I recently spent a damp weekend in a stone cottage with patchy broadband and three friends — the perfect low-stakes lab for a real-world Wi‑Fi stress test. I wanted to know if a £30 pocket Wi‑Fi repeater could reliably keep four people streaming, video calling, and browsing without frequent...
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How-Tos
I’ve bricked a pair of cheap true wireless earbuds more times than I care to...
Reviews
I’ve spent rainy afternoons hanging a bunch of battery‑powered smart locks...
Reviews
I get asked all the time which tiny USB‑C wall chargers really give you full...
How-Tos
I keep a small travel kit in my backpack: a compact battery, a cheap Android...
I like things that just work quietly in the background — especially when they respect my privacy. Over the years I've moved from cloud-bound smart bulbs and apps to a compact, local-first setup: a tiny Zigbee USB dongle plugged into a small Home...
I like small things that quietly do the heavy lifting — a tiny hub tucked behind a TV, a USB stick that turns dumb bulbs into a private, offline lighting system. I built an off-grid smart lighting scene that runs entirely on a pocket-sized Zigbee...
I’ve spent a lot of time testing pocket-sized audio gear in real-world situations — trains, wet streets, and rushed calls under shelter. If you regularly have to take calls while commuting through subway tunnels or standing in the rain, you want...
On a recent cross-country train trip I wanted to see if I could travel light and keep my Nintendo Switch Lite powered all day using the Anker 737 (PowerCore 24K). I’m obsessed with compact gear that actually works in real-world use, so I took...
I’ve spent a lot of time chasing mysterious battery drains on Pixel phones, and one of the common culprits I keep running into is background wake locks — apps holding the CPU or radio awake when you don't expect them to. Wake locks are a normal...
I’ve turned old Android phones into pocket-sized mobile hotspots more times than I can count — it’s one of my favourite travel hacks. Instead of renting expensive travel Wi‑Fi, paying inflated roaming fees, or carrying another single-purpose...
Quick answer: the Echo Dot (4th Gen) can control parts of a minimalist smart home without sending every command to Amazon’s cloud, but only with important caveats. I’ve tested compact setups and poked around Amazon’s developer notes, and...
If you game on a midrange Android phone, the audio path matters more than you might think. I spend a lot of time testing pocketable solutions, and one recurring question I get is: which USB‑C earbuds actually keep audio latency low enough for...
I often get asked how to give short-term rental guests reliable internet without exposing my main home network. My go-to trick is turning a pocket Wi‑Fi repeater (or a small travel router) into a dedicated, secure guest network. It’s compact,...
I admit — I love the convenience of saying “Hey Google, good night” and having lights dim, plugs turn off, and the thermostat set. But I also care about keeping as much of that automation as possible off the cloud. Over the last few years I've...