Plan Out Your Tech Solutions With a Best Buy In-Home Consultation

August 25, 2019 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

I love technology, but that does not always mean that I understand technology. This is why there have been times in the past, and I am sure that there will be others in the future where I will need to partner with someone to help me figure out what I need and how it will all work together. If you did not know this, Best Buy offers a cool in-home service to help you visualize or build solutions for your space. Best Buy will show you what’s possible through this in-home consultation service and will get you ready to buy just the right things for your own home.

When you get a in-home consultation you will get Best Buy’s expert advice, in your home, for free.

Best Buy will come to you, at your convenience, with answers and advice to all of your tech questions. Best of all (I will repeat) it’s free. What do get in this visit? You get highly trained Best Buy In-Home Advisors meet consumers in their homes and answer questions about Wi-Fi, smart home, appliances, home theater, and more. They come to your home and provide recommendations and a personalized plan for the right solution to improve their homes and lives through tech. Consumers can choose what works for them, and Best Buy will coordinate deliveries and installations.

Sign up for a free consultation!

For my own home, I am all about making the house work for me. I want my technology to be smart and to work throughout the house. Some of the things I think I would talk to the Best Buy consultant about would include things like installing a Eero Mesh Wifi System. Never heard about this? The Eero Mesh Wifi System comes with three eeros and is made for homes with 3-5+ bedrooms (Just like mine). Each eero is tri-band and uses TrueMesh technology to enable great WiFi performance and reliability no matter how many devices you use in your home. And with eero’s app, you can set up your system in under 10 minutes, share your network with guests, and manage family screen time from anywhere.

Beyond this I have been really intrigued by the Ring Video Doorbell 2. I have seen what this can do at other people’s home and even at my church and I love the peace of mind that this can give you. The Ring Video Doorbell 2 lets you see who’s at the door and monitor your home when you’re not there with this video doorbell. The 2-way audio lets you listen and talk to anyone on your property, right from your mobile device. Plus, you can easily recharge the battery with the included power pack.

Finally, I think that I would continue to examine whether I could get a GE Profile Wall Oven installed into my home. I love how this looks and think it would be a great addition to our kitchen area, but I cannot complete visualize whether we have the space to make this work or not. I really like the GE Profile Wall Oven because it allows you to cook a meal for a whole family in its 30″ built-in convection double wall oven. Each oven provides 5 cu. ft. capacity with true European convection to prepare your large dishes in optimal conditions. Use a 7″ touch display to simply program the oven with precision cooking modes that provide simple instructions, then automatically adjust the temperature and cook times to deliver perfect results

Essential Tech Upgrades to Help Keep Thieves Out of Your Garage (and Home)

April 11, 2019 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

Did you know that the second most common entry point for burglars is through your garage? While you probably are great about locking all of the doors and windows at night and while you are away, you may unwittingly be tempting bad guy fate with a vulnerable garage door.

Needless to say, you do not want thieves anywhere near the interior of your garage. If you’re a car enthusiast, you may have a valuable vehicle in there, along with other items that are worth plenty of money like tools, car parts and memorabilia. And as a loving Dad, remember that your most precious property — your beautiful kids and spouse — are right behind one more garage door, the one that leads into your house.

Fortunately, upping the security of your garage door is not that difficult. You can also take these steps in stages so they don’t hammer your budget too much at one time.

Install a Home Security Camera System

If a burglar is casing your neighborhood, chances are good he will skip the home and garage that have a visible home security camera system in favor of an un-monitored property. If you have considered adding this type of security feature, now is a great time to do just that. Thanks to the proliferation of some pretty amazing technology, you can now purchase home security camera systems that feature long-range night vision that allow the cameras to literally see in the dark. The beauty of these home security cameras is impressive: the Lorex Nocturnal security cameras, for example, have the longest night vision ranges that are currently available, which means that if some creep is on your property at night, your camera system will capture him in living color, right down to the color of his baseball cap and jacket. The wired Nocturnal cameras can be installed above your garage door, front entrance or wherever you choose.

Invest in a Garage Door Monitor

Sometimes, notes Family Handyman, the security of a garage will be undermined due to the simple reason that someone forgot to close the door. Or, you may have pushed the button on the remote as you drove away, but didn’t realize that a box or toy got in the way of the safety sensor, and prevented the door from closing. To avoid this scenario, invest in a garage door sensor that sends a signal to the monitor, thus telling you if the door is opened or closed. While you can purchase a sensor that will alert you if the garage door is open, but not close the door on its own, it might be a better option to upgrade your garage door opener to something like the Chamberlain MyQ garage door opener. As CNET.com notes, this opener lets you open and close the door from anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection, and it will also monitor if the door is left open. This way, if you get to work 20 miles from your home and the Chamberlain alert says “hey man, your door is wide open” you can close it remotely rather than having to drive all the way home — now that is pretty cool.

Replace Your Old Garage Door With One That Is Insulated

If you are ever tempted to leave your garage door open a crack during the hot summer months to keep your garage and the rooms adjacent to it a bit cooler, you are also giving thieves an easy way into your abode. Instead, consider upgrading your garage door to one that is well-insulated. Most garage doors have virtually no installation at all, which is why the spaces are like igloos in the winter and ovens in the summer. But if you purchase an insulated model, you can significantly reduce the amount of heat or cold that transfers from the garage to the house, as well as stop keeping the door open a few inches and tempting burglars.

Follow These Tips for a Safer Garage and Home

In addition to the aforementioned tips like installing a home security camera system, be sure to also keep the interior door between your garage and your home locked at all times, and also never keep your clicker in a car that stays out overnight on the driveway or street. All a bad guy has to do is break into your vehicle and he can help himself to the remote control, open the door and start stealing your valuable stuff that’s in the garage, and possibly the house too. Fortunately, making a garage more secure is not a Herculean task, and it’s one that you can do in steps — starting today.

Vivint Allows You To Take Control Of Your Home’s Safety

June 14, 2017 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

Depending on where you live having a home that provides safety for your family is critical. While some places may be safer than others, there are others where you could use so much more safety too. Vivint has taken control of safety for your home. At the touch of a button, you can control your home and your family’s safety and feel that much more in control with Vivint.

Recently I visited my local Best Buy to learn more about Vivint and I am glad that I did. I had not heard about Vivint before, but after hearing about it, I was sold on what it offers.

Vivint, provides you the ability to control all of their devices all in one application. You start with the main panel and then add onto this to add in new security features. For example, the interior or exterior camera will capture any instance of movement. The Vivint panel itself holds 14 days of video and you can even move clips from the panel to your phone if you want. You can add on sensors to windows and doors if you like, to add in alerts when they are open, again to take control of your understanding of what is happening in your own home.

In speaking with the salesman, he stated that you do start with the Vivint panel and he mentioned that many will add on the Thermostat, smart switches, cameras or other devices depending on your own budget. The panel costs varies right now because of the launch of the Vivint products. I explored the items at the Best Buy that I visited and found that the panel and a few items usually would cost about $1000-$1100. You can save money ultimately though if you add on the thermostat through power companies like Consumers Energy and Detroit Edison or other power companies because these will help you save even more by better controlling heat/cooling based on when you are in the home.

Other people will start with the panel, but then will add on the doorbell which comes with a camera and adding on a outdoor or indoor camera. The door lock system that they provide is something that allows you to actually unlock the door remotely if needed by the application that you can run on your phone. Imagine, you are away from your home, someone clicks on your doorbell, from your application you can see who is at the door even from 100’s of miles away and then you could even unlock the door for the person. (I was amazed!).

Depending on what you add to your system, if you add in a thermostat you can work with the system to allow if to adjust your temperature, turn on or off lights, lock doors, etc. Vivint really gives you complete control of your home, making it safe for your entire family!

Vivint offers you an optional Sky Drive for $49.99 a month and with this they offer monitoring by police, medical and fire as well as a 30 day history of video that you can access.

——————————————————————————————-

New to the Divadom or to Dad of Divas Reviews?

Please Subscribe to my RSS Feed! Subscribe in a reader

Questions?Drop me a line at dadofdivas@gmail.com

RemoteLync Camera by Kidde = Ultimate Family Safety!

December 9, 2015 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

RemoteLync^TMCamera by Kidde = Ultimate Family Safety!

Over the last few weeks I have been trying out the brand new RemoteLync ^TM Camera from Kidde. I was very excited about trying this out as I had been using the RemoteLync ^TM Monitor for some time and love the ability to have the reliability of knowing that something is watching over my home even when I cannot.

With the RemoteLync ^TM Camera, you can take the RemoteLync system to the next level. Its magnetic base enables the camera to be easily installed nearly anywhere – homeowners aren’t limited by proximity to an electrical outlet – and the camera will adjust to almost any angle.

The New RemoteLync Camera

I first tried mine out in my living room, and I ended up keeping this there as I loved how well it worked and the images I received. The camera was easy to use and once you have the RemoteLync app you can easily connect this camera too.

The nice thing with the RemoteLync Camera was that it immediately records video upon sensing motion, and sends you an alert via a free app on your mobile devices. When I connected this, I could set the pet motion sensitivity setting, which was very necessary as I have three cats.

Once you activate the camera and start getting images you can request video clips from five to 30 seconds on demand. The video clips will be available in the app for 12 hours at no charge; during that time users can download directly to a smart device or the cloud, and/or share via social media.

Long-term clip storage in the app is available at a minimal cost as well which was great!

The RemoteLync Camera is now available online and in stores through the Home Depot and ShopKidde.com. You can find more information on the Kidde website here: https://remotelync.kidde.com/ . New videos about the product are also available on Kidde’s YouTube channel.

In the few weeks since I have started using this I have been doing additional research on the RemoteLync camera and found some very awesome points that I wanted to share with you:

Installs easily, without cords — Self-contained system runs on an existing Wi-Fi network, completely wire-free, mounts magnetically to an easy-to-install base
and requires no additional hardware. No hammers, drills, extra routers, outlets or hubs needed.
Event management – Provides instant notifications with free iOS and Android app or through email. Users can invite an unlimited number of trusted contacts to
receive notifications and help monitor a location.
Geo-arming – Automatically arm/disarm camera when homeowners leave and return to the location using an intelligent geo-fence.
On demand video – Easily request video clips up to 30 seconds anytime – the camera even records at night with bright LED lights.
Long-lasting rechargeable battery – Lasts up to three months on a single charge with typical usage.
Mounts magnetically to the base – Install nearly anywhere; once mounted the camera will pivot and point in any direction.
Notification for smoke and carbon monoxide – One app manages both the camera and RemoteLync Monitor that listens for existing UL-listed smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Choose to record video if the monitor sends an alert that a smoke or CO alarm is sounding.
The RemoteLync Camera costs $189 and is available at select The Home Depot store locations and various online retailers.

For more information visit kidde.com or follow @KiddeSafety on Twitter.

——————————————————————————————-

New to the Divadom or to Dad of Divas Reviews?

Please Subscribe to my RSS Feed! Subscribe in a reader

Questions?Drop me a line at dadofdivas@gmail.com

Canary Offers Ultimate Portable Home Security For Your Family!

December 5, 2015 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

It’s December and that means that it’s almost time for Christmas. This means that it is again time to celebrate with the Blog Pop Team for their annual Christmas Wishes! Between December 4-7 the 10 bloggers from Blog Pop are working together to bring you some awesome giveaways! So go and check out the following blogs for some other great prizes, and remember to come back here a lot over the next few days to enter for some great prizes! The 10 blogs that are a part of the school rules event include:

Daddy Mojo	Still Blonde After all These years	Dad of Divas	Being MVP	Way to Go Life
Momma Told Me	Comeback Momma	Keenly Kristen	Modly Chic	Andrea’s World

My next giveaway is Below!

Home Safety is important and especially this time of year you see studies over and over again that show that crime is up in the months leading up to the end of the year. I did a little research and even found that in a recently study by the FBI, they found that each year more than 400,000 burglaries occur in the United States during November and December!

While I live in an area that is fairly safe, I still have heard about robberies and such and because of that I want to make sure that I can protect my home from intruders no matter where I am. That being said though, there are also times in which we go on vacation and have someone watching the pets, but we do this on trust. Not to say you should not trust these people, but again, having the ability to check in and have the peace of mind to know that things are the way you want them to be helps!

All of this being said, Canary home security systems offer a great home security solution with its built-in microphone, HD camera, motion detection sensors, siren and authority alert options, night vision, air safety technology and more. See for yourself: in September, Canary home security captured a burglary in progress on the Upper East Side in New York, a neighborhood that is among one of the safest in the city according to police.

I tried out the Canary home security system for myself and have to say that it was so easy to set up and use. Once connected and set up you can place it on the bookshelf or wherever you like to get the show that you want when you want it. With the security features you can set it to be as sensitive or not as you would like too. The Canary home security system was stylish and sleek and best of all you get amazing quality pictures and video from this device.

Canary retails for $199 and is available online via or the Canary website, and in Verizon retail stores, Apple, Walmart, Best Buy and Home Depot.

Giveaway

How would you like to win a Canary Security System? All you need to do is fill out the below form to enter. The contest will run for one week and will end on December 19, 2015.

Canary Home Security System Giveaway

Enter any of the giveaways below

Winner must be a resident of the U.S, Canada or the United Kingdom.

Winners are chosen at random, if you want all your chances counted, make sure you leave individual comments, not all of them in one!

Winner has 48 hours to contact me or another name will be chosen.

As required by the FTC: Blog POP! received no monetary compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are those of the writer’s alone.

THE FINE PRINT: All entrants must be 18 years of age or older. Please read each giveaway’s directions carefully as entry methods may differ, and giveaways may be open to different world areas. Please make sure you leave a way (valid email address) with your entries to be contacted if you win. Please note that Dad of Divas, Blog POP! or the Blog POP! bloggers are not responsible for sponsors that do not fulfill their prizes. We have represented each sponsor with the expectation they will fulfill their prize and in a timely manner. The sponsors, in most cases, are shipping their items to you directly. We will make every effort to assist you obtaining your prize. If there is an issue with a sponsor please notify the blog you won a prize from within 30 days for assistance, after that we may be unable to assist you. Good luck!

——————————————————————————————-

New to the Divadom or to Dad of Divas Reviews?

Please Subscribe to my RSS Feed! Subscribe in a reader

Questions?Drop me a line at dadofdivas@gmail.com

Install a Home Security Camera System

Invest in a Garage Door Monitor

Replace Your Old Garage Door With One That Is Insulated

Follow These Tips for a Safer Garage and Home

RemoteLyncTM Camera by Kidde = Ultimate Family Safety!

The New RemoteLync Camera

RemoteLync^TMCamera by Kidde = Ultimate Family Safety!