Smart Home

Looking for a new speaker? You're in luck. I've put together this roundup of speakers that I hand picked for their sound quality, compatibility, and ease of use. Find your next Bluetooth or AirPlay speaker below and get ready to fill your room with the best sound.

While cooking over fire may seem like an inherently primitive and lo-fi task, high-tech tools can make your barbecues easier and more enjoyable. In testing this new smart cookout gear, I was surprised and excited by how much it improved my cooking. Here is my definitive list of smart gadgets to help you channel your inner grill master and enhance your next outdoor gathering.

We’ve all had it happen: you get a little too comfortable with autocorrect, and all of a sudden you’ve sent a horrifying text to your mother-in-law when all you wanted to do was ask if she wanted to come over for dinner at six. And then there are the times when the real world decides to assert its dominance over our digital fantasy world. How many of us have fished our iPhones out from bodies of water and hopefully dumped them into bags of rice?

Winter is in full swing. It’s time to drag all your houseplants inside from their outdoor abode where they’ve been living their best lives and figure out how to keep them alive in the dry indoor air and limited winter sunlight. Having a house full of vibrant greenery offers a delightful contrast to the cold gray outdoors, but keeping plants happy requires the right tools. Here are all the apps and smart gear I use to keep my indoor garden thriving all winter long.

The heightened awareness around the transmission vectors of COVID-19 have also brought greater focus and attention to general air quality. The makers of the Aura Air air purifying system not only claim that the unit will clean the air of harmful particulates, but also that it can eliminate up to 99.96% of COVID-19 viruses in the area it is operating. While I had no way of validating this virus elimination claim myself, I did want to see and hear Aura Air in action. Read on for my evaluation and thoughts on the product.

If you're just getting started with Apple HomeKit automation, beginning with a timed automation is a great first step! Here's how to schedule an Apple Home automation, so your smart home accessory will perform an action like clockwork. For example, you can set your porchlights to turn on every day at sunset or open the curtains at a certain time while you're out of the house so your indoor plants get plenty of sunlight. The smart accessory will need to have previously been added to the Home app, as well as be charged and connected to Wi-Fi.

If you're willing to make the investment to add a HomePod or HomePod mini to several rooms in your house (if not all of them), you'll be able to take advantage of the new Intercom feature. Intercom is incredibly handy, allowing users to send and receive communications via a network of Bluetooth connected devices. This means that, for instance, instead of yelling to your kids that dinner is ready, now Siri can do it for you. That's right, you can now use Intercom to make Siri do some of your parent-to-child yelling. Just keep in mind that they, too, can join in the fun!

Apple's new, much more affordable HomePod mini is the anticipated answer to the many drawbacks of the first-ever HomePod. Apple's reports of streamlined syncing, a host of family features such as Intercom and voice recognition, and a seamless feel to your Siri smart assistant experience could make this a must-have for many. Yet it may still be too pricey for those of us who are happy with our Amazon Echo Dots. We'll look at what advocates are celebrating, what doubters are questioning, and what might help you decide whether a HomePod mini would be a good addition to your smart home.