Home Tech

Smart Home technology has exploded in recent years, and it’s been a challenge to keep up with what’s available, what’s compatible, and what’s getting positive reviews. It has also been a really exciting time for those of us with small homes (and budgets), since DIY smart home technology is affordable, easy to install, and often ideal for small spaces (even if you don’t own yours).

Oh, the weird and wonderful business of buying and selling secondhand goods online. A market once cornered by Ebay and Craigslist, virtual resale sites and apps are a booming business, some as virtual garage sales and others as niche marketplaces. Here’s the lowdown on five popular sites and apps and please jump in with your favorites (and not-so-favorites) in the comments! The lowdown: The cPro+ Craigslist Mobile Client is a well-reviewed app that lets you take Craigslist on the road.

Okay, so we haven’t quite made it to the Jetsons era where Rosie the robot does all the household cleaning, then has dinner ready when we get home. But in 2016, you can invite a robot into your home to help with at least one chore: vacuuming.

This month we’ll be sharing solutions that are so simple and easy—and at times, automated—that they feel like magic. Hocus Pocus celebrates all the small ways you can trick yourself into living a better life. If you jumped on the bandwagon and watched Stranger Things recently, you’re probably looking for ways to feel less creeped out every time you wake up to go to the bathroom at night and have to walk down that long, dark hallway.

Imagine yourself gift shopping, selflessly browsing the aisles, checking off items on your to-do list, when you find it: the perfect gift. Let me clarify: you find the perfect gift for yourself. While it’s a gift you know your significant other would love, you also know it’s something you’ve been longing for all year. You need to have it. You both need to have it. Perhaps it’s time to make your own wish list.

Did you know there haven’t been any updates to the traditional tape measure since the late 1800’s? Well, watch out: the measuring revolution has arrived. Just this week, InstruMMents (yes, that’s two M’s) celebrated the launch of “01,” the world’s first dimensioning instrument. Designed to seamlessly measure any object, (even one with 3D curves!

Update 5/26/17: IKEA announced this week that their smart lighting collection will also come with voice activation, supporting all three major assistants, Siri, Google, and Alexa. 3/31/17: The home of the future just got a lot more accessible. This week, IKEA debuted their new smart lighting collection. If you’ve been curious about smart home tech, but haven’t yet dipped your toe in, the Swedish retailer just made it as easy as—you guessed it—screwing in a lightbulb.

Alexa, Amazon’s virtual assistant, can do a lot of things—tell you the weather or traffic, shop for you, play music. Now, she can help you get dressed. Amazon’s latest device, the Echo Look, is a hands-free, Alexa-enabled camera that is your new #OOTD bestie so you can give your Instagram Husband a break. Echo Look, like Amazon’s other Alexa-enabled products, is voice activated, so you can tell it to take a photo or a short video without having to press any buttons.

I, for one, love the idea of the Internet of Things and smart home technology. I’m looking forward to more and more cutting edge, connected tools that create efficiency with automated tasks, ones that actually save money and time (rather than costing a bundle and eating up the extra time with a giant learning curve or constant troubleshooting).

Think right now about all the digital photos you have on your computer hard drive. Take a moment to relish the thought of all those memories, preserved: your college trip backpacking through Europe, your wedding, your baby’s first steps, your family portraits through the years, all of which you can go back and look at any time a reminiscent mood strikes. Now imagine that they are gone in the blink of an eye.

If you’re sold on the future of smart home, you don’t need me to exalt all the benefits of Amazon Echo’s voice-activated personal assistant, Alexa. But this post is actually for the skeptics out there. Even if you think the whole voice-controlled smart home thing is silly or extra, I bet I can sell you on it, at least for one room in your home. See, I was an Echo skeptic for a long time. Until my sister-in-law gifted us an Echo Dot for Christmas last year.

By now, we’re all well aware of the inspiration, discovery and even expression that apps like Instagram and Pinterest offer designers and design enthusiasts alike. But what’s the new new in tech for the creative set when they want to get their inner decorator or DIYer on? We polled designers, trend experts and influencers from the home decor world to get the scoop on what apps make their jobs easier, more fun and more inspiring—or all three.

Never underestimate the power of a quality pair of headphones. Whether for yourself or the music lover in your life, gifting a good pair of headphones this season can be a total game-changer for your day-to-day routine. Commuting and travel becomes more enjoyable, as does the gym and just about everything else, because you can cancel out the noise around you and focus on all your fave songs—which will sound amazing in a well-made headphones by the way—instead.

You know the type: they’ve had a subscription to Wired since forever, they attend tech expos every year (or at the very least, follow the coverage on social), and they always, always know what’s new and next. Get them chatting about which of these pieces of tech they’re coveting (nobody has everything), and watch them geek out…even more than usual. A do-it-all device with 4.3 stars from 59,132 reviews, all for only $50?

It’s about to be peak winter Hygge season and I don’t know about you but I’m excited as hell to stay inside and hold a mug with both of my hands. But sometimes the warmth emanating from own two palms is not enough to keep a mug of coffee warm as I slowly sip it throughout the morning. Luckily Ember, a Los Angeles based start-up, is here to solve this very particular, but common annoyance.

Weak wifi is one of the more infuriating annoyances of modern life. Whether you work from home or are just an avid Netflix watcher, an internet disruption can totally throw off your plans. A team from Dartmouth College has come up with a surprising (and surprisingly simple) way to boost wifi signals — put a tinfoil hat on your router. Yup.