Smart home

I know what you’re thinking. It’s now just fall and you’re telling us to prepare for Winter? Well, you and I know that winter is one of those things you definitely want to prepare in advance for. For example, you’ll have a hard time finding snow shovels while it’s snowing, so why it all out? In this installment of the preparing for the Great Canadian Winter, we look at winterproofing your home with the help of some handy smarthome products.

Continuing our look at the ‘connected home’ let’s take a look at the idea of keeping your home ‘lived in’ while you’re travelling. This is especially handy this time of year while the weather warms up and many of us start making plans to travel and get out a lot more. Whether you’ve got a road trip or a vacation coming up, home security can be a concern while you’re away. With all the smart home technology you can employ nowadays it’s easy to give your home the appearance of remaining occupied as usual even though you’re out and about. If your home will be unoccupied for an extended period of time this can be particularly useful.

Our smartphones are really technological marvels, aren’t they? They’re little handheld supercomputers that let us surf the internet, text, email, take pictures and videos, play games, track our workouts, and so much more. And, when paired with Smart Home technology, our connected devices allow us to receive feedback and control all sorts of aspects of our living spaces, from virtually anywhere in the world (with an internet connection, that is!). In the previous blogs of this Smart Home System...

Keeping your smart home tech safe and secure every day is a concern that you can alleviate in part with a few useful tips that I'll provide to you today.

There aren’t a lot of things Nest needs to improve on nowadays. It’s already arguably the best thermostat on the market. It not only provides you its learning benefits but gives you access to a huge network of coordinating partners. With no need to re-invent this wheel, Nest has turned to some physical and functional enhancements for its recently announced Nest 3.0 learning thermostat. Come take a look at the newest edition of the Nest!

The world is changing. Here are just five of Best Buy's top smart home security devices to help you and your family rest a little easier each night.

Home automation is starting to take off in the mainstream, mostly thanks to low-cost alternatives to custom systems; while there’s still a market for the integrated home automation system, for many consumers there’s a choice between entry level and midrange “network” products and “non-network” products. What does that mean and which type of product is right for you? Read on to find out.

Smart Homes are becoming easier than ever to set up, thanks to the different platforms available that allow all your connected devices to work and communicate together. In previous blogs of this Smart Home System Series, I looked at other home automation frameworks, such as Apple HomeKit and Z-Wave. In this edition, I’ll tell you all about Google’s smart home tech, and what Works with Nest.

Facebook has made a big announcement regarding its Portal family of smart home products, including a new Portal Mini and Portal TV. Click for full details!

One of the keys to sleeping comfortably at night is making sure that your room and your body are the right temperature. In this edition of the “Smarten Up” series, we look at the idea of using a smart thermometer to help you make sure that your room is a great temperature for you to fall asleep in. What are those optimal temperatures exactly? What makes the Ecobee 3 Thermostat a good choice for your home for this purpose? Read on to find out.