Smart Homes

Over the years I have set up dozens, if not hundreds, of smart devices in the Tips Clear smart home – and I have written over the price tags often associated with them. In the past few years, light bulbs, thermostats, smart speakers, and cameras have cost thousands of dollars to install. Fortunately the days of $ 180 Amazon Echo …

House invasions often harm your sense of security more than your treasured possessions. In fact, if you’re anything like me, you might only have a handful of possessions worth stealing at all. However, security is priceless and for a long time home security devices and systems have benefited from this fact, billing hundreds or thousands of dollars after monthly monitoring …

Ry Crist / Tips Clear COVID-19 continues to worry people around the world – especially in the US, where the death toll is nearing 200,000. At the same time, Forest fires devastate the west coast of the United States to displace hundreds of thousands. As we adjust to new realities, new questions constantly arise. What types of masks should we …

If you’re new to grilling or looking for a new grill, the abundance of options on the market can make picking the best one feel overwhelming. It’s hard to know whether to go for a gas grill (fueled by propane or natural gas), kamado grill, charcoal grill, pellet grill or perhaps even a portable model.  Gas grills are a great place to start for new grillers and …

Wildfires are ravaging the west coast of the United States right now, and even for those who live outside their direct path, smoke is a huge concern. Smoke particulate filtration is one of many features offered by air purifiers — along with the ability to capture particulates ranging from pollen and dust to airborne bacteria and COVID-19 virus particles. But with …

Over the past few years, Google and Amazon have rounded out their product lines, improved their software, and removed the mess that smart home devices left in toddlerhood. The Amazon Echo Dot and Google-Home-Rebranded-as-Nest-Mini introduced the smart home category into their youth, giving the industry an unprecedented scale and ambition. Yes, these smart speakers are growing along with the entire …

The end of summer is just about here — but it’s still pretty hot out, and most of us are staying put at home. That makes it an awfully good time to have a decent tower fan on hand. With upright, vertical builds that typically oscillate from side to side, a well-placed tower fan can quickly cast a cooling breeze across …

Just because you have a fabulous coffee maker doesn’t mean you’ll brew excellent cups of joe. And even if your premium beans are freshly roasted you could still miss the mark. The weak here is your coffee grounds. Badly ground coffee, ground into inconsistent particle sizes, will also brew inconsistently. That in turn causes havoc during the flavor-extraction process, and …

Knusprig, knusprig, heiß und lecker, es ist schwer, frittiertes Essen abzulehnen. Aber diese Leckereien enthalten auch Tonnen von Öl, was sie alles andere als gesund macht. Betreten Sie die Luftfritteuse, eine Küchenvorrichtung, die Gerichte mit frittiertem Geschmack, aber ohne all das Fett liefert. Und da Luftfritteusen ohne Öl kochen, sind sie auch leichter zu reinigen. Hier erfahren Sie, worauf Sie …

The continuing coronavirus pandemic has kept many of us working from home, and in a lot of cases, that means pushing your home’s Wi-Fi network to the limit. And, if you’ve tried to set up a home office that’s a little too far from your router, you’ve probably learned the hard way that dead zones can be a real pain. Fortunately, a good Wi-Fi …