Smart Home Reviewer

2 min read 2022-06-09 20:52:23

Zombie Insteon Returns! Why You Should be RUNNING!!!

It’s been almost two months since Insteon mysteriously shut down their servers with no notice. It’s been about a month and a half since Insteon

3 min read 2022-05-25 18:00:04

A few years ago I wrote about a budget backyard audio solution I’d come up with after discovering cheap 4-channel amplifiers and the now

4 min read 2022-05-23 18:56:01

Nearly ten years ago, when I moved into a house with some property, I upgraded my old Linksys wireless N router (the classic blue and black that was

2 min read 2022-04-16 19:00:38

As explained in my post yesterday, it looks like Insteon was unceremoniously switched off on April 14th and users are scrambling to keep their smart

3 min read 2022-04-15 19:02:30

On the evening of April 14th, 2022 I was headed to my kitchen to cook and asked Alexa to turn on the kitchen lights. After a brief pause she

2 min read 2022-03-30 18:15:24

Every few weeks I take about 30 minutes of boring Zoom call time to pretend I’m listening to the meeting while I scroll through the new smart home

5 min read 2022-02-27 22:40:23

In part 1 of this series, I explained what drove me to Home Assistant, what I hoped to accomplish, some of my frustrations, and my first attempt at

6 min read 2022-01-25 03:17:13

This has been a long time coming. For many years I have been frustrated with the lack of interoperability between many of my smart home devices.

1 min read 2021-11-22 23:18:05

“Alexa, good morning.” “Good morning, on this day in blah blah blah, someone important did something special. Insert funny pun.” Every

1 min read 2021-09-13 22:53:48

Hidden under a table and behind a basket and still difficult to conceal Smart plugs are everywhere these days, and with good reason. They’re

1 min read 2021-07-30 00:51:32

Samsung has finally pushed their much rumored Family Hub update for all Family Hub refrigerators second gen and later and it’s a big update…or so

1 min read 2021-02-23 05:33:35

Many years ago at CES some company unveiled a concept of a refrigerator with a TV in it, and it became the poster child for our technology obsession

1 min read 2021-01-15 00:14:54

The Good: The price ($20!). Full featured tracking 12 metrics. Works with Apple Health, Google Fit, Fitbit. Supports up to 8 users and

1 min read 2020-10-20 18:09:51

In a totally stunning move that no one could have ever seen coming, Google has decided to abandon the Nest Secure line of products, as reported by

1 min read 2020-09-24 00:17:34

Alexa notifications have been around for a couple of years now and can be extremely useful in some cases. If you are not familiar with Alexa