with patience. Or getting the timing right around when I open a bottle of wine. So it’s quite common that we pull out the aerator at serving time. Not being aware that the the humble aerator had been smartened, our’s is still stuck in the pre-technology era. Fortunately, while wandering Eureka Park at CES 2019 I […]
Read more
Home security monitoring can be an expensive monthly fee for many people. Where it provides value, that’s probably worth it for the peace of mind, and knowledge that if something were to happen emergency services would be notified. Not everyone wants this, can afford it, or even if they do – live in a neighborhood where emergency services can be […]
Read more
I’m not a fan of unnecessary Cloud dependencies in home automation tech. So when I started chatting with Hubitat about their home automation controller (HAC), and we started getting into the details I was thrilled to find out that their model is almost entirely Cloud free. Naturally there is a bit to handle connection brokering from locations outside the LAN […]
Read more
WiSA is neat tech. So I always make a point to put them on the list of groups to meet with at CES. There wasn’t much new this year; the chips still top out at a Dolby Atmos unfriendly channel count. Although as a “better” alternative to a soundbar (i.e good in a good/better/best) for the vast majority of consumers […]
Read more