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"OK Google, help me set up my Google Nest Mini." So your abode now has a Nest Audio or Nest Mini speaker. Or maybe someone gifted you a Google Home or Google Home Max from a couple years ago. (The names may be a bit confusing, since Google decided to rebrand its smart home speakers and displays last year, but don’t worry, they all work just about the same.) You’re about to enter the wonderful world of digital personal assistants. All you have to do is set it up. We can help. Also, we should note that Google's voice-activated Assistant lives in many products beyond those...

As Covid-19 cases continue to rise, the urgency for 'smart tech' has increased. Until March of this year, ‘smart tech’ was a term only vaguely familiar to most South Africans.  Smart tech is technology that allows the user wireless control of anything from home appliances to one’s own driverless car. Today, however, ‘smart tech’ is proving to be solution to a new COVID-19 world, where social distancing is a necessity. Robots and the Covid-19 fight Cape Town’s Tygerberg Hospital is the Western Cape’s demarcated COVID-19 point-of-call medical facility. There, doctors have enlisted the help of a smart tech robot to...

Sonoff is a brand of well priced Wi-Fi Smart Switches that can be used for controlling mains powered devices like lights, pumps, heaters etc. They consist of the ESP8266 Wi-Fi Chip plus additional circuitry. and are made by ITEAD Studio ,who also make a collection of home automation products. The official software that comes on the devices are designed to be connected to the Internet in order to operate successfully. These devices work with the EWelink Apps,Google home and Alexa. Here’s a look at 3 of the most popular Sonoff Wifi Smart Switches: Sonoff Pow R2 Smart Switch This device has...

Stop trying to duct-tape a ring light to your laptop, and get yourself a dedicated videophone. With all the issues facing us today—a global pandemic, election interference, climate change—don’t we all have better things to do than fuss over how we look during conference calls? And yet, despite being nowhere near death (I think), it takes a remarkable amount of effort to make me look alive and healthy for a 30-minute e-face to e-face meeting. There are so many things to figure out. Is the lighting right? Is the camera positioned properly? Can they hear me OK? Your computer is a machine...

NOBODY WINS WHEN your carefully heated air escapes your home and wafts into the great outdoors. The environment doesn't need any help heating up and it's costly on your wallet. The average home uses around867 kilowatt hours of electricity per month, with the greatest share of that energy being spent on basic utilities like heating, air conditioning, and lighting. New home tech makes it possible to trim that usage. Read on for a few tips on how to improve your home's energy efficiency, save money, and reduce your environmental footprint. Updated for 2021: We've added information about saving on cooling costs in hot weather,...