Most people assume indoor air is clean because they can’t see or smell anything wrong. The EPA says otherwise: indoor air is typically 2 to 5 times more polluted than outdoor air, and in some cases up to 100 times worse. The culprits are cooking fumes, cleaning chemicals, off-gassing furniture, pet dander, dust, and — … Read more
Stairs are one of the most dangerous places in any home. Over a million people visit the ER each year from stair-related injuries, and most of those accidents happen at night when people stumble down dark stairs on the way to the bathroom or kitchen. Night lights help, but you have to remember to turn … Read more
The smart home promise that actually delivers: waking up to the smell of fresh coffee. Not a gimmick. Not a parlor trick. Just hot coffee ready when you walk into the kitchen. It costs under 25 dollars and takes 10 minutes to set up. The trick is that you don’t need a “smart coffee maker” … Read more
You press the doorbell. You wait. Five seconds later, your phone buzzes. By then, the delivery driver is already walking back to the truck. Or your visitor has pressed it again because they think it didn’t work. This delay is one of the most common complaints about smart doorbells, and it drives people crazy. The … Read more
Waiting for a package is its own kind of anxiety. The tracking says “delivered” but you don’t see it. You check the porch three times. Then you wonder if someone already took it. Or it’s still on the delivery truck and the tracking is just wrong. Porch piracy costs Americans over 8 billion dollars a … Read more
Sump pump failure is one of the most expensive things that can happen to a homeowner. The average cost of basement water damage is 10,000 to 25,000 dollars. And most sump pump failures happen silently — the pump just stops working, and you don’t find out until you step into six inches of water. A … Read more
Here’s the dirty secret of smart homes: most of them become very dumb the moment the power goes out. Your Wi-Fi router dies, your smart lights won’t turn on, your thermostat stops working, and your security cameras go blind. The house that was automated an hour ago is now less functional than a non-smart house … Read more
Window sensors are the most underrated device in smart homes. Most people think they only do one thing: tell you if a window is open or closed. And sure, that’s their job. But what you can do with that information is what makes them a must-have. A 20 to 30 dollar contact sensor on a … Read more
Most people skip ceiling fans when building a smart home. Lights, thermostats, locks — those get all the attention. But ceiling fans run more hours per day than almost anything else in your house, and automating them can cut your cooling costs by up to 40 percent without touching your AC. The best part? You … Read more
Smart Home Devices Collect More Data Than You Think Your smart speaker knows what you ask it. Your camera knows who comes to your door. Your thermostat knows when you leave and when you come home. Your smart TV knows what you watch and for how long. Individually, each device collects a slice of your … Read more
