Smart home

When it comes to basic home renovations, I was always told to hope for the best but expect the worst. That may be true when it comes to renovating a kitchen in a 10-year-old house or even doing a major overhaul on a house that’s 20 or 30 years old, but when you decide to crack open a house that’s 100 years old, all you can do is hope for OK and expect a lot of trouble.

These days, it seems as though there is a smart version of almost every electronic device imaginable. There are smart watches, smart phones, smart TVs, smart appliances, smart fitness trackers, smart cars; the list goes on. But one category that really seems to be gaining momentum is smart products for the home, especially smart products that don’t necessarily require professional installation, like the Lutron Caséta Wireless Smart Home Lighting product line.   I was sent two Lutron Caséta products to review: The Lutron Caséta Wireless Plug-in Lamp Dimmer With Remote, and the Lutron Caséta Wireless Smart Lighting Dimmer Kit. I started with what I knew would be the easiest to install of the two, the plug-in dimmer kit.  

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!

Geek Squad now offers free in-home consultation to help with your Smart Home Automation needs. Are you interested in smart lighting? Keyless entry? Smart Thermostats? Maybe all of the above? No problem. Read on to find out more about what this free in-home consultation is all about and how you can get your Smart Home up and running faster.

Wi-Fi has rapidly progressed from being a novelty to something we depend on. With a wave of ‘smart’ technology now flooding our homes, Wi-Fi performance is more critical than ever. The need for reliable speed, bandwidth, coverage, security, compatibility, upgradability and setup that anyone can understand has driven tech giant Google—working with respected industry leader TP-Link—to release its own wireless router. Meet OnHub, the “new router from Google that’s built for all the ways you Wi-Fi.”  

Smart lights are an easy way to add beauty, security and versatility to your home.  Whether it’s setting up timers, or adding colour both inside and out, smart lights are quickly moving from fun gadget, to home must-haves.  Find out why.

As we head back to school and back from our vacations, there are a few new things to think about as we get back to the grind. Are the kids going to be home alone after school or on sick days? What can we add to our homes to provide a little more safety and security? Fortunately, there are ways you can leverage smarthome technology to lend you a helping hand. Here are a few types of products to help you out.

In this installment of the Internet of Things, we take a look at how safety around your home has evolved. We’ve gone from loud, blaring alarms and simplistic security systems to something much more hands-on and its all thanks to your Internet Connection and how it connects you to home even when you’re not there.

There are some amazing new products hitting the shelves of Best Buy this month. Here’s a quick look at just a few of the cool products you can pick up right now.

The Internet of Things has been covered in-depth on a few fronts. Tom gave you an overview of the IoT with this article, talking about how the internet is finding its way into televisions. We’ve seen other articles on how IoT is affecting our interaction with computers and wearables. There’s a category that has seen huge changes over the last decade as the internet becomes more integrated: gaming and toys. While this is by no means a comprehensive overview, here’s a look at how those categories are making the most out of their pipeline to the internet.