A few years ago I set out to turn my mid 1970s home into an “after-market smart home.” At that time, I turned to a specific company. Since then I’ve taken a more individual approach that focuses on specific “best-in-class” products that work well, but are not part of an overall integrated system; the Kwikset Kevo is one such product.
I’ve heard of churches using projectors to beam words to songs, images, and page numbers onto a screen during services, and we’ve been considering it for our sanctuary; we wanted to test it out during the summer. Fortunately, I had a review sample of the Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 2030 2D/3D 1080p 3LCD Projector in hand. It turns out that the projector is phenomenal for home use, and it held its own during services as well.
Most Gear Diary readers probably don’t know, but my regular day gig is as a food and drink writer for online and print media outlets. Through that job, I am lucky enough to sample many different wines and spirits. But sometimes it’s difficult to detect the subtle nuances of spirits. Well, it was difficult until I discovered the NEAT glass.
If you care about your music, then you simply must check out the $189 Audioengine B1 Premium Bluetooth Music Receiver. And since Audioengine offers a no-strings attached “30 Day Audition”, there’s no reason NOT to check it out and add high-quality Bluetooth streaming to your current sound system. Easy to set up, it will be music to your ears.
I’ve been intrigued by the Dyson series of bladeless fans since they were introduced, but like many people, there was one little thing that kept me from purchasing — the price! A desktop fan retails for $299, and the pedestal fans start at 399! Needless to say, when the opportunity arose to review the Dyson Cool AM07, I jumped.
Have I mentioned that I live about 40 minutes from the nearest dry cleaners? And of course I have items which are “dry clean only”, so once or twice a week (when I make the drive to San Angelo) I bring along and pick up my weekly dry cleaning. It’s inconvenient and time-consuming, so I’m about to try SWASH.
While I generally do a really good job of keeping up with the weather conditions outside of my home, I can’t say that I have ever considered what the conditions inside my home might be like, beyond whether it was cool or hot enough for comfort, of course. That’s all changed since I’ve been testing the Netatmo Weather Station.
Synology’s new DS415play is a 4-bay Network Attached Storage (NAS) system that was designed with the home theater in mind. With room for 4 SATA hard drives, the DS415play can hold up to 24 Terabytes of data. Combined with Synology’s excellent user interface, DiskStation Manager, the Synology DS415play is an excellent buy. The MSRP for the DS415play is $539.99.
In your quest to make the entire home “smart,” check out emberlight. Emberlight is a brand new device that allows you to turn even your most boring light fixture into a smart light fixture. Emberlight will automatically turn the light on when you walk into the room and connects to your existing WiFi network. Check out the emberlight Kickstarter campaign.
It’s an age-old question: (put delicately) does a bear go to bathroom in the woods? Of course the answer is yes, but until a few generations ago, so did humans. The makers of the Squatty Potty toilet stool believe the progress that is indoor plumbing may be harmful to your colon health. Here’s a quick look at their proposed solution: First a little background. The team here at Gear Diary has a pretty lively online chat community where we discuss tech trends and possible review topics. But we also are friends who like to support each other when someone needs…
Synology has recently announced the new DS415play, a four-bay Network Attached Storage system targeted at home media streaming. The DS415play has built-in video transcoding so that you can stream your media to any media streaming device much more easily. This powerful NAS system can accept up to 20TB of raw storage! The DS415play will be available in August for $539.99.
Like gearheads, fishermen, and cooks, golfers can’t ever seem to have too many gadgets, especially if they promise to help lower his or her score. The Pill is a new training aid that has a novel design to improve your game all the way from tee to green. Lord knows I need the help, so I gave it a try.
Admit it, you probably got at least one wok as a wedding present or a random gift from somebody who exalts the health benefits of stir-frying. And now it’s taking up a lot of space in a cupboard or closet because you never figured out how to cook with a round wok on a flat stovetop. WokMon can help out!
The Monster EZ1XL Steam Jet floor cleaner depends on two key equations. 1.) Kids/pets + carpet/hardwood floors = dirt. 2.) Dirt + steam = no dirt. Or (dirt x 0), mathematically speaking. Besides having the coolest Jetsons-sounding product name ever, does the Monster really make the math work? Read along as we run it through its paces to find out.
These copper-colored Leef flash drives with white soft-glow LEDs are supremely attractive and small, to boot. They each hold 16GB data, while being less than the size of a battery. Both flash drives are also said to reach USB 3.0 data transfer speeds. The Leef Copper Edition Ice and Magnet flash drives retail for $18.99 and $19.99, respectively.
Checking the weather compulsively is not considered odd where I live, and when people talk about what the weather is doing, it’s not just to make idle chit-chat. It’s also common for locals to measure and record their rainfall to the hundredth of an inch, and many use sophisticated tools like the Oregon Scientific Ultra Precision Weather Station.
Lighting a fire in your barbecue pit or pot belly stove is not always a simple task; sometimes that wood just will not ignite no matter how much you baby it along. For all of you who’ve ever sprayed a pile of hardwood with lighter fluid in frustrated defeat, I give you the Bison Airlighter — your own personal flamethrower.
It seems like everything these days is hi-tech, except for the great outdoors. Maybe it’s time to change that. The folks at Edyn want to give you a “smart garden” with their new Edyn Kickstarter campaign. Using a combination of WiFi connected devices in the garden and an iOS app, Edyn hopes to revolutionize the way we all garden.
We recently received almost 5″ of rain at our house, and although we desperately needed it, the tradeoff was made in bugs, bug, and more bugs! No problem, though, as I had recently received a package from Stinger. Inside were their No Touch Fly Trap and their On-the-Go Zapper Racket. Bugs beware; I am now on the prowl!
Our lake house in Pennsylvania has had its share of issues. Hit by lightning a minimum of 4 times, the electrical system had to be entirely replaced and a surge system installed. Then there was the water heater that burst, ran for a few days and destroyed the first floor. OUCH! The Wally Home will help prevent such future issues.
I’m currently working on a review of the INSTEON Connected Home Control and Monitoring system. Simply put, I’m impressed and I think you will be too. This morning comes news that the company will be releasing Windows and Windows Phone Apps for the system. Moreover, INSTEON products will soon available in Microsoft Stores and at MicrosoftStore.com.