Home Tech


Friday Lock: Lock and Unlock Your Home Remotely from Your Phone

In the last few years, the smarthome accessory market has exploded. Now it’s possible for anyone to make their home more automated, efficient, and yes, smarter to add aftermarket accessories that remotely control or oversee their home’s temperature, energy efficiency, who’s in their home, who has access to their home, and more. Which brings us to the Friday Lock.



Elgato Eve Degree: Monitor Temperature and Humidity Remotely with HomeKit

We’ve covered Elgato Eve products since they became available; these are add-on Smarthome accessories that allow you to automate and control your home remotely using the Eve app on your iPhone; they integrate seamlessly with Apple HomeKit. Their latest product is the Elgato Eve Degree, a tiny and elegant aluminum-cased indoor or outdoor temperature with humidity monitor.


BBQ Dragon Chimney of Insanity Gets Summer Going

BBQ season is once again upon us. School is out for the summer here in South Texas, and the grills have already been fired up. As you know, the most important part of a successful BBQ is the coals. The Chimney of Insanity by BBQ Dragon ($29.95) helps make the charcoal perfect, quickly and without the need for lighter fluid. 



Fully’s Jarvis Standing Desk Is the Best Setup for Your Home

Now that I’m fully embracing adulthood by having my own place, the one thing that I overlooked after mounting TVs, buying a bigger bed was how I would get work done when I’m at home. After looking at Ikea and various other places for a desktop setup, I settled on Fully’s Jarvis Standing Desk, and I couldn’t be happier.



OneAdaptr STACK Modular Surge Protector Review

One thing you can never have enough of is outlet space in your home or office, and for that, you can buy a power strip, or even better, a surge protector power strip. If you look on Amazon, you’ll see that there are tons of surge protector power strips available, but none are quite like the OneAdaptr STACK Modular Surge Protector series.


How Would a Siri Speaker Match up Against the Amazon Echo?

It’s no secret that Amazon’s Echo devices are popular. The AI that powers the system, named Alexa, allows owners to do a lot of unique things, like ordering new products with voice commands or even controlling smart home technology. The space is really starting to get competitive with Google Home, and now what is rumored to be an Apple-branded smart voice assistant. That’s right — rumors claim Apple will be launching a smart speaker that will house Siri, the company’s own AI personality.


Bluelounge Quick Peek: A Visual Inventory of Everything Stored

It might be easy to dismiss an organization system that keeps track of things you’ve stored as something someone with too much “stuff” would want, something someone who needs to explore the minimalistic lifestyle would need. But you don’t have to be a budding hoarder for the Bluelounge Quick Peek to help you keep track of “what’s in the box.”


Otterbox’s Latest Accessories Are Durable, Portable and Affordable

Otterbox is known for their premium cases, giving users the ability to protect their smart devices from drops and the elements. But did you know that the popular brand makes accessories that make your day-to-day that much better from beginning to end? The company sent us over a few of their newest products so let’s check them out.




2017 IFA Global Press Conference: The Sign of What’s to Come

For the past few years, I’ve been one of a select group of international journalists invited to the IFA Global Press Conference. A warm-up, if you will, for the yearly IFA convention held in Berlin, the press conference is a great time to check up on the current and future status of the global electronics market.


Focal Elear Open-Back Headphones Prove You Get What You Pay For

“These cost how much?” Raina asked. “Just listen to them,” I urged. Raina put on the headphones and played some of her favorite tunes.“ It didn’t take long for her to become a fan of Focal’s Elear Open-Back Headphones. But at $1000 a pair, she’s not sure they would be a wise purchase.


Home8 is Serious D.I.Y. Home Security Done E.A.S.I.L.Y.

If you are looking for a security system that won’t cost an arm and a leg to install and maintain check out the Home8 Security System. It is a complete package in a box that offers your choice of free or inexpensive monitoring for far less than you might expect. It is truly DIY home security done right.




Here Are a Few Products by Aukey That I Use Daily

After doing a lot of reviews on products, some of those products get stored in a bin to be used in case of emergency, and some others? Not so much. I tend to find myself using still other products on a day-to-day basis, and I wanted to highlight a few of them.


Epson Expression ET-3600 EcoTank All-in-One Supertank Printer Review

When’s the last time you purchased a printer? Were you as surprised as I was by how inexpensive they’ve become? Here’s the thing, though: the printers themselves are inexpensive, but when purchasing ink cartridges, you’ll learn that great deal wasn’t so great. That’s why I’m so intrigued by the Epson Expression ET-3600 EcoTank All-in-One Supertank Printer.