Ring a Ring a Roses a Door With a Video Camera!

Now a closer look at Ring.  Another piece of technology that I was REALLY looking forward to a smart video doorbell that I can control through an app but now I'm just glad that I didn't wall mount it before setting it because we didn't even get that far :(

On the plus side to contact Ring was easy - there was a UK number I dialled and got straight through to a friendly American chap in a very noisy office who was happy to chat about my issue - namely that my network simply wasn't appearing in the list of available networks at all.

After trying a few things it turns out that Ring cannot cope with my Linksys tri-band router transmitting both 2.4GHz, 5GHz and indeed 5GHz2 on the same network.  This is actually an issue that I am hitting more an more often with these smart home devices.  Unfortunately I am stuck having one network name for all because Sonos is only available on 2.4GHz and if I have it connect exclusively to that frequency it won't speak to any of my other devices who are happier just choosing whichever comes first. SO, at the moment I can't install it.

UPDATE:  I chatted with Ring Technical Support again late last night but really was wasn't getting anywhere and realised that the only way that this was going to be solved was for m to work this problem just like evey tech problem that I have.

So I slept on the dilemma and awoke at around 4am with 'a cunning plan' as well as decisions on what to cook for dinner - and the good news is that both seem to have worked!  I remembered that my modem is also a router but since I use my Linksys as the main one I could activate the 2.4ghz network just for Ring and get it connected to that.  Since it communicates over the internet I would still be able to access the functionalities on my app or the website despite it being on a 'network' of its own.  So thats what I did, activated and then followed the instructions all over again and Bingo! saw and connected to the network with absolutely no problems.  The rest of the setup was super straight forward and then the added addition of the chime meant it was all functioning before breakfast!  

I want to congratulate my lovely DHL Driver for being the first to try it out!  

I have now moved my Nest Cam to the Living Room as I feel that Ring is going to be more than enough coverage for the front door and drive area since it has superb motion sensors that will kick in even if the doorbell hasn't been pressed and this way both my front and back doors are now covered!  

So now I can actually review it a little better.  No doubt it is bulky for a doorbell but remains the width of a standard UPVC doorframe.  I did however need to mount it on the wall by the door since my doorframe sits back from the wall and restricted the view as a result - so this is a consideration.  Battery apparently lasts between 6-12 months between charge and I will monitor this.  Also there is the ongoing subscription to consider to store the video footage though you get a 30-day trial to see if you need it.

LIFX Lights Up the Dining Area! The Smart Bulb Conundrum

LIFX arrived today!  Yes - I now no longer need to flick a light switch I can madly chat away to Google and get her to do it for me......which is actually pretty handy when you are carrying a whole load of shopping or have your hands full of dinner plates and any other stereotypical parent scenario that you can identify with.

LIFX was easy peasy to install.  Just pop out your old bulb and put your new one smart one in - brilliant.  Asthetically speaking they are much pretty than my old energy efficient bulbs and whilst I read some reviews complaining about brightness I can catergorically confirm that the LIFX bulb is much brighter than the bog standard one that was there before.

I now have successfully linked LIFX to my Nest products after having to have a good hunt for where the 'intergrations' menu was in the LIFX app I realised that I hadn't properly claimed the bulb.  So claim the bulb - then link to Nest and then onto Google Home Assistant.......seamless!  Check out my short video on the funky Google voice command.

Findster - the possible solution to the dilemma of keeping track of your children?

So our twins refuse to be kept on harnesses, leashes and any other of anti-child escape device we have tried and now that they are too big to be strapped down in a pushchair they  find nothing more fun than darting off in every direction at any chance they get got me thinking about if there were any possible technology solutions out there that could help with this dilemma.

I embarked on some serious research discarding nearly all that Google presented to me as most require subscriptions or SIMs cards = ongoing costs.  Which when you weigh level of usage with these ongoing charges it didn't justify the investment.  The cheaper offerings looked to be pretty unreliable and there just didn't seem to be anything inbetween.  

So I firstly decided to go low cost and ordered two ID bands from eBay which are worn on their wrists when we go out with a full explanation that this is the information in case they get lost.  There are a few different types available at a reasonable price some with clasps that cannot be opened easily.  So - at least this way I know when we go out that if they do get lost and are found that our contact information is easy to find.

But as a parent this isn't enough and I felt like I could do better.  It was after that thought and subsequent search on the Internet that I stumbled across Findster's Kickstarter projects.  I was intrigued by their ethos and belief that as a parent this sort of technology should not have any ongoing costs the system also looked simple to use and not bulky (as some other units were).

So I contacted Findster to ask if they were shipping to the UK and if they would be interested in being featured in my blog.  I received a fairly medium of the road response and indifference about being written about here since 'we are so popular that we sell out all the time thanks to Kickstarter'.  'Wow' I thought, 'They must be good' so placed the order and patiently waited.

The package arrived over a week later from Portugal.  The following video was made minutes after it arrived after which I put all three units to charge.  

Later that day I started to try and set it up hoping to be able to use if.  Unfortunately that has simply now been the case and I am beyond disappointed.  Three days later I am still no closer to having a working Findster system and having waited very patiently with their 48hr technical support response times my much awaited 'technical support' help was less help and more of an email that arrived while I was asleep (seems to be based west coast USA) containing lots of links to the Findster FAQs which I have thoroughly already pawed over in desperate quest to resolve this issue myself.  

Just to give some context to the level of frustration that I am experiencing right now I am going to reset everything to zero and demonstrate in a second video my Findster groundhog day loop which I am so disappointed about because I wanted this to be another great gadget!

UPDATE: Findster have been in touch.  It appears that they have sent me a Findster Duo Guardian module in error which is for their pet GPS tracking system and won't work with the Kids system.  So its going back and I await a new set to try again!   

Read the Road test and verdict here: http://kaosfusion.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/findster-finally-road-test.html