Voice control is no longer a party trick; it is the glue that holds a modern smart home together. With the right Alexa phrases, lights, locks, cameras and climate systems respond in seconds, often ...

Amazon's options can be very powerful if you're willing to go all-in.

It's no secret that the smart home world is dominated by Big Tech, with Amazon's Alexa leading the charge, closely followed by Google Home and Apple HomeKit. These popular automation systems aren't as ...

When you set up a smart bulb in a lamp, you get to name that lamp, so Alexa will know which lamp you are asking her to turn on. In my living room, I’ve set up lamps called table lamp and floor lamp.

To achieve a smart home, you need a voice assistant to run it. A smart home assistant, usually folded into a smart speaker, will let you command your smart home with your voice and run your various ...

Overview: Smart doorbells now offer AI alerts, night vision, package tracking, and smartphone-based visitor monitoring.Alexa ...

If you’re seeking to make your home smarter, odds are you’re in between two smart home ecosystems, Amazon Alexa versus Google Home. Both Amazon Alexa- and Google Assistant-enabled devices can help ...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. Just a few decades ago, smart houses were the stuff of fiction. We imagined a future with intelligent structures (some of which took a turn ...

I’ve got Amazon Echo devices in a few of my rooms at home as the gateway to my smart home system. I started with one Echo Dot in the living room, but added a new Dot with a clock to the bedroom and ...

Amazon Alexa and Google Home are great control centers to navigate your new smart home, but they aren't absolute necessities. Here are other ways to make your home smarter. John Carlsen has more than ...

Chris Wedel is a fan of all things tech and gadgets. Living in rural Kansas with his wife and two young boys makes finding ways to stay online tricky — not to mention making my homestead smarter.