Author Archives

Eric Murrell

Eric is the creator of At Home in the Future and has been a passionate fan of the future since he was seven. He's a web developer by trade, and serves as the Director of Communication and Technology for a large church in Nashville, TN (where he and his family are building a high tech home in the woods).

Lighting

REVIEW: LIFX WiFi Light Bulb

December 1, 2014 0 Eric Murrell

Party in a box. Disclosure: The folks at LIFX very kindly provided a bulb for this review. As always, the opinions are my own. “Honey, you have to come see this, right now!” That’s what I was yelling at Lauren…

First Look

First Look: Schlage Connect Touchscreen Deadbolt

November 25, 2014 3 Eric Murrell

Both the brains and the brawn. You know that feeling when you left the door unlocked all night? I always notice when I’m eating my morning bowl of cereal; my heart immediately drops into my stomach every time. True, we…

Automation

REVIEW: GE Link LED Smart Bulb

November 24, 2014 3 Eric Murrell

Goldblum would never lead you astray. In our journey to find the right lighting for our new place, I’ve already worked my way through a few of the most popular “dumb” bulbs on the market. Those bulbs are great, but…

First Look

First Look: Nest Protect Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm

November 20, 2014 1 Eric Murrell

Always watching. Never beeping. $100 for a smoke alarm. For many of you, that’s the only thing you’ll see when you skim this post. The thing is, we hate our smoke alarms. I don’t know if it’s bad wiring or…

First Look

First Look: The Kwikset Kevo Lock

November 18, 2014 3 Eric Murrell

The Key That’s Always With You I hate carrying keys. While the smart phone has absorbed just about everything else I carry in my pockets, the keychain seems to be the one item I can’t shake. My notebook is gone,…

Automation

Smart Bulbs vs Smart Switches

November 17, 2014 3 Eric Murrell

The Great Lighting Debate Lighting your smart home can be confusing. A decision that used to revolve around a handful of bulbs must now account for dozens of variables… How important is power consumption? Do I need colored light? Do…

Automation

First Look: The Quirky+GE Tripper for Wink

November 14, 2014 0 Eric Murrell

The folks at Dropcam broke my heart earlier this year. Hot off the heels of the release of their excellent Dropcam Pro web cameras, Dropcam took a small step closer to embracing the home security market with the announcement of…

Lighting

REVIEW: Philips SlimStyle LED 60w Replacement Light Bulb

November 13, 2014 0 Eric Murrell

Good light; right price. As I research lights for our house, I thought it would be helpful to continue to reviewing the most common players lining the store shelves. I covered the excellent Cree LED bulb last week, so lets…

Automation

First Look: The Wink Relay

November 12, 2014 1 Eric Murrell

Mission control for your smart home. Once you have your whole home working together (perhaps through the Wink Hub we looked at yesterday), you’re going to want an easy way to control it. Smart phones are the default interface, but…

Automation

Quirky+GE Introduce 8 New Wink Enabled Smart Home Products

November 11, 2014 1 Eric Murrell

Just hours after we took our first look at the awesome Wink Hub, the folks at Quirky have introduced 8 very interesting new smart home products to complement the rest of the Wink-compatible line up: The Norm – $80 –…