That time already (Springtime or Fall)? This year, for the first time in a hundred years, we welcomed the Spring season a few days early on March 19th and Autumn as usual on September 22nd. With everything going on right now, it sure doesn't feel like a new season! Nonetheless, to keep things upbeat, here are my favorite tips for sprucing up your smart home this time of year if you’re tired of Netflix, Youtube, and endless Zoom online meetings! Check And update firmware Everything seems to need firmware updates these days - even the darn toaster oven! Check all your devices - computers, smartphones, tablets and of course, of your Internet of Things (IoT) smart devices and make sure they have the latest firmware upgrades. Proceed cautiously - read the release notes or upgrade notifications and make sure you understand what changes are included. Better security and new features are good to have, but not if stable/reliable equipment becomes buggy and problematic. The old adage “ain’t broke, don't fix it" is tempting, but with proper attention to the details you’ll gain more by keeping your devices up to date with very little risk. Label everything Time to go Marie Kondo and get out your label machine or markers and tape. You should label all network cables, USB cables, serial cables, HDMI cables, thunderbolt cables, power cords, and connectors. It may seem tedious, but trust me, it is really useful when 6 months from now …
Label Everything – Power Tip
Don't Ignore Power Cables Previously I gave some tips on how to label wires and connections to clean up and better manage all your smart home device connections. I want to add one more thing - Don’t ignore power cables. Ethernet cables, video cables, and USB cables tend to get all of our attention. After all, power cables are standardized and look identical, right? Power cords also come in different, wait for it, power ratings. The maximum amperage varies with the quality of the cable and the equipment. A power hungry audio video amplifier may need a bigger cord than an automation hub or controller. Too Detail Oriented? Labelling low voltage power cords used to be something I safely ignored. But I have avoided several problems and made equipment swaps much easier by labelling those thin cables going from the plug-in wall-wart or on the floor brick style power supply modules. Anyone that has agonized over “center positive or center negative” when looking for a replacement direct current (DC) power supply has been there. Save yourself the hassle by labelling all power cords with the both the voltage, polarity, and the name of the device or equipment it is intended. Although many low voltage devices now use standard USB or micro-USB connectors; different devices have very different power and amperage requirements. The new reversible, never-plug-it-in-backwards-again USB-C style connectors also have a variety of voltage and current …
On The (Sonos) Move?
What A Difference $220 Can Make! No, I’m not being sarcastic. I have now just purchased the new Sonos Move portable, battery-powered smart speaker. I guess I’m just a “use it or lose it” type of person when it comes to coupons or special discounts. The Sonos Move has a manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP) of $399, but I recently received trade-in credits for $220 off any new Sonos product. If you follow Sonos at all, you probably know that they are never discounted and rarely go on sale so the retail price is the price you usually have to pay. So yeah, that’s an expensive portable speaker, but with this discount the price is only $179. Ok, only is a relative thing when you can buy a simple Bluetooth speaker at the gas station or convenience store for around $10 or $15. I Loved It, I Hated It Let me be the first to admit that when Sonos introduced the Move, I had the same reaction as many other people at first. “Wow! That’s exactly what I’ve been waiting for - An awesome sounding Sonos Wi-Fi speaker that can be part of a multi-room, whole-house Sonos music system while also being totally portable and usable with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth”. The specs are impressive - Beautiful Sonos mechanical/aesthetic design, waterproof for use indoors, outdoors, around the pool or at the beach, long-lasting rechargeable battery power, a cordless recharging stand, and for the first time, the ability to also use it with Bluetooth. The Move supports both …
Time For Password Hygiene?
No Preaching It’s one of those things many of use know about but fail to actually do - paying attention to how we create and use passwords. As many more of us are now working from home, either permanently or temporarily because of the current health crisis, I think it is worthwhile to revisit this issue. Let me get one thing out of the way - I don’t care what you do about your passwords. No preaching here - no judgement. If you don’t reset default passwords, or use the same password everywhere, create simple to guess passwords, or write them on yellow sticky notes that you leave on top of each piece of equipment or computer, that’s on you. Having to deal with almost 1000 passwords (including my own and my clients) I am well aware of the frustration in dealing with a large number of them. If you’re happy with your current method or solutions, no problem. If you find yourself tired of watching YouTube, chatting in Slack or Facebook, and want to do something productive with extra “down time”, now might be a good time to invest a few hours in trying out some password management solutions and upping your security game. Quick Review - The Problem With Passwords Computer power has grown immensely. It is now takes very little time to guess passwords using straightforward methods. Computer software can quickly run through a dictionary of common passwords like “password”, “letmein”, all the curse words, etc. Algorithms can brute force run through …
SmartPlug Innovation?
Everything that can be Invented has been Invented Attributed to Charles H. Duell, the Commissioner of US patent office in 1899, this apocryphal quote seems apropos to the ubiquitous smart plug. Every introductory blog, video, or online article about starting a smart home seems to start with smart plugs. Is there really anyone left in the modern world that /doesn’t/ have their coffee maker automatically turning on with a swipe on their mobile phone or a command to their voice tube in the kitchen? Smartplugs are available from just about every major home automation device company and tons of smaller ones you may never had heard of. Online shopping or offline browsing the brick and mortar aisles of Best Buy, Target, Walmart, and even Ikea will turn up a selection of these “must have” gadgets. (My apologies to my European and Asian friends for name-dropping only US big box retail store names). Perhaps not surprising, but innovation in smart plugs seemed to grind to a halt. I’ve used a variety of different products and they all are pretty similar. Compared to security systems, video cameras, and even multi-room audio systems, smartplugs are downright pedestrian. And Now For Something Different I just completed testing a new smart plug and I’m very impressed. This product is not just a me-to device vying for my attention with a low price, well-known brand name, or just gimmicky useless bell and whistles. Instead of competing head-on with all the …
Best DIY Security Systems for 2020?
DIY Burglar Alarms Have Arrived During the past year, do-it-yourself burglar alarms finally matured to become a cost effective and reliable alternative to traditional security systems. First pioneered by smaller brands such as SimpliSafe, many other companies have jumped into the fray to grab our disposable income. Security is one of the few smart home product categories where consumers want the products and don’t need to be convinced. Keeping our loved ones and personal property safe is a basic human need. We don’t need to be sold on the benefits. Most of the new capability in smart home automation for lighting, shades, music, and entertainment falls squarely into the “nice to have” rather than the “must have” category - even today. That’s probably why there are more security and alarm products from companies you have never heard of vying for attention. Even the traditional (or untraditional) telephone, cable, and satellite companies are trying to get into the game. It’s not a mature market so product choices, technology, and capabilities are rapidly changing. There’s a lot of newfangled junk out there, so I want to give you my thoughts and narrow the field. What’s An Alarm System? This is not so straightforward a question. You can buy all kinds of standalone little gadgets that do one or two things and call themselves an alarm system, personal protection product, or surveillance gear. Here’s my take on what it takes to be considered a …
Wi-Fi 6 or is it Why-Fi 6?
IS WI-FI 6 THE LATEST NEW SHINY OBJECT? With tech products like Wi-Fi 6 we are often eager to buy the latest new thing. Even if we don’t know why we should. Almost like little children, we are drawn to the shiny new objects simply because they are new. Our desire to buy the newest products is also called GAS – gear acquisition syndrome. Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about Wi-Fi 6. Lots of clients asking if they should buy new Wi-Fi routers or replace their existing equipment. No specific problem or desired feature, just GAS envy as they hear everyone else talking about switching to Wi-Fi 6 too. WI-FI TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW The newest upgrade to wireless networking is Wi-Fi 6. Fortunately for both us consumers and technology integrators, Wi-Fi is one of the few mainstream technologies we use that is fully standardized. A recognized standards association, a series of standards over the years that insures compatibility between brands, and no risk in buying equipment. What more could anyone ask for? Well, actually, a lot! Firstly, my friends across the pond will remind me to mention that although Wi-Fi is a worldwide standard, different countries use different frequency bands, so you still have to be careful. Our laptop, tablet, or cellphone Wi-Fi will work anywhere by adapting to the required frequencies, but Wi-Fi equipment – access points, routers, and gateways must be purchased in models specific to the country of …
Cord Cutter: Navigating TV Choices in 2020
What’s On TV If you haven’t noticed, while you are becoming a cord cutter for viewing mainstream TV, technology moving from high definition to ultra high definition and even creeping towards 8K. A quick history of TV formats in the United States The easiest way to categorize the different models available is by the image resolution displayed on the screen. Traditional analog broadcast TV had 525 lines of resolution and is the baseline everything else is compared with. High Definition Digital TV has 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution. This is typically called HD or 1K television. The new Ultra HD (or 4K) TV’s feature 3840 x 2160 resolution which is four times the pixel resolution - that’s 400% more! New TV’s bring even more confusing image choices for cord cutter With technology it is too easy for manufacturers to avoid making hard decisions. Engineers and designers love to put multiple features and capabilities into a product and leave it up to the consumer to sort it all out. So HD and 4K televisions have many confusing options - multiple resolutions, different refresh rates, contrast ratio, color rendering, color range, and that’s just the beginning. HD televisions are available in both 720 and 1080 resolution, both interlaced (“i”) and non-interlaced (“p”) versions, and 4K provides even more choices for refresh rates. As if that wasn’t enough, the new crop of 4K televisions brings new whiz-bang features including wider color gamut, …
Can You Solve SmartHome Automation Challenges With A Proxy?
Proxy-Powered Home Automation The dictionary defines the word proxy as “the authority to represent someone else” which is close to what it means in software programming too. In a nutshell, a proxy is when one thing stands in for another. You manipulate one thing, and the results are applied to the second. You might think of it as a mirror image or a clone; that’s another way to describe the important concept of two things that are kept in lock-step synchronization with each other. One of the most powerful techniques to solving home automation problems is the use of a proxy device. This is both a basic and an advanced technique and there are many different ways it can be used. I realize this may not be applicable to everyone, and you may never want to implement an advanced proxy solution yourself, but it worthwhile to understand the basic concepts and why it can be useful. The Basics: At Some Level, Everything Is A Proxy I don’t want to play semantic games, but many aspects of a smart home system use proxies without us even thinking about it. A great example is the common motion detector. You might have a few of these that are part of a self-contained simple device like an outdoor floodlight or part of a large smart home system. A dumb or regular floodlight works with a manual switch. Switch it on - the lights turns on, switch it off, the light turns off. With a motion detector, the floodlight turns on or off automatically as the sensor …
Gift Idea: DIY Smart Picture Frame For Grandparents
Gifting Your SmartHome SkillsHopefully if you’ve been reading this Home Automation Secrets Newsletter, you’ve developed some Ninja Powers implementing or upgrading your smart home. But have no fear, even home automation newbies might appreciate the quick tip I have for you this week. Combining my interest with smarthome gadgets and the holiday season, I’ve come with a novel twist on the all but forgotten smart picture frames. The ClassicsThe smart picture frame has actually been around for over 10 years or more. It’s a small flat panel computer screen with a processor and memory inside. Some of them can take removable memory cards and some also have Wi-Fi or cellar Internet connections. They are designed to do one thing - display a set of digital photographs constantly rotating between them. Unlike a regular picture frame, the images displayed in a smart frame can either be manually updated by changing the memory card, or automatically through the Internet. ”Set It And Forget It”With all due respect to Ron Popeil, the prolific gadget inventor and original informercial star, the genius marketing phrase he coined fits the smart picture frame perfectly. Just configure it, load it with photos, and then send it your loved one. They simply plug it in and voilà - a never ending photo slide show. It’s the perfect gift for Grandparents and other non-tech savvy people. Easy to share photos of your little ones without them having the hassle of …