Home Automation - The Gadgeteer

Expand your control over your iDevices home automation products with the Instant Switch

iDevices recently announced the availability of their new Instant Switch, a wireless remote control switch that connects to your favorite iDevices product. The Switch is battery powered, so it doesn’t require wiring. You can mount it directly on the wall with its included 3M Command adhesive strip and faceplate anywhere you’d like an extra control […]

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Easily add a security camera by screwing in this smart lightbulb

By Janet Cloninger / February 5, 2018 / News / Crowdfunded, Home Automation / 1 Comment

The LightCam is a smart lightbulb with a security camera built in that’s currently seeking funding on Indiegogo. The project is very popular and has been funded at more than 425% with 20 days still left in the campaign, so you have plenty of time to reserve one for yourself. The lightbulb works in any

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Control your HomeKit devices with the Elgato Eve Button

By Janet Cloninger / January 18, 2018 / News / Home Automation / 4 Comments

When you have home automation devices, you find you’ll need to have a mobile device handy to be able to control your devices. It’s not always convenient to carry a tablet or phone with you, and there may be people in the home – guests or children – who won’t have a mobile device with

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ConnectSense Smart Outlet review

By Dave Moore / November 23, 2017 / Reviews / Home Automation / Leave a Comment

I grew up watching Star Trek and always thought that talking to a computer was the coolest thing! With Siri, Google and Alexa were getting darn close to Captain Kirk’s Enterprise. Ahhh, the joys of home automation! I love it when something cumbersome becomes effortless. Adding ConnectSense’s new Smart Outlet to my home automation system

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Philips adds a motion sensor to the Hue lighting system

By Janet Cloninger / November 20, 2017 / News / Home Automation, LED lighting / 3 Comments

There are many ways to control your Hue WiFi-connected lighting system – smart Hue Switches, apps for mobile devices or computers, Alexa voice commands, IFTTT – but those are limited in various ways. Perhaps there are some areas, like a dark hallway or stairs, where you would like a hands-free way of turning on the

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Chamberlain MyQ Wi-Fi hub and Home Bridge Review

By Dave Moore / November 3, 2017 / Reviews / Car Gear, Home and Kitchen, Home Automation / 2 Comments

If your home is anything like mine, we don’t use our front door much. More times than not, we come and go through the garage door, even when not using a vehicle. Inevitably, the door gets left open, creating an ideal habitat for many friendly (and not so friendly) woodland creatures. This doesn’t happen much

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Oittm Smart Touch Switch and Smart Plug Socket review

By Kathleen Chapman / August 30, 2017 / Reviews / Home Automation / 19 Comments

Automating a home is fun – opening an app and adjusting the temperature in your house or turning on a light when you’re not at home is so useful and gives you such a sense of power. These are especially fun when you’ve left people at home – you know, just a little flicker of

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Switchmate Bright instant smart lighting switch review

By Julie Strietelmeier / July 14, 2017 / Reviews / Home Automation / 8 Comments

Last year I reviewed the original Switchmate Smart Light and now they have recently come out with version two which they’ve named the Switchmate Bright. Let’s give this smart light switch controller a try.

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Wemo Wi-Fi Smart Dimmer Light Switch review

By Dave Moore / July 5, 2017 / Reviews / Home Automation, Lighting / 2 Comments

As I slowly add parts to automate my home, I’m always interested in the gadgets that are being released to make life easier or just cooler. The Wemo Dimmer is one of those devices that just makes sense.

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Koogeek SK1Smart Socket review

By Dave Moore / June 30, 2017 / Reviews / Home Automation, Lighting / Leave a Comment

I’m in the process of slowly automating my home, so when the opportunity to review the Koogeek SK1 Smart Socket, I jumped at the opportunity. I anticipated turning light on and off from afar, and dimming them to suit a particular mood… I get ahead of myself.

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LEDVANCE’s Sylvania Lightify Gateway review

By Howard Sneider / April 3, 2017 / Reviews / Home and Kitchen, Home Automation, LED lighting / 2 Comments

The LEDVANCE Gateway is a smart hub that interprets commands from a Wi-Fi network and transmits them to devices on its ZigBee network, and also monitors the status of those devices and reports it to authorized users. It is metaphorically the jam that holds all of the intelligent LEDVANCE products together. But, like the jam that holds your sandwich together, there are

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PureSwitch Wireless Smart Plug review

By Leslie Hosmer / March 22, 2017 / Reviews / Home Automation, iOS, power adapter / Leave a Comment

If you’re a seeker of new and innovative accessories to control your smart home, read on fellow venturer! The PureSwitch smart plug, made by PureGear, is a gem of a find and integrates with Apple Homekit to allow you to operate your appliances and doohickeys from wherever you are. Let’s check it out.

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Make your home smarter by replacing your light switches with Brilliant Controls

By Julie Strietelmeier / February 25, 2017 / News / Home and Kitchen, Home Automation / Leave a Comment

Brilliant Controls replace your existing light switches to add smart home control capabilities to your rooms. The Brilliant Control features a color LCD touch screen that allows everyone in the house to access music, temperature, and more with just a simple touch or voice command. Don’t worry, no smartphone is required.

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Flic wireless smart buttons review

By Julie Strietelmeier / December 29, 2016 / Reviews / Bluetooth, Home Automation / 2 Comments

Using your phone or tablet to control IoT (Internet of Things) gadgets is cool, but it can get annoying when you have to pull your phone out of your pocket, turn it on, navigate to a specific app and then tap an onscreen button to perform the desired task. If you want to save a

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Elgato Eve Motion presence sensor puts you in control of home automation

By Julie Strietelmeier / November 19, 2016 / News / Home and Kitchen, Home Automation / Leave a Comment

The Evo Motion sensor from Elgato is a wireless motion sensor with HomeKit technology for Apple devices. This sensor can detect a user’s presence or absence in a room to enable or disable power outlets, heating and air conditioning systems, lights and more without needing to open an app or voice commands with Siri or

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Pebblebee Stone review

By Dennis Moore / June 23, 2016 / Reviews / Android, Bluetooth, Home Automation, iOS / 7 Comments

I’m a huge fan of home automation. Several of the lights in my house are programmed to turn on when a person walks in the room, turn off when there is no longer motion, or turn off at a specific time. Although I love my setup, some of my lights can only be turned on

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Stringify gives you control of all your things

By Julie Strietelmeier / June 22, 2016 / News / Home Automation, iOS / Leave a Comment

Stringify is an IoT (Internet of Things) platform that makes your smart gadgets smarter by allowing users to create macros that they call “flows”. Flows are commands that are strung together that control and react to their existing gadgets. It’s like IFTTT, but more powerful and customizable because unlike IFTTT, Stringify can create multiple actions

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Koogeek Homekit Smartplug review

By Leslie Hosmer / June 22, 2016 / Reviews / Home and Kitchen, Home Automation / 1 Comment

Home automation is totally my jam and I really can’t seem to get enough of it. The devices that I have so far are all compatible with the Amazon Echo and I thought this would be enough for me, however….this Koogeek Smartplug is the first device I’ve tried that is compatible with Apple Homekit

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Switchmate Smart Light Switch review

By Julie Strietelmeier / June 17, 2016 / Reviews / Home and Kitchen, Home Automation, Lighting / 12 Comments

Have you seen the acronym IoT? It stands for Internet of Things and according to Google it means: a proposed development of the Internet in which everyday objects have network connectivity, allowing them to send and receive data. Someone at google needs to update their definitions because this isn’t something we’ll have in the future. It’s

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Simple Control is adding support for Amazon Echo to create a voice controlled home

By Julie Strietelmeier / January 6, 2016 / News / Amazon, Home and Kitchen, Home Automation / Leave a Comment

If you’ve dreamed of being able to control your home with just your voice, Simple Control and an Amazon Echo will give you that power. Imagine sitting on the couch and being able to turn on the TV just by saying “Alexa, tell Simple Control to turn on the TV” or being able to turn

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