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
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
Arlo launched a smart home doorbell last year that integrates into their existing security camera ecosystem. But the doorbell is audio-only, as in: no video capabilities. The idea was that you’d buy the audio doorbell to supplement an existing Arlo camera covering your front door or porch. But, as Dave predicted, Arlo is poised to … Read more
After many months of teases, IKEA has finally come clean with two “Symfonisk” Sonos speakers. And the most interesting aspect may be the low price of entry, given Sonos hardware history. Pocket Lint has gone hands on with the $99 Sonos-powered IKEA Bookshelf Speaker and classified the sound as “good” or even “great”, in relation … Read more
ecobee intends to round out their smart home lineup with an indoor camera. While details are light, given Amazon investment and the existing product line, we can assume the ecobee camera will feature Alexa integration … if not outright control via its own mic, as those amber lights pictured in the company render up top … Read more
With the release of Arlo Ultra, the company has upped the ante with not only 4K video quality, but also some neat new features including HDR, color night mode, auto track and zoom. But this jump to higher resolution and feature enhancements has some initial teething problems. Having unboxed the Ultra (below), I began the … Read more
Ikea Smartshades are here! Well “here” as in some European stores with broader availability expected February 2nd — hopefully that includes the US, although prior reports indicated our availability would come later in the spring. In any event, we now know sizes, prices, and mechanics. There are two lines of grey Ikea smart shades, one … Read more