Cree Smart Switches & Outlet On The Way

While Hue continues to be my primary smart lighting solution, given its local control and rock-solid reliability, Cree Connected Max lightbulbs are what I’ve begun using to economically outfit the rest of my home. For example, I run a Cree filament in our upstairs hallway fixture and just picked up a $13 1600 lumen tunable … Read more

Nice ‘Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max’ Discount

The new Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max sees its first discount ahead of Black Friday. As the second most powerful Fire TV device Amazon’s ever released, the Max was already competitively priced at a $55 MSRP. But now it’s quite the bargain, more than a third off, at $35. The original 4K Stick was … Read more

Ring Beats Arlo To Pet Tracking

Announced by Amazon way back in 2019, Steve Moser and I can confirm Ring Fetch appears close to release. However, the the tracker (pictured above) may land with a new name — Ring Buddy and Ring Pet Tag are two likely candidates that we’ve encountered in our research. While Amazon Sidewalk has raised a number … Read more

The Best Smart Home Deals

Ah, the very best of manufactured consumer holidays is upon us with Prime Day… resulting in multiple days of deals, from all sorts of retailers. Unfortunately, it’s hard to keep up with many of the Amazon promos given limited windows and inventory. And, while there’s a ton of discounted gear out there, we’re discerning customers and … Read more

The Best Streaming Hardware Deals

Ah, the very best of manufactured consumer holidays is upon us with Prime Day… resulting in multiple days of deals, from all sorts of retailers. Unfortunately, it’s hard to keep up with many of the Amazon promos given limited windows and inventory. And, while there’s a ton of discounted gear out there, we’re discerning customers … Read more

Is This Ring’s New Car Cam?

Early fast fall Ring announced a surprising and exciting expansion of their product line to include automotive monitoring. Amongst the various products and services discussed, a connected car camera was revealed… without imagery. But, today, The Tape Drive may have uncovered the very first photographic evidence of Ring’s elusive car cam. The Ring car cam … Read more

Unpacking The Fitbit Versa 3

I’ve been anxiously awaiting the Fitbit Versa 3 ($229), as it addresses a number of my Versa 2 complaints. And while “the press” remain bound by embargo, despite widespread retail availability, real customers have started chiming in. But before we get ahead of ourselves, owning both a Versa 2 and Apple Watch Series 3, I … Read more

Here Comes The Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite

Beyond the new eero 6 routers, via WinFuture, we now know Amazon is also posed to refresh at least the lower end of their Fire TV lineup later this week. Enter: the Fire TV Stick Lite. As with its predecessors, the Lite is a relatively non-descript HDMI USB dongle. However, hopefully this new model features … Read more