Dave Zatz 
I’ve long been a fan of Hue lighting wall dimmers. But those days are about over given the Lutron Aurora. Years ago, the Hue dimmer bridged the analog and digital environments, allowing all household members to easily control room lighting via a more traditional switch. While the dimmers go well beyond simplistic brightness controls with … Read more
Beyond dropping the dime on AirTV 2, SatelliteGuys.US has also uncovered the upcoming AirTV Mini. This Android-powered 4K dongle will replace the original AirTV Player, coming in at a lower price ($80) and more compact presentation. DISH’s timing is ideal, as access to an authentic, affordable Android TV stick with full Google Assistant and Google … Read more
DISH has been at the forefront of cord cutting technologies, having launched the original OTT aggregator in Sling TV and more recently unveiling home hardware to harness antenna television. DISH clearly continues to crank away in this space as an AirTV 2 just passed through the FCC. The question is: Which sort of AirTV will … Read more
If you’ve been following our smart home tracker, you already knew Wyze bulbs were launching “soon” … and now I can provide even more precision: they go on sale next week. Further, due to what looks like some premature web publishing, we seemingly have all the details. Unlike Hue and IKEA lighting, Wyze is going … Read more
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