Pro tip: upgrade your Christmas lights with a smart plug
Tis the season! It’s now December and for those that celebrate Christmas, that means your tree has probably been up for a little while now. The beautiful lights and tree certainly help get you into the Christmas spirit but they also bring a few small challenges. First, unplugging a tree at night can be a bit of pain. The plug is almost always hard to access and getting to it results in knocking down half the tree in the process (okay, maybe that’s just me?). Outdoor and indoor lights need to be shut off before bed too unless you want a huge electric bill. Enter the smart plug to the rescue.
Smart plugs are incredibly cheap and allow you to easily turn off your tree and your entire light setup with your phone or smart speaker. Setting up a smart plug is usually pretty simple. A good plug will support control from a phone as well as through a smart speaker like Google Home or Amazon Echo using your voice. Generally, setup takes minutes, though the exact steps vary based on what you buy.
Once Christmas is over your smart plug can either be stored or moved over to controlling a portable heater, a fan, or really any electronic device you want to be able to turn off remotely.
What’s the best smart plug?
Smart plugs are probably one of the simplest smart devices out there, and therefore they all perform pretty similarly. Still if you want something dependable, affordable, and easy to use – we recommend the Belkin WeMo Mini. It can be yours for a little under $30.
The Belkin WeMo Mini is one of the best smart plugs for Alexa and Assistant users, as it fully supports both platforms.
For those looking for Apple Siri and/or Homekit support, we also recommend checking out the iHome ISP6. It’s a few bucks more but supports Apple’s platforms in addition to Alexa and Assistant.
from Android Authority https://ift.tt/2SvpULT
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