Gadgets :: March 30, 2016

by Gregg Ellman

(@Greggellman)

After installing the Honeywell Lyric Round thermostat (2nd generation) it instantly went on my list of gadgets I wonder how I’ve lived without it.

It senses that you’re actually home or close by through your smartphone and geofence technology. This adjusts the temperature from your “away” temperature to your preferred “home” temperature

The Lyric is a rounded device, with a glass front touchscreen.

The installation was simple; you can do it yourself as I did or seek professional help. For the most part, after shutting off the power from the circuit breaker, just match the colored wires from your existing thermostat. I took photos showing how my old one was connected to have a reference.

The app (iOS and Android) walks you through the setup connecting the thermostat to your smartphone and WiFi network.

From there it can be controlled from anywhere. If you’re on your way home, you can easily turn up the heat or AC, or if you left and forgot to turn the heat or AC off, you can do the same. All this adds up to a big energy savings.

The Lyric is so smart, it even adapts to your temperature lifestyle. Inside this 2nd Generation Lyric Thermostat is a HomeKit chip, enabling it to work with the Apple HomeKit.

The Apple HomeKit sits in the background, allowing smart home products to seamlessly work together

Check the Honeywell site for heating/AC system compatibility. A mounting bracketed and hardware is included. A level is even built into the inside plate to ensure its mounted straight.

http://yourhome.honeywell.com $249.99

The Blossom 8 smart watering controller extends your smart home into a low-maintenance smart yard.

Within the Blossom app on iOS or Android smartphone or tablets, you can control eight zones of sprinklers via Wifi.

The controller (6.93-by-6.93-by-1.55-inches) replaces your existing controller and after connecting it to your Wifi, you can set up watering schedules or run it manually.

Once all the watering zones are connected, the Blossom 8 self-programs your sprinklers based the vegetation or rainfall numbers via cloud computing through your Wifi connection.

According to Blossom, this comes from local forecasts and daily data from thousands of weather stations and satellites.

All this provides the right amount of watering for shaded areas, sunny spots, trees or grass. You can use the set programs or create your own if you think more or less water is needed. In some areas, you’ll have to set up the watering schedule based on local watering restrictions.

The Blossom 8 must be positioned indoors and the installation takes about 15 minutes, assuming you have an existing system in place.

http://myblossom.com available for pre-order for $99, expected to ship in May

The wireless Nyrius smart switch outlet is so smart it even knows when you’re in the room.

It has a pass-through AC outlet to connect an electronic device you want powered on or off. Then pair it via Bluetooth to your smartphone or tablet and download the free Nyrius app (iOS and Android).

What make this outlet stand out from other smart outlets is the near-field proximity control. With this you can set it up to detect when your in the room (with your smartphone or tablet), enabling a light to turn on and off automatically.

The app lets you set up a daily schedule, which I set up to turn on my coffee maker at my wakeup time, which was awesome.

You can set multiple timers. iOS devices can support up to three smart switch outlets, while Android devices can handle up to seven.

http://nyrius.com $39.99