I have covered and reviewed quite a few smart door locks now. I personally use the Yale Linus on my front door, the Ultion Smart Lock on my back door, and the We.lock Smart Lock on my garage/gym door. I have also previously reviewed the Bold Smart Lock (replaced by the We.lock) and the Nuki … Read more
WiZ is a smart lighting brand I haven’t paid much attention to in the past. They are owned by Signify, who also owns the Philips Hue brand, and WiZ appears to be positioned as a more affordable alternative to Philips Hue. A good example of this is a pair of warm white GU10 spotlights from … Read more
Over the past couple of years, we have seen Reolink become increasingly adventurous with its new security camera products. While they still have the bread and butter cameras that provide general home security, they have started to launch various quirky options that provide niche and inventive solutions for diverse surveillance needs that no other brand … Read more
I bought my first Philips Hue starter kit back in 2016, and at the time, I wasn’t convinced I would be won over by the premium price just for the sake of not having to get up from my chair to turn my lights on or off. Here I am, six years later, and Amazon … Read more
I reviewed the original Arlo Go back in 2018 when they were still under the helm of Netgear. This was originally sold as an exclusive to Vodafone under the branding V-Camera. In the meantime, Reolink has come about and launched its original Reolink Go, then the Reolink Go Plus, Go PT, Go PT Plus and … Read more
Founded in the Netherlands, Princess has been around for over 20 years and specialises in a wide range of household appliances. Like many companies, they have recently started to embrace smart home technology. Most of the recent climate-related product launches have Wi-Fi and can be controlled via their HomeWizard Climate App. I am a big … Read more
Today, Philips Hue has announced several new products, including the new Perifo track lighting and a Hue Go portable table lamp that can be used outdoors. However, what caught my eye was the Philips Hue Tap dial switch which provides superior lighting control over the existing basic Hue switches. Philips Hue Tap dial switch The … Read more
Good news and bad news. Following the insolvency of Insteon, which led to the abrupt shutdown of their servers and bricking of many user systems, the company has now been acquired by a group of passionate Insteon users. When I say passionate users, Ken Fairbanks, the new CEO worked for SmartLabs between 2004 and 2007 … Read more
I have previously reviewed the Reolink Argus PT Pro and the Reolink Go Plus. The Reolink Go PT Plus is basically those cameras merged into one. The Reolink Go PT Plus costs about £46 more than the Reolink Go PT Plus, but I think it is worth the investment if the camera is located a … Read more
[Updated 22-May-2022] This is an updated post from 2021. With several random hot days so far this year and the chance of a hot Jubilee Bank Holiday, many people will be considering how to cool themselves. In previous years, a portable air conditioning unit was a luxury investment that would often yield a significant improvement … Read more
UPDATE: This was originally written back in 2021 and somehow since then, back then all we had to worry about was a pandemic. That’s still a problem but we now also have war and a cost of living crisis. What a time to be alive. I have therefore updated this post with more accurate pricing, … Read more
Following on from my previous Insteon posts about setting up Home Assistant Windows Portable (HassWP) and cheap PCs to run as a server for Docker/Insteon. This post is a guide for anyone wanting to get Home Assistant Windows Portable working on a PC running Windows Home. In my HassWP original post, I installed Home Assistant … Read more
This is my second Home Assistant for Insteon post, and I will be writing a couple more to help anyone that is trying to get their Insteon smart home back up and running. Earlier this month, Insteon unexpectedly ceased trading and disabled all its cloud server functionality, effectively making the Insteon hub useless. Not all … Read more
The term “smart” is the right term to use when describing the latest advancement in the development of smart speakers. Smart speakers play your favorite music, automatically control the electronic components of your home, and give answers to questions asked verbally by anyone inside of a house. According to the audio experts at Selby, smart … Read more
Yesterday, I reported that Insteon has gone out of business and shut down all their cloud services with no notice. The Insteon app uses the Insteon servers to process the requests from the app, effectively making it useless. Things like schedules are stored on the hub, so these will continue to be processed. However, not … Read more
Update: I have written a basic guide on how to get Insteon working with Home Assistant on Windows. Update 2: Confirming what we already knew, Insteon has formally ceased trading and has posted a notification on the website. Users are also being contacted with a Important Notice to Creditors. It is currently being reported that … Read more