Get Your Home Connected with Philips hue Wireless Lighting and Netgear Nighthawk Wireless Router #BBYConnectedHome

The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free. This post contains affiliate links and the reviewer will receive a commission if you click on a link and make a purchase.

I am a self proclaimed techie; I just love new technology and gadgets and all that fun kind of stuff. Something that has always intrigued me is "Connected Home" tech products, such as smart thermostats, wireless lightning or smart security systems. Up until now I've never had a chance to play with anything like that, but I recently got my hands on some Philip Hue Personal Wireless Lighting products and now I am in love.

Note: This is not my house.

When you are looking to add smart products into your home, the first thin you need to make sure you have is a wireless router capable of handling it all plus whatever devices you have. In our house we have a lot, and I do mean a lot, of devices that are running at any given time and we were probably pushing it with our old Netgear router. To say the Netgear Nighthawk DST Wireless Router (exclusive to Best Buy) is a monster is not an exaggeration. It is literally enormous but that just goes to show how powerful it is. But do not let the size intimidate you, the installation was very easy for this moderately tech savvy lady. Start to finish it took me just under and hour, and that was with a call to my internet service provider to find out what my PIN number was. Without that call, I would have been done in 45 minutes or less. But if this kind of stuff is a challenge for you, not to worry, the Nighthawk includes Geek Squad installation and one year of support (via phone or web)!

Netgear Nighthawk DST Features • AC1900 high-performance WiFi router with Dead Spot Terminator eliminates your WiFi dead zones • 1GHz dual core processor • Supports 10+ connected devices • Advanced features for lag-free gaming • Prioritized bandwidth for streaming videos or music • DST Adapter sets up in minutes - no need to configure or install software • DST Adapter indicates the connection strength at any  electrical outlet • High-powered amplifiers - Three (3) external antennas • FastLane™ technology improves performance using both WiFi bands • Implicit and Explicit Beamforming • Downstream and Upstream QoS • ReadySHARE® USB — Share your USB hard drive and printer • ReadyCLOUD® USB Access — Enjoy personal and secure cloud access to USB storage anytime, anywhere • NETGEAR genie® with remote access SET UP and SUPPORT VIA PHONE and WEB NIGHTHAWK® •  $299.99

Once I had my new router set up, I was ready to move on to the really cool stuff: the wireless lighting! I was sent both the Philips hue White and Ambiance Starter Kit and the Philips hue Go from Best Buy to try out.

Philips hue White and Ambiance Starter Kit
This kit includes 3 wireless LED A19 bulbs, a wireless bridge, AC power adapter and ethernet network cable to get you started. Once again setup and installation is easy and only took a few moments. You will also need to download the FREE Philips hue app to your mobile device to b able to control your lighting settings. (Download on iTunes.) There are so many features I love about this but the most important functionality wise is the ability to program your lights. This means you can set up a schedule that will have your lights turning on and off when you want so that it looks like your home when you are not. There is also an alarm function so you can have yourself wake up to soft light instead of a blaring alarm clock. I've been using that a lot and it has been wonderful.

Then there is just the cool aspect of being able to change the color of the lights to pretty much anything. The app comes with a few "scenes" already loaded into to use and you can also create countless scenes of your own. I placed two of the bulbs in our bedroom and one in the home office with the hue Go and I already can't wait to get the rest of the house connected! The reading scene I use a ton when working at my desk or reading in bed.

Key Features • Choose from 16 million colors • Create and save your favorite lighting scenes. Dimming and brightening features at your fingertips • Easily adjust the light output. White and color light that fits your needs • The 2700K temperature offers soft illumination. • Designed to provide longer, more energy-efficient illumination. • Mobile control from your smartphone or tablet • Download apps that let you control settings from your device. Works with the whole Philips hue and Friends of hue family • Installs easily into your existing A19 light fittings • Works with Apple HomeKit (iOS users) so you can control your lights with Siri voice control on your iPhone. • hue is OpenHome certified and PEQ-compatible, so you can create your own ecosystem of automated devices. •  $199.99

Philips hue Go
This little portable light has quickly become my new best friend. I am a big time reader and my Kindle comes with me wherever I go. Now when I'm home, you can pretty much find me reading anywhere: living room couch, kitchen table, in bed or on my reading chair in the office. I love having this light available to bring in any room with me and I can soften the color and brightness to suit me. The hue Go is also controlled by the mobile app and can be set up to coincide with the other lights or on its own.

hue Go Key Features • Portable, completely wire free smart light that offers a lot of versatility for any lighting need. • Take it or put it anywhere: plug it in or carry it with you with up to 3 hours of rechargeable battery life. • Control your way - with the on/off switch on the light, or via the hue app (hue bridge required). • hue Go helps you to wake up fresh and energized in the morning with deep dimming. The gradually increasing light intensity gives you the feeling you are waking up from sunrise - gently and naturally. • Offers 5 patented “natural dynamic effects”: Cozy Candle, Sunday Coffee, Meditation, Enchanted Forest, and Night Adventure. Each dynamic effect has its own mix of colors to set the right mood. • $99.99

So overall I am more than pleased with all this new techie stuff that I've added to our home. Not only did I have a lot of fun setting it all up, but they provide great functionality as well. I'm hoping I can expand my hue lighting into more rooms over time.

Buy
These and other Philips hue lighting products as well as the Netgear Nighthawk Router are available to purchase at Best Buy, both online and in  your local store.

Going Green: Turn Off the Lights…

…and Unplug Your Appliances and Electronics!

I can still hear my mom telling nagging me to turn off the lights in the room I had just left. It is a concept I never truly appreciated until I became a homeowner myself and started receiving my own electric bill. Wow, electricity is expensive! So my going green tips for today not only conserve energy, but money too! On average, lighting makes up 11% of our energy bills. So wouldn’t it be nice to cut that down all while helping the planet?

For starters, make the most out of natural lighting. Open blinds and curtains and sit near a window to read. We try to leave the lights off as much as possible during the day, except on gloomy overcast days when it is needed a little more. Sometimes the boys will insist on turning on the dining room lights for lunchtime, but William knows to turn them off as soon as we are done in there. On dark days or at night, only turn on lights that you are using. And don’t overdue it. Do you really need 3 lights on in the living room? Would just one be enough? When you leave a room, even if you may be back in 10 minutes, turn the lights off.

You can also make the switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). They cost a little more, but they use 75% less energy then standard incandescent blubs and last longer. We made the decision to NOT switch light bulbs right now since CFLs are made with mercury, but that is just our choice. If you decide to swap out your bulbs, The Daily Green has a good post about how to Stay Safe from Mercury in CFLs.

Now let’s move onto appliances and electronics. No I don’t mean your fridge, silly. I mean small appliances like toaster ovens and coffee makers and electronics likes televisions, radios and computers. These things are called “phantom loads” – which is an appliance or electronic that uses energy even when turned off. 40% of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while they are turned off and this will add about $200 to your annual energy bill. Yikes! So turning them off is simply not enough; they need to be unplugged.

We have found that the simplest way to do this for electronics is by using power strips. In our home office, we have a power strip under the computer. Into this strip we have plugged in the monitor, printer, speakers, modem and the PC. When not in use, the power strip is turned off so absolutely no energy is going to them. We have a similar setup in the family room for the TV, DVD player and speakers. When we are not watching TV or listening to music, the strip gets turned of. Although to be totally honest with you, I forget this one a lot. Mainly because I have to reach behind the TV to do it.

In the kitchen, it’s fairly easy to save by unplugging things like toasters, counter-top microwaves, coffee makers, etc. Does your toaster oven need to be plugged in when you’re not cooking something? Nope. Now I use my toaster oven a lot, mainly at breakfast and lunch. But I still unplug it between uses. So on any given morning I can be seen plugging and unplugging the darn thing a good half a dozen times. How about the coffee maker? This can be tricky as some people set their coffee makers to automatically brew in the morning. In that case, obviously you are going to keep it in. But if you don’t use your auto timer or just drink an occasional cup, unplug it. Neither my husband nor I drink coffee, so ours was just serving as clock and a dust collector on our kitchen counter. Until one day I realized I already had 3 other clocks in there and I really needed the counter space. So not only did I unplug it, I put it away.

So take a look around your house and start making mental notes of where you can make changes. Is every light in your home on? Start making an effort to change this habit, even if it means leaving notes next to lamps and switches. Then see where you can add power strips and determine which kitchen appliances you can unplug.