While I keep this site up-to-date as much as possible, I write a lot! So I now have a new page on authory.com where my work is imported automatically, and categorized by publication. Head on over there to see all my work.
My column for Wirecutter was featured in The Week’s new Parenting Newsletter.
In this new normal, as we all try to squeeze our work life, school life, and home life into one big communal life (in one very small space), reliable ways to keep the kids occupied and at peace are as valuable as jumbo-size rolls of toilet paper. Our discovery: Amazon’s Alexa happens to have dozens of voice-based games built in (many of them really good; some not so much), and so it is a terrific tool for keeping the kids entertained without resorting to more screen time. To launch one of these games, just ask Alexa to open or play them by name (no need to install a Skill, as you did in the past).
Vintage-style filament bulbs from Hue, Bulbrite, Ikea and more tested and rated.
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Summertime retreats are a Charleston tradition. For centuries locals have abandoned the bustle of the city for cooler, more tranquil settings on nearby barrier islands—be it for a day, a weekend, or the entire sweltering summer.
For one downtown family—a young mom and dad (who prefer to keep their anonymity), plus a toddler, a three-year-old, and two golden retrievers in tow—summer is not complete without an escape to Cassique. Here, in this private community tucked between Kiawah and Seabrook islands, they have built a base for bonding—a four bed, four and a half bath, 3,200-square-foot house with style and grandeur that simultaneously embraces muddy paw prints and spilled juice boxes. It’s their home-away-from-home, where the beach beckons, the cares of city life are left 30 minutes down the road, and the alligators are proof positive you’re not on the peninsula anymore.
Read the full story here.
Smart doorbell and lock maker August has announced it is halting shipping of its new August View doorbell camera, due to problems related to Wi-Fi connectivity.
As we noted in our review, the doorbell camera frequently disconnected from the Wi-Fi network, rendering it useless as a doorbell camera. August told us that it was using a new Wi-Fi chip in the View, specifically designed to run the battery-powered doorbell on low power until an event wakes it up.
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Works with Nest, the platform built to get smart home devices talking to Nest products, is shutting down, Google has announced. The service will close on 31 August and will be replaced by Works with Google Assistant, Google’s services-based developer platform that the search giant is evolving into a smart home ecosystem. As of the end of August, all Works with Nest integrations will stop operating and developers must either transition their products to the new platform or end their compatibility with Nest’s suite of smart home products.
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The Nest Thermostat was the golden child of the early DIY smart home. Finally, a polished, good-looking device that could be the centrepiece of a smart home. Sure, it wasn’t the perfect smart home hub we dreamed of, but the functionality it enabled was pretty magical.
Now, with the imminent demise of Works with Nest, our smart home dreams are crumbling, being replaced by a device we have to talk to, or use an app to control, the antithesis of Nest’s original ecosystem. According to Google, moving forward all smart home interactions will have to go through Works with Google Assistantand the Google Home app, which currently only has three triggers for Routines: voice, touch or schedule (it does promise more will come later though).
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We recommend several Nest products at Wirecutter, along with many devices that work with them, and that integration is often crucial to how people use their devices. But the recent news that Google is folding Nest into its smart-home ecosystem and creating Google Nest means that major changes—some good, some painful—are coming. Here is what you need to know about these changes and what steps you can take.
Read the full post here.
I wrote two full guides to security systems Link Interactive and Protect America, as well as interviewed CTOs, CEOs and VPs of security companies for U.S News World & Reports Best Home Security Systems of 2019.
Mike Harris, President of Ring Solutions
Daniel Roberts, founder and CEO of Scout
Chad Laurans, founder and CEO of SimpliSafe
Erick Low, senior product marketing manager for Nest
Dennis Mathew, vice president and general manager of Xfinity Home
Jeremy Warren, chief technology officer of Vivint Smart Home
Read all my Dwell.com news articles and Dwell Magazine feature articles here.
For almost five years now, my family has had a fifth member: Alexa. It's my kids’ buddy, telling them terrible jokes, sharing fart skills, playing Would You Rather and other games. Alexa has become something of a third parent, announcing every night at 7:15pm that there are 15 minutes of screen time left, dimming three lights during story time, and switching them off when the kids are asleep.
It's there in the morning, telling us the weather forecast, what’s on our jam-packed calendar for the day, and occasionally providing the kids with a fun fact to wow their classmates with. It was the only AI my children had ever known. And then it was gone.
Read the full article here.
The front door is a coveted spot for smart home companies these days, with seemingly everyone developing their own video doorbell to provide 'visual voicemail' for your home, as well as an always-watching smart security camera.
The convenience and security these devices offer is hard to quibble with, assuming you have an existing wired doorbell to replace. If you don’t, your battery-powered options have been limited. But now there’s a new kid on the block. August’s View is a completely wire-free doorbell camera that lets you know what’s happening at your front door wherever you are by streaming video to your smartphone.
Read the full review here.