Reviews

Craftsman just recently released their AssureLink Garage Door Openers which allow you to check and close your garage door via your smartphone. The openers themselves are fairly pricey ($289.99 if you don't want battery backup, $296.99 if you do). Internet connectivity is free the first year, but jumps to $19.99 a year thereafter. Twenty bucks a year seems a little pricey simply for the convenience of seeing if your door is open via your smartphone. If you feel it's something you need, but don't want the extra cost AND you have a little electrical know-how, the tuxgraphics smartphone garage door opener may be just the ticket for you.
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One of the perks of my day job is a nifty new Smart phone every year. This year I got to replace my "aging" HTC EVO 4G with the shiny new Samsung Galaxy S™ II, Epic™ 4G Touch SPH-D710 (now that is a mouthful!). Some people may call me crazy, but I chose that over the new iPhone 4S. I liked the new Personal Assistant on the iPhone, but I also like all of the Android apps I'd been using for my home network. Realistically I can't even say there was a thing wrong with my EVO, except that I got tired of constantly trying to clean up internal storage when apps would get me under the low limit. The new Galaxy S II afforded me 16GB of internal storage vs. the 1GB on my EVO. Added to that is a dual core 1.2GHz processor vs a single 1GHz processor, and wireless N, on top of a beautiful screen. In a phone I was really skeptical of the benefit of wireless N, but as I proved in the old laptop wireless upgrade shootout, it might be a benefit, even on the internet.

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In Part 1 of our ecobee WiFi enabled Smart Thermostat review, I showed you how I installed the ecobee Smart Thermostat in our house and how easy the installation was, despite the possibly intimidating equipment interface portion of it. In Part 2 of the ecobee Smart Thermostat series, I'll run you through its rich features and give some examples as to how it will pay for itself in a short manner of time, making it the perfect addition to your home network. There are a lot of features to cover, so let's get started.

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