Category: Product Review

Surprising Savings of Home Automation: Time Saved, Stress Lowered, Life Upgraded

Most people chase energy bills and rebates when they think “savings.” Livewire’s Henry Clifford flips the script: “If you believe that time is the most valuable thing of all… that’s really where I see us saving people… automating routines… not walking around the house to turn off lights… sleeping better because of better light.” Time […]

Understanding Home Automation Needs: Why “Tell Us About Your Pain” Comes Before Picking Tech

When most people start exploring smart home technology, they lead with the wrong question: “Which system should I choose….  Alexa, Google, Home Assistant, or Apple?” That’s like walking onto a car lot and asking, “Which color should I get?” before knowing whether you need a pickup or a minivan. As Livewire’s Henry Clifford puts it: […]

A Hands-On Review of the FutureCare HomeKit

I’ve always loved the side of home technology which caters to the “need” vs. “want” customers. It feels good to help someone live independently or deliver peace of mind. Some of the best moments in my career revolve around watching paralyzed veterans type an email with nothing but the movement of their eyes or enabling […]

Reviewing the Juke+ 6-Zone Streaming Amplifier

Multiroom audio is an interesting category. While it may seem as though most Americans are perfectly happy placing their iPhones inside a bowl for optimum sound performance, thankfully there still appear to be plenty of folks who crave a little “extra cheese on their Whopper,” as Chris Rock would say. Couple that desire with 25 […]

Review: Monitor Audio C3M Creator Series In-Ceiling Speakers

Architectural audio is a fairly mature category. New speakers come out all the time, but the fundamentals of producing sound through in-wall circles and rectangles have stayed pretty much the same for a few decades. I wouldn’t call myself jaded, but I don’t go out of my way to solicit reviews for these products because […]

A Hands-On Review of Control4 X4

Control4 has been around since 2003 and its user experience has been long overdue for a ‘glow up’ since the launch of OS3 over 5 years ago. They sent me a new CORE 1 controller and an 8-inch T8 wireless touch screen to test drive in concert the new X4 user experience. I was really […]

Hands on with EVO by Coastal Source

  Outdoor lighting is a fun category. The feeling I get pulling up to my house in the evening is magical. Thanks to a review I wrote a few years ago about Coastal Source, every tree and pathway are perfectly lit with fixtures built to withstand a nuclear blast (and, incidentally, the weather). Five years […]

Does the Jabra PanaCast 50 Perform as Well as It Looks?

  I love the latest generation of integrated camera/speaker bars. They’ve made remote meetings much more bearable and lifelike since the onset of COVID-19. If we can thank the pandemic for anything, it has to be what NYU professor Scott Galloway calls, “10 years’ worth of innovation in three months” during the Spring of 2020. […]

Reviewing the Integra DTM 7.4 Network Stereo Receiver

  If you’d told me 20 years ago that I’d be writing a review for a 2-channel AV receiver, I wouldn’t have believed it. The year 2024 would surely be about a million channels, complexity, and a world without big, boxy AV receivers! Or maybe not. Maybe the world’s a little over all the channels […]

The Art of Simplicity and the AVA Cinema Remote

I’ve been frustrated in recent years with the lack of innovation in the handheld remote category. It’s as if consumer electronics manufacturers think we’re all perfectly happy using our smartphones and a bunch of button-riddled plastic candy bars to negotiate the endless audio and video options at our fingertips. If anything, 2024 should be a […]