home automation

Control all your home automation devices easily with Homey Pro

December 18, 2023 by Greg Gazin · Leave a Comment

Control, customize, and simplify your smart home experience with Homey Pro

Home automation gadgets promise convenience and ease, whether you’re enjoying the comforts of home or on the go. However, with the plethora of devices, brands, apps, and communication protocols out there, making them work seamlessly together might seem like a distant dream.

Enter Homey Pro, a remarkable creation by Netherlands-based Athom B.V.: Homey Pro serves as an advanced and secure universal smart hub within the Homey home automation ecosystem. Homey Pro effortlessly brings all your gadgets and electronics under one roof, eliminating the need for multiple apps and compatibility concerns.

Father’s Day peace-of-mind tech gifts for Dad

June 18, 2020 by Greg Gazin · Leave a Comment

gift google nest hub — **Google Nest Hub connects to 1,000-plus smart devices**

Control your connected home, make your old home alarm smart again and ensure fast, smooth home Internet

The best gifts for Dad are often those the entire family can enjoy and give Dad some peace of mind. And that’s very important during these unprecedented times.

Here are three selections for Father’s Day that fit the bill:

Roomba i7+ might be the robot vacuum you’ve been waiting for

December 18, 2018 by Greg Gazin · Leave a Comment

With advanced smart technology, it cleverly cleans and empties even while you’re away

After working hard for years, the last thing you likely want to do is to spend time vacuuming the house, but would it make a difference if you have an automated intelligent companion like the new Wi-Fi connected iRobot Roomba i7+ Robot Vacuum? In the past you may have hesitated, thinking – I’ve looked at those before; the technology just wasn’t fully up for the job. Yes, they’re cute and cool but often lost their way and ran into a few roadblocks; pardon the pun, with their major purpose, getting your floors fully clean.

But that’s all changed. It might be the robot vacuum you’ve finally been waiting for.

Tech gifts to lighten, brighten and colour your life

December 20, 2017 by Greg Gazin · Leave a Comment

Still searching for just the right tech gifts for Christmas? Here are a few bright, colourful ideas that might make the last-minute rush a little easier

Still searching for just the right tech gifts for Christmas? Here are a few bright, colourful ideas that might make the last-minute rush a little easier. [Read more…]

Filed Under: accessories, GadgetGreg, Gaming, Gift Ideas, New Product, Troy Media · Tagged With: bluetooth, Gaming, gift ideas, home automation, music, new products

Extremely glad Belkin WeMo LED bulbs don’t work as advertised

March 14, 2017 by Greg Gazin · Leave a Comment

When we buy a product that doesn’t work as advertised, we usually get annoyed. Either it doesn’t live up to its expectations or its specifications. But in the case of the Belkin WEMO LED light bulb, I accidentally discovered it exceeded both of these in a less than ideal operating environment. Read more…at Canoe Tech Blog.

Filed Under: accessories, Canoe Technology, GadgetGreg, Hands On, Product review, What the? · Tagged With: accessories, home automation, lighting, product review

Why mop floors when Braava jet can do it?

April 9, 2016 by Greg Gazin · Leave a Comment

Regardless as to how meticulous you are the floors in your house need to be mopped once in a while. It’s no secret, mopping up is one chore that most of us hate doing, so it’s great news to hear that iRobot has added a complementary cleaning gadget to go along with the Roomba robotic vacuum, the Braava jet 240 Mopping Robot, a compact high-tech hard surface cleaner.

More than just a mop being robotically dragged around the floor, iRobot’s latest creation incorporates a smart vibrating cleaning head and a jet sprayer.

Braava jet is designed to work with three types of specially designed pads to cover a wide variety of wet and dry cleaning needs. The Dry Sweeping Pad is perfect for picking up some simple dirt like dust, pet hair, and dry coffee grounds from hard surfaces.. For everyday dirt, or for cleaning tile and stone the Damp Sweeping Pad adds a little moisture to help ensure the dirt is cleaned up. For more heavily soiled or stained floors the Wet Mopping Pad is likely more appropriate. Both the damp and wet pads contain a water-activated cleaning agent to help loosen the dirt for better cleaning. Read more…at CanoeTech Blog.

Filed Under: Canoe Technology, GadgetGreg, In the news, New Product · Tagged With: home automation, New product, robotic, vacuum

Wink makes home automation easy

December 11, 2014 by Greg Gazin · Leave a Comment

EDMONTON, AB, Dec 11, 2014/ Troy Media/ – In the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a Babel Fish is a fictitious creature which, if you stick it in your ear, immediately converts any language into one that you can understand. This makes the Wink Hub, recently introduced to Canadians by The Home Depot, the “Babel Fish” of Home Automation.

The Wink Hub is a hardware (hub) and app solution designed to bring all of the different “smart” brands, most of which operate within their own eco-system and protocols, together under a single platform to allow them to work together. Currently, Wink is compatible with over 70 products from a dozen or so brands, including Philips, GE, DropCam, Honeywell, Schlage and more. READ Full article at TROY Media.

Filed Under: accessories, GadgetGreg, Hands On, New Product, Product review, Signs of the Times, Troy Media · Tagged With: home automation, product review

Review – Piper: Security Camera and Home Automation in a smart little bundle

April 11, 2014 by Greg Gazin · 1 Comment

More homes are not only getting more secure, they’re also getting much smarter, thanks to the availability of affordable and easy to set up security and home automation systems like Canadian-invented Piper.

Piper, which got its kick-start through crowdsourced funding on Indiegogo, is the brainchild of Ottawa-based BlackSumac (just acquired by California based iControl Networks earlier this week). The Piper solution revolves around a multipurpose camera unit and a multifunction downloadable app which together provide an all-in-one home awareness hub rather than just a typical security camera.

The Wi-Fi enabled camera shoots 1080p HD video. It’s equipped with a fish-eye lens that offers an impressive extremely wide 180-degree field of view. The 10x digital zoom supports pan and tilt functions giving you the ability to zoom in and look around the room. It also has an infrared motion detector to detect intruders (up to 10m), a built-in microphone and a piercing 105dB siren – loud enough to almost rival a chainsaw. More than just acting as your eyes and ears, it also has four additional sensors that measure indoor temperature, ambient light, and relative humidity. You’ll see why the last four are not just “nice to know”.

Read more…AT CANOE TECH BLOG

Filed Under: accessories, Canoe Technology, GadgetGreg, Hands On, New Product, Product review · Tagged With: home automation, security