Smart home

Lighting isn’t very interesting, is it? I mean, other than different fixtures, the lights themselves are pretty unremarkable, right? Flick a switch, and on comes the light. Flick it again, and off it goes. I mean, totally yawn, huh? Well, that is unless you happen to have invested in the new Philips Hue personal lighting system, which allows for quite the personalization, versatility and convenience. Want to see how innovative lighting can be? Read on for my preview of the Philips Hue lighting system.

When you take it out of the box, the Ring Pro Video Doorbell looks as though it may be hard to install with all sorts of little pieces and wires. Once you get into it though, you'll see it's anything but. In fact, Ring is so confident that you can install it yourself that it will pay for free installation if you cannot. With cloud storage capabilities, motion detection and 1080p video output, Ring Pro is ready to be your next Home Automation pick up. Come take a look!

July has a way of zipping past us, and before we know it we’ve landed in August and we’re a month away from back to school. It’s hard to believe time can go by that fast, but that’s the downfall of a Canadian summer. They seem to be over before you know it. Thankfully there are still plenty of days left to spend outside soaking up the sunshine. While you’re enjoying the warm weather, you might want to grab your...

 Having a smart home is amazing, but the Wi-Fi connection issues that have come along with it have been challenging. As I’ve added more devices I’ve understood the need for a powerful router like the Linksys Max-Stream AC5400. Now that I’ve tested it out, I’ll never be able to use a basic router in my smart home again. Save

 The original Dropcam (later branded as the Nest Cam) was one of the crucial pillars of growing IP Camera technology in the world of Home Automation. With its wide angle filming, cloud storage capabilities and communication and alerting abilities, it was one of the class leading standards for which all competing IP Cameras would have to meet. Now Nest is back with those same philosophies in a waterproof outdoor camera, coming soon to Best Buy. Read on to find out more.

If you've got a smart home you'll love the pairing of Arlo and IFTTT. Together they create rules you can use to get even more out of your smart home cameras.

 In part five of The Smart Home Series, I take a spin with Securifi’s Almond+ Wireless AC Router and Smart Hub combination. After setting this unit up in my house, I quickly realized the power it has to provide increased Wi-Fi speeds, as well as serve as a home automation hub to manage gadgets like the Peanut Wireless Smart Plug.

The August Doorbell camera records video of who's at your door, has hindsight to record motion before an incident, and offers 24 hour free recording.

If you’ve ever wondered how hard it is to set up a smart lock and how it would simplify your day to day, this is the review for you. I just installed the August Smart Lock and August Smart Keypad and you won’t believe how easy it is to set up and use.

 If you’re like me, you’ve probably grown to hate your router, loathe your range extender and wonder why you have so many Home Automation hubs doing unrelated jobs. The Almond+ takes care of all of those, capable of acting as a router or range extender and a Home Automation business rule hub for connected Z-Wave and Hue compatible devices. The best part it’s all done through the hardware or an app and only takes a few minutes. Check it out.