Home lighting - The Gadgeteer

5 Smart Home Upgrades That Actually Make Sense in a Dorm Room

By Rei Padla / August 26, 2026 / Buyer's Guide / fan, Home Automation, Home lighting, smart home / Leave a Comment

A dorm room gives you many of the problems smart-home gear is supposed to solve, but little authority to solve them permanently. The lighting may be unpleasant, outlets scarce, temperatures inconsistent, and air quality poor, while drilling holes, replacing switches, or changing thermostats is off the table. Then there’s the complication that’s easy to overlook: […]

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6 LED Desk Lamps Under $35 Worth Your Desk Space

By Rei Padla / July 21, 2026 / Buyer's Guide / Desk, Home lighting, smart home / Leave a Comment

A cheap desk lamp usually gives itself away fast. The light flickers, the plastic creaks, and after an hour your eyes ache like you’ve been reading a phone in a dark room. The good news is that the under $35 shelf has quietly gotten good, and several of these lamps now match features that cost

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6 Smart Home Upgrades for Memorial Day That Don’t Require the Cloud

By Rei Padla / May 18, 2026 / Articles / Home lighting, security camera, smart bulb, smart home / Leave a Comment

Memorial Day weekend gets sold as the best smart home sale of the spring, and the carts fill up fast. The catch is that most of what’s discounted phones home to a cloud account, a paid subscription, or a server in another country. When that pipeline blinks, your lights, locks, and cameras blink with it.

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The Star Wars Gear Worth Buying This May the 4th (Even If You’re Not 12)

By Rei Padla / May 4, 2026 / Buyer's Guide / augmented reality, Bluetooth speaker, Home and Kitchen, Home lighting, Kid Gadgets, smart home, Star Wars, Toys / Leave a Comment

Best Star Wars Gear this May the 4th Star Wars Day

May the 4th has a merch problem. Nine out of ten products with a Vader stamp are screen-printed plastic destined for a yard sale by Labor Day, made for the kid aisle and priced like it. The other slice, the small one, is gear adults actually want on a desk, in a kitchen, or on

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7 Smart Gadgets That Cut Your Bills (Earth Month 2026)

By Rei Padla / April 20, 2026 / Buyer's Guide / Appliance, Green, Home and Kitchen, Home lighting, Lighting, smart home / Leave a Comment

Earth Month 2026 - 7 Smart Gadgets That Cut Your Bills

Earth Month happens every April, and April 22 is Earth Day. That’s the day most of us think harder about water bills, wasted food, and the energy we use without noticing. It’s also the day a lot of good intentions show up. You swear you’ll unplug more stuff, take shorter showers, and finally start composting.

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NITOWOLF Candle warmer lamp review

By Celeste Miller / August 30, 2025 / Reviews / Home lighting / Leave a Comment

REVIEW – One of my favorite things is walking into my house and having it smell like a delicious cookie, pumpkin spice, or apple pie. Having six kids can start to smell…. strange… I have owned candle warmers previously, but would forget to turn them on, or off, and would frequently need to replace everything.

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Govee Flow Pro Wi-Fi TV Light Bars review

By Joe Porletto / February 4, 2021 / Reviews / Home lighting / 3 Comments

REVIEW – Since it’s pretty much impossible to see movies in a theatre right now, I’ve been looking for ways to make my home cinema experience a bit more exciting. One easy fix was to add backlighting, also known as bias lighting, to my television. Bias lighting helps increase picture contrast and reduce eye strain

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Sansi SGLEDs outdoor floodlight review

By Smythe Richbourg / September 4, 2020 / Reviews / Home lighting, Outdoor Lighting, Outdoors / Leave a Comment

REVIEW – During this pandemic, many of us have been spending more time at home, and have possibly added lighting to our outdoor areas for variety and interest. I was recently sent a sample from Sansi of their SGLEDs outdoor floodlight, and have been amazed at the depth of color and flexibility of this single

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Brightech Owen Nightstand review

By Smythe Richbourg / August 14, 2019 / Reviews / Computer furniture, Home lighting, Wireless charging / Leave a Comment

REVIEW – It’s back-to-school time, and folks are thinking about changing where they live, setting up dorm rooms, and generally getting ready to snuggle down and study. Having a cozy corner with a lamp and a place to sit your coffee/tea/adult beverage has been a necessity since students read by oil lamps and candles. Nowadays,

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Casper introduces Glow a light designed for better bedtime

By Michael Strange / January 31, 2019 / News / Home lighting, Sleep / Leave a Comment

NEWS – Casper is best known for making mattresses and pillows, now they’re getting into the bedroom lighting game with the introduction of their latest product the Glow. The Glow is a self-dimming light designed to help you wind down naturally for a better, deeper nights sleep. When you turn the Glow on it begins a

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You won’t need an electrician to install a Mr. Beams wireless motion-sensor ceiling light

By Janet Cloninger / December 11, 2018 / News / Home lighting / Leave a Comment

NEWS – Have a dark closet in your house or a dark garage? Maybe you could even use a light over your shower, but you don’t want the expense of hiring an electrician to run wiring to install the fixtures you need. You won’t need to run wiring with the Mr. Beams Wireless UltraBright Motion Sensor

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Add solar lighting to your house gutters with this set from Falove

By Janet Cloninger / August 24, 2018 / News / Home lighting, Outdoor Lighting, Solar / Leave a Comment

NEWS – Most DIY solar landscape lighting seems to be the sort installed in the ground to light a pathway or to wash a wall or a plant in lights. These Falove solar-powered lights can be attached to your house’s gutters to light up an area where you could never plant them in the ground

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Philips announces the Adore mirror with smart Hue lighting

By Janet Cloninger / August 21, 2018 / News / Home lighting / Leave a Comment

NEWS – Philips has announced a new fixture that can replace both the mirror and the over-mirror light in your bathroom. It can be used as general lighting for the room, and it can provide task lighting for shaving or applying makeup. The new Philips Adore bathroom mirror adds to your existing Hue bridge that

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SANSI 30W LED Security Motion Sensor Outdoor Light review

By Julie Strietelmeier / August 17, 2017 / Reviews / Home lighting, LED Light, Outdoor Lighting / 2 Comments

We’re in the middle of remodeling the exterior of our house. It had wood painted wood siding and it’s currently (I can hear the contractors hammering right now…) getting vinyl siding. As luck would have it, a few weeks ago SANSI contacting me to ask if I might like to review their 30W LED Security Motion

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SnapPower SwitchLight review

By Julie Strietelmeier / July 10, 2017 / Reviews / Home lighting / 7 Comments

I love products that are simply designed, simply packaged, and easily installed. Products from SnapPower tick all three of those boxes. Three years ago I reviewed their GuideLights outlet covers plates which I still use today and today I’m going to show you their newer SwitchLight covers.

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Silk by Saffron Smart LED Lighting matches your home’s lighting to your body rhythms

By Janet Cloninger / July 7, 2015 / News / Crowdfunded, Health and fitness, Home and Kitchen, Home lighting, LED lighting, Sleep / 3 Comments

In recent years, there’s been a lot of discussion about how the blue light from the screens of mobile devices could be negatively impacting sleep patterns. Humans evolved having bright, bluish-white light from the sun during part of the day. The only light they had at night was either from the stars and moon or

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Affordable neon art for your home

By Janet Cloninger / June 22, 2015 / News / Art, Home and Kitchen, Home lighting / 1 Comment

Before I got married, I found some pieces of neon light tubes and a power supply at a local “junk” shop, and I assembled them into a really beautiful, abstract art piece for my living room. When I got married, I realized this huge light sculpture above my fireplace didn’t exactly mesh with our new furniture,

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Light up the night with this solar patio umbrella

By Janet Cloninger / April 2, 2015 / News / Home and Kitchen, Home lighting, Outdoor Gear, Outdoors, Umbrella / 2 Comments

If you’re lucky enough to have a personal outdoor area to enjoy warm weather, check out this lighted umbrella for your patio table. The ATLeisure 9′ Easy Light Touch Solar Umbrella with 44 LEDs will fit in the umbrella holder made into most patio tables, or you can use it without a table if you purchase a

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Emergency lighting that doesn’t look utilitarian

By Janet Cloninger / March 4, 2015 / News / Emergency lighting, Home and Kitchen, Home lighting, LED lamp / 1 Comment

This Blue Rely-A-Light Lamp looks too pretty to be emergency lighting, but it is. It functions as a normal reading lamp, but it has the added bonus of a USB charging port built into the base. When you lose power, the lamp has bright LED emergency lights that switch on automatically and can stay on for up

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IKEA announces new products with Qi chargers built in

By Janet Cloninger / March 2, 2015 / News / Batteries and Chargers, Furniture, Home and Kitchen, Home lighting, Qi, Wireless / Leave a Comment

IKEA just announced they will be introducing a new line of bedside tables, lamps, and desks with Qi chargers built-in. The wireless charging furnishings will be available in Europe and North America beginning this April, with global availability soon after. You can read the entire press release at PRNewswire. Check the IKEA website for availability information

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