Welcome to our Smart Home and Automation category page—the hub for all things smart and convenient that can revolutionise your daily living. Here, you’ll find comprehensive guides, reviews, and the latest news on devices and ecosystems that promise to make your home safer, more efficient, and undeniably more enjoyable.
Smart Home and Automation refers to the network of intelligent devices and systems that connect to the internet and to each other, offering remote control, monitoring, and data collection. From voice-activated lighting to intelligent cooking appliances, this category spans a wide array of products designed to bring ease and automation into your home life.
Whether you’re a tech-savvy early adopter or a homeowner seeking practical solutions for everyday tasks, smart home tech offers a wide range of applications that can genuinely improve your living standards.
Whether you’re just starting your smart home journey or looking to expand your existing setup, our Smart Home and Automation category is rich with expert advice, detailed reviews, and the latest updates to help you make informed decisions. Dive in and discover how smart your home can truly be!
WiZ is a smart lighting brand I haven’t paid much attention to in the past. They are owned by Signify, who also owns the Philips Hue brand, and WiZ appears to be positioned as a more affordable alternative to Philips Hue. A good example of this is a pair of warm white GU10 spotlights from…
Over the past couple of years, we have seen Reolink become increasingly adventurous with its new security camera products. While they still have the bread and butter cameras that provide general home security, they have started to launch various quirky options that provide niche and inventive solutions for diverse surveillance needs that no other brand…
I bought my first Philips Hue starter kit back in 2016, and at the time, I wasn’t convinced I would be won over by the premium price just for the sake of not having to get up from my chair to turn my lights on or off. Here I am, six years later, and Amazon…
I reviewed the original Arlo Go back in 2018 when they were still under the helm of Netgear. This was originally sold as an exclusive to Vodafone under the branding V-Camera. In the meantime, Reolink has come about and launched its original Reolink Go, then the Reolink Go Plus, Go PT, Go PT Plus and…
Founded in the Netherlands, Princess has been around for over 20 years and specialises in a wide range of household appliances. Like many companies, they have recently started to embrace smart home technology. Most of the recent climate-related product launches have Wi-Fi and can be controlled via their HomeWizard Climate App. I am a big…
Today, Philips Hue has announced several new products, including the new Perifo track lighting and a Hue Go portable table lamp that can be used outdoors. However, what caught my eye was the Philips Hue Tap dial switch which provides superior lighting control over the existing basic Hue switches. Philips Hue Tap dial switch The…
Good news and bad news. Following the insolvency of Insteon, which led to the abrupt shutdown of their servers and bricking of many user systems, the company has now been acquired by a group of passionate Insteon users. When I say passionate users, Ken Fairbanks, the new CEO worked for SmartLabs between 2004 and 2007…
I have previously reviewed the Reolink Argus PT Pro and the Reolink Go Plus. The Reolink Go PT Plus is basically those cameras merged into one. The Reolink Go PT Plus costs about £46 more than the Reolink Go PT Plus, but I think it is worth the investment if the camera is located a…
Following on from my previous Insteon posts about setting up Home Assistant Windows Portable (HassWP) and cheap PCs to run as a server for Docker/Insteon. This post is a guide for anyone wanting to get Home Assistant Windows Portable working on a PC running Windows Home. In my HassWP original post, I installed Home Assistant…
This is my second Home Assistant for Insteon post, and I will be writing a couple more to help anyone that is trying to get their Insteon smart home back up and running. Earlier this month, Insteon unexpectedly ceased trading and disabled all its cloud server functionality, effectively making the Insteon hub useless. Not all…
The term “smart” is the right term to use when describing the latest advancement in the development of smart speakers. Smart speakers play your favorite music, automatically control the electronic components of your home, and give answers to questions asked verbally by anyone inside of a house. According to the audio experts at Selby, smart…
Yesterday, I reported that Insteon has gone out of business and shut down all their cloud services with no notice. The Insteon app uses the Insteon servers to process the requests from the app, effectively making it useless. Things like schedules are stored on the hub, so these will continue to be processed. However, not…