Libratone Zipp 2 Smart Speaker Review

You like entertainment choices in life, and you don’t want to spend a lot of time juggling those choices. Unfortunately, if you don’t have convenient smart devices, you’re stuck taking twice as long to do things.

What you need is something that can integrate your life so that all you have to do is speak and what you want done is done. You want something that’s hassle free as well as well as a time saver for you.

You can download an app on your smart phone that will play the music you want played when you want to hear it. But you’ll need a separate app if you want to see the weather or check the news updates.

Or, you can get a smart speaker because these handle entertainment right – plus, they save time! The Libratone Zipp 2 Portable Smart Speaker has amazing sound. That ability is thanks to the acoustic stereo drivers.

But it has what’s called the Fullroom feature, too. This means that the device can tell what the space is like in the room that it’s in, how big or small, etc. So it changes the sound to make sure it’s directed in a way that fills the room rather than just aiming at one small area of the room.

It comes with Alexa so you’ll be able to use voice activation to pick your entertainment choice. You can request the device to stream individual songs, or you can tell it what kind of music you want to hear.

If you prefer to get a book instead, you can request to listen to an audiobook. Or, you can listen to the radio if you want. You can set personalized choices. The device will allow you to create a playlist.

It uses Zipp 2 to give you the answers you seek – such as asking what the weather is like. You can use it to set kitchen timers, sleep alarms and more. It can connect using Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB, etc.

You’ll be able to use it with your phone, laptop, TV and other devices. It can be used with both Spotify and Airplay2. A feature that’s top of the line convenient for this device is that it’s smart home capable.

If you have other smart devices, you can use the speaker to sync everything together. You’ll be able to control your home’s thermostat as well as light switches, locks and more using voice activation or the app on your phone.

You can set it up to use in more than one room. If you have it playing and you need it to be quiet for a second, if you put your hand over it, the volume will lower. To get it to return to the original volume, you simply move your hand. Because it’s portable, you can take it anywhere and it can play for up to 12 hours before it needs to be recharged. The Libratone allows you to have the entertainment choices that you want. You’ll get what’s important to you in less time and with less effort.

Sonos One Gen 2 Smart Speaker Review

When you want to have quality sound for your home entertainment, you usually end up spending a lot to buy several different home theater speakers. Then you have a separate voice activated device set up for doing other things like checking on the weather. 

If you want to hear your music in a different room in your home than where the entertainment system is set up, you either have to play it loud or rely on a small docking station and an iPod or your smartphone.

All of that costs a lot of money. You could buy separate pieces for everything you need to make sure that you have the sound and convenience that you want. You could also hire someone to hard-wire speakers throughout your house so you get that feature.

Or, you could get a smart speaker that’s so easy to set up you can do it yourself. The Sonos One Gen 2 Smart Speaker can do everything you’d like to have for entertainment purposes.

The speaker is compact enough that it’s able to fit anywhere, so you can put it on a shelf or on a counter and it won’t take up much room. But just because it’s small doesn’t mean it doesn’t have powerful sound.

The sound capability is so powerful in fact, that you can use these speakers as a set up to get immersive sound quality. The sound is clear enough to be uses as home theater surround sound.

You won’t have to deal with the issue of not being able to hear your entertainment choice if you leave the room because multiple speakers hook up with Wi-Fi. This gives you the option to hear whatever you want in any room in your home.

You can set the speaker up in your kitchen or bathroom, too – because the device is humidity resistant. The voice control is already built in so you speak and it listens. It uses the Sonos app, Apple Airplay 2 and others.

If you want to hear your favorite tunes, you can do that. Or, if you have a question you’re puzzling over, you just ask for the information and the speaker gives it to you. If you want to hear what’s going on in the world, you can have the speaker check the news.

If you need to have an alarm set, you can do that, too. The device can connect with Amazon, Spotifify, Sirius XM, Youtube  and more. You’ll get rich sounds, regardless of what you play. Personalization is available so you can customize your setup. Have the entertainment system that you want coupled with the convenience you’ll appreciate. You’ll save yourself some hassle and money as well.

Eufy Genie Wi-Fi Smart Speaker Review

There’s a lot to keep up with in a single day, let alone a week or more at a time. You have to remember appointments and remind yourself about upcoming events. You also have to set alarms to get up in the morning or to remember to take the food out of the oven.

There are dozens of things you have to do and recall every day. Your day can end up convoluted and all the tasks can inconvenience you if you don’t stay on track. You can use a master planner and write down everything that you need to take care of for the day and in the future.

But if your hands are full, then you might plan to write something down and forget. Or, you could notate it in your phone as soon as you get your hands free. But then you forget and that can mess up your schedule.

You could take the time to sit down with your phone’s calendar and remind yourself of everything you’re supposed to do. Or, you could get a smart speaker. The Eufy Genie Wi-Fi Smart Speaker takes your busy life, simplifies it and makes it convenient, leaving you more time to do the things that matter.

Not only is the speaker a help to you personally with your scheduling, but it can also be used to control other smart devices in your home that are compatible. You can use the device to check on your daily, weekly or monthly calendar.

You can set reminders so that it will give you a heads up when you’ve got something going on. It’s a time saver because you don’t have to go searching for the news on your phone or online.

You can just direct the speaker to give you the news. The speaker helps you manage your life. You won’t have to worry that you might not dress for the weather if you didn’t have time to look it up.

You simply ask it what the weather is like and that information is quickly delivered so you can make the right decision. Plus, the product can keep you up to date on all your favorite sports.

All you have to do is ask it to give you the sports news. When you’re hanging out at home and you’d like to order some takeout, you can instruct the speaker to do that for you.

Have a pizza, Chinese food or whatever your favorite meal is delivered just by asking the speaker to take care of that for you. You can call for a ride with a ride service, or you can call a friend.

If you have a question about anything, or you want something, all you have to do is ask. You can direct the device to stream your favorite music and you’ll get a pure sound, thanks to the AudioSmart feature. It understands what you’re saying with ease and gives you the music you ask for with clear audio. Sure, you can juggle your life. You can handle the inconvenience and you can do things with your hands full – but you don’t have to. You don’t have to stress and you don’t have to put up with inconvenience – not when the speaker can make things nearly effortless for you.

Echo Dot 3rd Gen Review

When you go home after a long day, you need to get something to eat, you want to catch up on the news, hear some music to help relax you and turn on the heat or air depending on what your weather is like.

You’ll make a ton of little decisions all in the space of fifteen minutes or less. What you need is an assistant that can help make your day winding down effortless so that you save time.

You can set devices on timers such as your lights or stereo and you can schedule your thermostat. Or, you can get a smart speaker that can do all that – plus save you even more time.

The Echo Dot 3rd Gen Smart Speaker is like having an assistant who’ll take care of all the things you take care of instead of getting to relax. It’s a small, lightweight speaker that can fit anywhere you put it.

The device has great quality that delivers a rich stereo sound. You can use it with Alexa for streaming your favorite music playlist or, you can ask it to play what’s popular. You can also choose music at random.

It works with Spotify, Amazon Music, SiriusXM, Apple Music and more. If you want to relax and play a game, you can do that through Alexa. The device has the ability to answer questions you ask.

But it can also tell you the news. Or if you need it to, it’ll let you know what the weather is like. If you need to use it to set an alarm, you can do that. It can also let you know what the time is.

When you need help keeping an eye on something that’s cooking, you can use it in the kitchen to set as a timer. It’s an all over home assistant. The speaker has the ability to work with most smart enabled devices.

So if you have smart light switches, all you have to do is tell the speaker to turn on or off the lights. It can also control your thermostat. You can turn the air on or off and the same with the heat.

You’ll be able to unlock or lock doors and do other tasks with a simple voice command.

If you need to make a phone call, the speaker can do that hands-free, too. It can connect you with other rooms in your home as long as you have a device that works with the Echo. So you can have music everywhere in your home if you choose to. With the Echo, you can enjoy hands-free music, talking and more. Let it do the simple tasks that take up your time so that your days and nights are spent enjoying your hours.

Ultraloq UL3 BT Review

Security is extremely important for many people today. Cheap locks simply don’t cut it anymore, given that lockpicking is easy for a thief to do. It can also just be inconvenient to fumble around with your keys trying to open your door, especially if you’re holding things like groceries in your arms.

By getting yourself a high quality smart lock like those from Ultraloq, you’ll be able to make your house more secure and add a lot of convenience to your everyday life. The Ultraloq UL3 BT smart lock features five different methods of opening up your door, depending on what you’d prefer.

The first method would be the simple fingerprint scan. You can add many different people to the fingerprint scanner when you first set it up, and nobody can add one unless you allow it.

It works quickly and only requires a scan, removing the need to fumble with your keys at the front door. This is also useful if you have multiple family members, but not enough house keys to go around.

You can also use a simple password on the touch keypad. Instead of a traditional physical keypad, these touch sensitive buttons allow you to type your password without wearing out the keys, which is something that thieves commonly use to figure out passcodes on other locks.

You can even type in as many numbers as you’d like, but as long as you have the true code hidden in that combination, it’ll still open, so nobody can watch you type the numbers to open it up.

One of the most fascinating aspects of this lock is the paired smartphone integration that it allows you to use. By simply checking an app, you can check and see the status of the lock and whether it’s locked or unlocked.

You can also change that with the press of a button from anywhere, making it very convenient. If you went off to work and didn’t remember if you relocked it or not, you could check the app.

If it showed unlocked, you could instantly lock it remotely right then and there. The final method of opening the lock depends on the type of smartphone you have. If you have an iPhone, you can simply knock on the phone four times to open it up. If you have an android, you can turn it on and shake it. This unique and convenient feature can be disabled if you’d like, but it also makes a very easy way for you to open up your door.

Kwikset Smartcode 888 Review

As technology advances, people are trying to use it in as many useful ways as possible. One of the greatest modern concerns is security, especially that of physical property like the things you own at home.

Kwikset has developed a lock that uses smart technology in order to provide a great deal of safety as well as convenience. This lock has plenty of features that will help you keep your house safe and secure.

The Kwikset Smartcode 888 smart lock offers multiple ways for you to open your door, and each one is secure so that you’ll be able to have a choice without having to sacrifice security. These options allow you to share access to your house with people that you want to have it, such as houseguests, without having to go and make copies of your keys.

Additionally, it has added security measures to make your life that much more convenient and your house that much safer. This lock offers three main methods of access.

First, there’s the traditional key and keyhole method. Kwikset makes reliable locks that aren’t easy to pick, so this method alone is fairly secure. However, it can be a bit inconvenient at times, especially if you don’t have your keys on you.

Luckily, it provides a few others. The secondary method that you can use is the keypad. You can program your own codes that you’ll be sure to remember into the lock, so that you’ll be able to open it with or without keys as long as you know the code.

You can actually program up to 30 different codes, which can be shared with other people as needed. Finally, you can use the smartphone app to wirelessly lock and unlock your door.

This comes in very handy if you’ve forgotten the code and don’t have your keys, or if it just seems more convenient for you. Without having to fumble with keys, this is a great option for those who are carrying in groceries or other items frequently. One security option that it features is auto-locking. You can set it in such a way that if the door is left unlocked for a certain amount of time, it’ll automatically relock itself. This is very helpful if you have kids who might forget to relock the door on the way in, or if you just happen to forget to do so every now and then.

Yale YRD226-ZW2-619 Z-Wave Plus Review

Many people are curious about smart technology, but are afraid of diving right into it. This is especially true when it comes to home security. Those who still have their doubts about smart devices are hesitant to go all in on a device that holds the last real barrier between them and the outside world – the only thing keeping criminals from stealing their possessions.

For those who want just a taste of the smart device world, the Yale YRD226-ZW2-619 touchscreen deadbolt is right for you. This device is easily installed over any existing deadbolt hole, meaning that the entire installation only requires a simple screwdriver.

The instructions are easy to follow, and it even has a little speaker that walks you through what you need to do if you’re unsure. Once it’s on, it operates just as any normal deadbolt would, but it has just a few smart features that make it more convenient.

It’s less intimidating to those who are concerned about smart technology. The main smart method of opening the lock is through the touchscreen keypad. This keypad allows you to set your own PIN when it’s first being set up, and then secures that once it’s installed.

For an intruder to reset the PIN, they’d have to access it from the inside and disassemble it. The screen is backlit so that you don’t have to worry about wear and tear on physical buttons, something that can clue intruders into what numbers the code uses.

You can also use the simple smartphone app in order to lock or unlock it remotely. This feature is tied directly with your account, so not just anyone can access it. This can be done remotely for you to check and see if you remembered to lock the door or if you need to quickly unlock it for someone else to let them in.

This means of opening it is optional, and you can stick with the standard deadbolt if that’s what you feel comfortable with. One convenience feature that this lock provides is the ability to set an auto-lock timer.

This will automatically lock up the door if it’s left unlocked for more than a certain amount of time, meaning that you’ll never have to worry again about whether or not you locked the door behind you if you’re out at work. A little bit of added security is never a bad thing.

Schlage Z-wave Connect Camelot Touchscreen Deadbolt Review

Keeping a good, solid lock on your door is extremely important if you want to protect your valuables. However, with added security, you’re usually sacrificing convenience and user-friendliness.

These locks often have big keys that are unwieldy. With the new Schlage touchscreen smart lock, those problems disappear, because it combines high-level security with a variety of modern features for convenience.

The main way this lock advertises that it can be opened is through the keypad. When first setting up the lock, you can set your own code, as well as multiple others to give to family members or close friends that you want to have access.

By making multiple codes, you can keep track of who’s entering the house and when, giving you better information on when people are coming over. This lock can also be opened using your smartphone, eliminating the need to carry around housekeys as long as you have your phone on you, which most people do most of the time.

A common issue with touchscreens is that they leave fingerprint smudges. This helps thieves enter by looking at the commonly pressed digits, and trying combinations based on that, which significantly lowers the amount of time it takes for them to crack the code.

Schlage’s lock has a fingerprint-resistant screen, so it’ll be impossible for criminals to simply guess the right digits they need for the code. People are often worried that by buying a smart lock, they’re sacrificing security in the actual manual lock, leaving a spot that can still be picked and compromised.

This lock has a great manual lock as well, being given a grade 1 ANSI rating, the highest that a residential lock can receive. This means that it is incredibly difficult to pick this lock if they try that method over the touchscreen.

Another layer of security that this lock provides is the built in alarm. With many locks, you just have to rely on other systems to trip an alarm if someone manages to make their way through it. However, with this lock, you have 3 different levels of alarms. There’s the one for activity, which gets triggered by someone interacting with the handle or door. There’s the tamper alarm, which gets triggered by someone trying to pick the lock or crack the code. Finally, there’s a forced entry alarm, which sounds after someone has opened the door through an illegitimate method.

August Smart Lock Pro ASL-03 AC-R1 Review

Security is extremely important as a homeowner. You need to protect your property from thieves, who are always looking for new ways to bypass locks in order to steal your valuables or harm your family.

In order to give yourself an extra layer of security, you should look into getting a smart lock. For a premium quality smart lock, the August Smart Lock Pro ASL-03 AC-R1 is a great option due to its variety of features and safety measures.

This lock is incredibly easy to install. It’s often a hassle to get some smart locks working, because you need to disassemble your old lock setup and get new keys for it, but that’s not the case with this lock.

Instead, all you need to do is install it over a deadbolt that you probably already have installed. It doesn’t require any modifications to your original lock, and it can be installed from inside, so you don’t even have to do any work on the outside.

This actually increases security quite a bit, because nobody will have any way of telling that you have a smart lock, and they’ll just assume you have a regular run-of-the-mill deadbolt.

Because it’s a smart lock, you can control this device primarily with your phone. With the app, you’ll be able to lock and unlock it from anywhere, meaning that if a friend needs to drop something off, you can simply unlock the door remotely instead of having to drive all the way home to meet them there.

Another feature the app has is an activity tracker. This shows you when, how, and who unlocked and locked your door. With multiple people tied to the same lock, you can see if someone in your family unlocked the door at a certain time, and it will also show you when the door is unlocked manually or when it was unlocked with the app itself.

This can help alert you to any unwanted intrusions, because you’ll be alerted if someone managed to manually enter the house. If you happen to forget to lock the door yourself, no worries. This door automatically locks itself once it detects that you’ve left, meaning you’ll never again have to deal with worrying about your lock back at home. If you really wanted to make sure, though, you could always check the app for the status of the lock, and lock it at will if it’s somehow still unlocked.