Reviews Archives

Reviews

Finding Alternative User Interfaces for Smart Homes

There are a variety of user interfaces for controlling a smart home. Some of the most common methods are by using individual smart phone apps provided by manufacturers, an integrated app that ties together smart devices, handheld remote controls, dedicated touch panels, wall-mounted keypads, or voice control. All of these options have...

Reviews

Beale Street Landscape Audio Completes the Sonic Cocoon Around My House

I love music. Everywhere I go, there’s usually a soundtrack playing in the background. This is especially true when I’m spending time at home outdoors. I have speakers everywhere. My backyard, deck and patio are all routinely bathed in killer sound. The only bummer comes when I hang out in the front yard. It’s a sound wasteland....

Reviews

An AVPro Edge AC-EX40-444-KIT May Have Saved My Marriage

I never thought I’d be sitting here writing a product review for an HDMI balun (those little black boxes which magically transport HD video over long distances). That’s always ranked right up there with watching paint dry or listening to the sweet music of nails on a chalkboard. Yet here I am, about to tell you about the AVPro Edge...

Reviews

Tackling My First MantelMount Pull Down TV Mount Installation

My brother Todd and his family upgraded their living situation recently by buying a larger home in their current neighborhood. The new house provided several upgrades over their first home but also a few challenges, so they brought in a contractor to spruce up the property a bit. One of the relatively minor upgrades was finding a...

Reviews

Samsung Terrace Helps Me Bring Indoor Entertainment to the Outdoors

My Samsung Terrace outdoor TV allowed me to blend my landscaping hobby with enjoy televised sporting events This past fall, I had the opportunity to blend my passion for maintaining the plants, flowers, and lawn around my home with my day job writing about home tech. I was offered a Samsung Terrace outdoor TV for review, which, when...

Reviews

Tailwind iQ3 is the Perfect Pro Integrator Garage Door Controller

The Tailwind iQ3 Offers the Widest Range of Features of Any Smart Garage Controller Shortly after my last article on smart garage door solutions (How to Integrate the Garage into a Smart Home), MyQ changed their API (application programming interface) and broke the Crestron-MyQ driver that I wrote for that article, along with other...

Reviews

Hunter Douglas PowerView Gen 3 and My Home Automation Wish Fulfillment

Hunter Douglas finally enabled me to experience their automated motorized window shades in real-world setting. Automated motorized window shades are the one smart home tech product category that has alluded me. With the exception of trying out a single motorized shade that neither integrated with an app nor could be automated to a...

Reviews

Illuminating my Kitchen Counters with American Lighting Trulux Tape Light

American Lighting sent me 50 feet of their Trulux High Output COB Tape Light to save me from harsh and hot kitchen under-cabinet festoon bulbs Is it me or have things been getting darker and darker lately? Don’t answer that. My own kitchen under-cabinet lighting deserved an upgrade after its 15-year-plus stint bathing my granite...

Reviews

How SwitchBot Curtain Rod 2 Improves on the Original Motorized Curtain Design

The new SwitchBot Curtain Rod 2 is a 2022 reddot design award winner and improves on the original SwitchBot Curtain’s ability to work with curtains mounted on a curtain rod through a redesign of the mechanism that clamps the motor assembly to the curtain rod. The original SwitchBot Curtain was released through a Kickstarter campaign...

Page 1 of 1512 3 ...

Produced by IPW

How to Automate the Operation of Your Smart Home Windows

Looking for the latest tech news? We have you covered.