Dave Zatz 
The Tablo Quad over-the-air DVR recently started shipping and our friends have posted reviews. TechHive DVR boxes that plug directly into your television, such as TiVo’s Bolt OTA, are inherently simpler than all this, but Tablo’s advantage is that it works with whatever streaming boxes or sticks you might already be using. […] While the … Read more
Announced many months ago, the first cut of Alexa Guard has finally arrived. The gist of Alexa Guard is to centralize select monitoring functions withing a single area, utilizing the traditional home/away security system approach and bringing Amazon closer to our dream of a virtual hub … that Siri hasn’t quite managed to achieve. Initial … Read more
TiVo continues to experiment with their underlying SkipMode technologies. We’ve seen them invert ad skipping to highlight Super Bowl commercials the last two years and they just recently implemented automatic commercial skipping. But now they’re attempting something new with “Chaptering.” Sorta like DVD chapters, TiVo personnel are testing backend content bookmarking within a DVR recording. … Read more
Here’s a round up of upcoming smart home products and services from some of our favorite companies. Some possible cancellations as well. Ecobee ecobee4+ thermostat Timing: Soon Key detail: Glass screen new ecobee room sensor Timing: Soon Key detail: Magnetic base ecobee indoor camera Timing: Later ecobee contact sensor Timing: Later Arlo Arlo Video Doorbell … Read more
Despite questionable privacy practices, it’s increasingly difficult to quit Alexa given Amazon’s continued device integration and Routine enhancements. And today our very own Adam Miarka discovered Ring video now includes Alexa speaker announcements of “Person Detection.” Except it may not actually be active yet, given his limited testing. While Adam can enable the option for … Read more
Target is running an amazing ecobee sale today. ecobee has long been my preferred smart thermostat, besting Nest in a number of categories such as remote sensor integration. As such, I’d recommend the ecobee4 for all of $100… with bundled room sensor. At this price, ecobee4 is a great deal and at least half off … Read more
AFTVnews, the preeminent site for everything Fire TV, is going dormant. At first blush, it appears to be a tremendous loss for us Fire TV owners. However, proprietor Elias Saba has been hired by Amazon and will be well-positioned within the Fire TV team to represent consumers. And it’s a fascinating story arc as Elias … Read more
Caavo Control Center, something much more than a universal remote despite having just replaced my Harmony, is out with a humongo update today. First and foremost, beyond managing the connected television devices that they continue to iterate on, the company has picked up TiVo’s original whole home torch and is expanding control deeper into our … Read more