Blink XT2 Wireless Camera: A Cheaper Arlo Pro 2

What if you could take the Arlo Pro 2 1080p cameras, run on standard AA batteries instead of proprietary, significantly lower the price of entry, and potentially have a 2-year camera charge? You’d have the new Blink XT2! At least that’s the Blink sales pitch — and it could be close. Amazon-owned Blink announced the … Read more

Lutron Aurora Could Be The Best Hue Accessory Ever

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

WiFi Wyze Bulbs Launch Next Week

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

Ring Smart Lighting First Impressions

Back in January, we broke the news of upcoming Ring outdoor smart lighting and related accessories. This new system was described at CES as a means to extend your existing Ring ecosystem by not only allowing for wireless lighting, but also motion detection. Both can then be integrated with Ring cameras to help capture any … Read more

How To Setup Alexa Guard

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

Ring HomeKit Support Nearly Here

Ring announced DoorBell Pro HomeKit support way back in June 2016. And, over the years, the company has continually stated that they have been eagerly waiting to release HomeKit compatibility (us, too). Anyone who’s followed the Ring account on Twitter has been greeted with the following response time and time again. Our priority is to … Read more

Roundup of Upcoming Smart Home Stuff

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

Amazon Deepens Alexa Ring Integration With “Person Detection” Alerts

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