Viewing entries tagged
smart home
When I first purchased the Amazon Echo, I had just come off of a very bad relationship with an Ivee Sleek. A connected "Smart" clock that didn't really live up to its billing. It didn't really do much of anything actually. Frustrations with that appliance, Google Now, and Siri had almost completely put me off the voice activated virtual assistant thing. So it was with much hesitation and admittedly a lot of curiosity that I signed up for the wait list, and eventually bought an Amazon Echo.
Make sure you check out my second guest appearance on the Wearable Today Podcast. We talk about How Wearable Technology can go hand in hand with Home Automation, share some tips and tricks on getting things to work well, and I even talk about how I broke my first Apple Watch. Great show to watch if you're interested in wearable tech. Go to WearableToday.com to keep up with the podcast and check out the source link for video and audio only streams of this episode.
For a few years now, I've been toying around with "Smart" home accessories. I have Philips Hue light bulbs, and accessories, I've owned various Belkin WeMo switches, and have recently jumped into the Wink ecosystem with their Aros Smart Air Conditioner. In many ways "Smart" isn't the correct way to refer to these devices or a home powered by them. We're still in its infancy and many of these devices don't offer much more convenience than normal "unsmart" devices. A better way to refer to them are connected devices, which is a more apt description. They are connected to the internet, bluetooth, or both giving you unprecedented access to your appliances and in some cases more convenience. However, they do fall into a few pitfalls, and this is just my experience with the connected home, and integrating them into my life and my wearables.
Today we are unboxing and setting up the Amazon Echo. It's an exciting new product from Amazon that is a bluetooth speaker, as well as an intelligent assistant, and home automation hub. Let us know what you think, and what other things you'd like to see from us in the comments. Also please subscribe to our Youtube channel.
