A Few Cool New Tech Products

Tonight I attended a consumer tech show with a ‘70s sitcom theme, complete with Shirley Jones of The Partridge Family.

But as cool as it was running into one of my favorite TV stars, I was there to see the gadgets.

The Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat from Honeywell, coming out in May, can be controlled from your Android or iPhone device via a free app.  It also learns how fast (or in our case, slow) it takes to heat or cool your house, so that if you set it to be a certain temperature at a certain time it will know what it has to do to get there.

Plus, it can change its display background color to match the color of your wall.

TiVo has come a long way since I bought one in 1999. It was a game-changer for me, since I used to juggle dozens of videotapes trying to keep all of my shows straight. It’s paving the way again with exciting products like the Premiere XL4, which can record four different channels at once onto its two terabyte (!) hard drive. It also gives you access to your Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube accounts, plus a few more.

The TiVo Mini connects to a DVR-less TV and can access live TV and the shows recorded on your four-channel TiVo. You can connect two TiVo Minis to a four-channel TiVo, giving you access to your shows on three different TVs total!

The TiVo Stream lets you stream up to four shows at once to four different devices connected to your home network. And if you want to watch your recorded shows away from home? You can transfer them wirelessly to your device and watch on a plane, in a car, or anywhere else! Another game changer from TiVo.

The dropcam (available now) is my dream come true for catching whoever has been leaving garbage all over our stoop. This small, light camera connects to your home Wi-Fi and can stream a live image (for no monthly charge), including audio, to smartphones, tablets, and computers. You can even talk back, making it ideal as a baby or pet monitor.

And if you want to record what’s happening? The dropcam will save seven days of video on its secure cloud storage service for $9.95 a month or thirty days of video for $29.95 a month.

It can even send you alerts when it detects motion or loud noises, and automatically switches to night vision mode when it gets dark. It can rest on its stand, or be mounted several different ways.

Those were my favorites! I’ll be back with more in-depth reviews as soon as I can get my hands on them.

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