ArthurD's Health and Money Saving Blog

Adverts and affiliate links appear on this page. If you use the link to buy the product you won’t pay any extra, you may even pay less, and I may get a commission. Further details of adverts and affiliate links can be found  here . Echo Dot Smart Speaker Review I bought an Echo Dot Smart Speaker (2nd generation) on Black Friday 2018. I loved it.    When British Gas installed it’s Hive system in my home I received another, this time FREE, Echo Dot. The Echo Dot connects to Alexa (Amazon’s cloud-based voice service). It can play music, make calls, set alarms and timers, ask questions, check your calendar, weather, traffic and sports scores, manage to-do and shopping lists, control compatible smart home devices, and more. It is a great device. Why type into Google when you can just ask Alexa. Through the Dot, Alexa can control compatible smart lights, switches, TVs, thermostats and more. When you ask the Echo Dot for a song, artist or genre of music, it can get it from from ...

Adverts and affiliate links appear on this page. If you use the link to buy the product you won’t pay any extra, you may even pay less, and I may get a commission. Further details of adverts and affiliate links can be found  here . Fire TV Stick Review The Fire TV Stick has changed the way that I watch TV. I hardly ever watch live TV now. Most of the time I watch TV on my Fire TV stick. On it I mainly watch Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube but occasionally use the BBC iPlayer, ITV X, and All 4 apps. There are many more apps to choose from . Subscription fees apply for some apps but the free ones are good enough for me. One free app that I love is NASA TV . You can watch live launches and onboard the International Space Station. Although I generally only use my Fire TV Stick for watching TV, you can use Firefox or Silk to browse millions of websites like Facebook and Reddit. I listen to music through Amazon Music, and the free version of Spotify, but Apple Music and TuneIn a...

Adverts and affiliate links appear on this page. If you use the link to buy the product you won’t pay any extra, you may even pay less, and I may get a commission. Further details of adverts and affiliate links can be found  here . Smart Lighting Review I bought my first smart bulb, a Hive dimmable light bulb (9w) as an external light at the front of the house. I set it up to automatically turn the light on at sunset and off at sunrise. Throughout the evening it is programmed to increase the brightness. Initially I had problems connecting to the WiFi. I moved the light inside close to the router and it connected no problem. I then moved the light outside again and it still had the WiFi connection. Since then there have been no problems. I then bought two smart bulbs (TP-Link Tapo Smart Bulbs) as wall lights. They are programmed to come on 30 minutes before sunset and switched off using an Alexa command. Although I bought them to illuminate the living room they also act as a burgl...