Dave Zatz 
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
Revealed late last year, Wyze has aspirations beyond WiFi video cameras and is expanding into full-on smart home capabilities with the new Wyze Sense kit. This $20 bundle includes a wireless bridge, that’s powered by the $26 Wyze Cam, to communicate with a motion sensor and two contact sensor pairs. Monitor your home for under $50? … Read more
As you-know-who broke the news, TiVo has deployed automatic commercial skip capabilities with the latest “Hydra” software update … that has just begun rolling out to Bolt, Roamio, and Mini DVR hardware. When first initiating playback of a TiVo SkipMode-flagged recording, you’ll be prompted to enable “Auto Skip” to automatically zip by commercial interruption. There’s … Read more
Just a few short years ago, Logitech attempted to jettison the entire Harmony product line. Fortunately, management reconsidered and doubled down on the historically unmatched universal remote controls. Yet, I’m not entirely feeling their latest entrant, the Logitech Harmony Express. Harmony Express diminutive proportions belie its expense, running a fairly lofty $250. And, whereas most … Read more
After a several month gestation period, the Tablo Quad OTA DVR is now ready for its closeup. While Tablo has previously offered a four-tuner, cord cutting DVR, the Quad features their latest hardware — both technologically, in terms of things like 802.11ac WiFi, and stylistically, carrying forward the Tablo Dual and Dual Lite visual cues. … Read more