Podcast #834: The Devices We Can’t Live Without

Research firm iQor recently commissioned an online survey called the Customer and Product Experience (CPX) 360 Survey (part 2). It was conducted online and polled 1,004 U.S. adults 18 and up living in a “smart household” environment from Nov. 9 to Nov. 17, 2017. The goal was to gauge customer experience and customer service expectations of buyers of consumer technology in today’s digital age. All respondents indicated they own or regularly use: a smartphone, a computer (desktop, laptop or tablet), and two or more “smart” devices.

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Podcast #833: Philips Hue Lights

For many home automation is limited to lights turning on and off at prescribed times. Others would like the ability to control their lights while they are away from home. For these people full blown automation is not necessary. There are a growing number of products that will let you do this. They range from smart wall plugs to wifi connected light bulbs. One such solution are Hue lights.

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Podcast #832: Smart Speakers and Dumb Aspect Ratios

If you haven’t already invested in one of the many smart home speakers on the market, this summer you’ll have even more options, as Facebook plans to unveil its own version of voice-enabled smart home speakers, called Fiona and Aloha. Looking like something one might buy at Hobby Lobby, the $70 ClearStream View is a large, black picture frame with cutouts for family photos. Concealed in its back is a flat HDTV antenna.

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Podcast #831: Apple HomePod Review

Most are probably well aware that Apple released it's smart speaker, the HomePod ($349), last week. As you would imagine you can’t click a link without somehow landing on a page that has a review. Well we’re adding our two cents to the discussion. But we’ll try to be succinct.

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Podcast #830: Disney Streaming Service, Subwoofers and High End DIY

Disney's Netflix competitor, a streaming service for movies from Disney properties like Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars, will arrive in late 2019. AVSForum compiled their list of the best subwoofers of 2017. And with the CA-1, Control4 introduces their most affordable smart-home controller yet with Wi-Fi, ZigBee, and optional Z-Wave support.

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Podcast #829: Five Reasons to Automate Your Home

The HT Guys have been singing the praises of home automation for about ten years now. It starts slow with one device and then quickly becomes an obsession. But it's the one thing that we have added to our homes that gets no pushback from family members. So if you are thinking about going down the home automation rabbit hole and are looking for a way to justify it, we have you covered. This is our list of five reasons to automate your home.

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