Terry White's Tech Blog

June 15, 2016June 13, 2016

Lutron Caséta Wireless Lighting Control Review

lutron-caseta-dimmable-plug-in-kit

It’s Day 3 of my Smart Home product review week and now it’s time to talk about wireless lighting and shade controls. Once again I wanted something that would be Apple HomeKit compatible and my search led me to the Lutron Caséta system. This is not my first wireless lighting system. As a matter of fact I go all the way back to the Radio Shack X10 system (remember those?) Thankfully things have gotten a lot better in the last 25-30 years and now you not only get in-home wireless control but you also get the ability to control your lights and shades from (yep you guessed it) anywhere in the world from your smartphone.

I started with the Lutron Caseta Wireless Smart Lighting Plug-In Lamp Dimmer Kit

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June 14, 2016June 12, 2016

Ring Video Doorbell Pro Review

ring video doorbell pro bronze

Picking up where I left off yesterday with my new smart home gadget reviews, let’s talk about the Ring Video Doorbell Pro. I have always liked having a camera that can show me who is at my front door and if I have any packages sitting there? I checked with my alarm provider and while they do offer outdoor cameras, they actually suggested that I go with a Ring Video Doorbell instead. I had never heard of Ring before and when I went to check them out the reviews on Amazon weren’t great. However, after reading a few of them I realized that most of the criticism was in comparing the newer “Pro” model to the standard model. I ended up going with the Pro model for a couple of reasons. For one and probably the main reason is that the Ring Video Doorbell Pro is simply not as wide as the standard version. The Pro model is a perfect fit for my doorbell area and the standard model would have been too wide. The Pro does 1080p vs. 720p and also can connect to the less crowded 5GHz Wi-Fi spectrum. Those were enough reasons to push me up to the Pro model. While the standard model can work with an existing doorbell (replace yours with this one) or no existing doorbell, the Pro only works where you have a wired doorbell.

See and Talk to Anyone At Your Door from Anywhere in the World

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June 13, 2016June 12, 2016

Ecobee 3 Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat Review

ecobee-3-on-my-wall

I know it’s been a while since I’ve done gadget reviews here. However, I’ve just moved into a new home and for the first time in several years I’ve been looking at and buying smart home gadgets. I must admit that the amount of choices out there now are quite daunting. Even if you find the right gadget based upon the feature set that you’re looking for you also have also decide which platform to go with. Platform?

Yes, just like you decide to go with iOS or Android, Mac or Windows, etc, your smart home gadgets work together based on alliances and partnerships. For example, I was pretty sure that I would go with a Nest thermostat. I had been looking at them for years. I liked the design. Nest even acquired Dropcam, the company I was using for all my wifi cameras. However, somewhere along the way Nest was acquired by Google. That acquisition put them at odds with Apple. I have nothing against Google or the Android platform, but all of my mobile devices are iOS based. Therefore I wanted to go with devices that work with Apple’s HomeKit platform.

The Ecobee 3 Remote Sensor Advantage

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June 6, 2016June 5, 2016

What I’m Teaching At Photoshop World 2016

Photoshop World Instructors

It’s almost time for one my favorite Adobe conferences of the year! Yep, Photoshop World is just around the corner and as usual I’ve got more than a few classes. For those of you who have never been to Photoshop World, you should definitely check it out at least once in your life. You are pretty much guaranteed to walk away knowing a lot more about Photoshop and the rest of the Adobe Creative Cloud products and services. This year’s conference takes place July 19-21 in Las Vegas NV. As a matter of fact, this is the last week to save $100 (register before June 10th here).

This year I’ll be teaching:

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May 25, 2016May 25, 2016

Hey! That’s Me Featured On ABC’s The List Show TV

Woot! That’s me on The List Show TV (not the Wookie LOL):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8LT9FhrQ6o

Every now and then I get a request to do an interview. Usually it’s for blogs, podcasts and printed publications. Every now and then I get one that turns out to be a little bigger than I expected. ABC Network’s “The List Show TV” contacted me to do a quick interview and get my thoughts on mobile Live Streaming. In particular they noticed my use of Facebook Live. I did the interview via Skype and kinda forgot about it. Last night one of my cousins posted a congratulations on Facebook and I was like “what are you talking about?” I went looking for the show online as I don’t think it airs here locally in Atlanta. Low and behold, there it was on their YouTube channel! It’s always an honor when publications and media outlets reach out to me for my opinions. This one had the added cool factor that it was actually on TV too! Continue reading “Hey! That’s Me Featured On ABC’s The List Show TV”

May 9, 2016May 9, 2016

Learn Adobe Lightroom CC in my FREE 8 Part Class

Last week I kicked off my Creative Cloud Learning Stream – “Introduction to Adobe Lightroom CC”. This FREE 8 Part class takes place LIVE on twitch.tv/adobe every Tuesday (yes tomorrow) and Friday at 11AM-12 noon EDT (Time Zone Converter). By the end of the 8 sessions you should have a great understanding of how Lightroom works and and how to use it to manage and adjust your images.

What if I missed Lightroom CC parts one and two?

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May 4, 2016

Save Your Periscope Broadcasts Beyond 24 Hours?

BREAKING – Periscope is picking up where Katch.me left off (as I predicted they would) with a public beta feature. Just put #save in your scope title to save broadcasts beyond 24 hours! No need for an app update.

While this does take away from the precious characters we have for titles it is very welcomed! Hopefully it will be integrated into the Start Broadcast button in the future.

April 4, 2016April 3, 2016

Live Streaming from a DSLR Point of View

Live streaming is becoming more and more popular and whether or not you’re live streaming your photo shoots or just wanting to create a behind the scenes video, your DLSR has the best view. Let’s face it. Your DSLR is pointed at the subject and has the best point of view. Sure, you can mount your smartphone or video camera on a stand/tripod to capture the “set”, but your DSLR is always going to be focused on the action!

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March 21, 2016March 22, 2016

Adobe Apps on iPad Pro and Intro to Photoshop

As expected, Apple just took the wraps off the latest addition to the iPad family, the NEW 9.7 inch iPad Pro! I’m excited about this one because it’s the iPad that I really wanted. When the iPad Pro was introduced last year, the first thought that came to mind was “I don’t really want/need a bigger iPad.” However, after experiencing the fidelity of the Apple Pencil, I knew that this was the iPad to have for all things creative. Now that there is a 9.7″ iPad Pro with the same speed and Apple Pencil support it’s clear that Apple is serious when it comes to enabling creatives to be creative on mobile devices…

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