The holidays can be a joyful time spent with family and dear friends, but are also fraught with headaches and concerns. Did you pack enough diversions to keep the kids happy in the car or on the flight? Will your travel be delayed by weather? How will your special Thanksgiving dish hold up during the trip? Will your irascible uncle hold a symposium on his current pet peeve during dinner, making that new in-law cringe?

With your smart home holding down the home front, you have one less thing to worry about. Here are just a few ideas to help you configure your smart home so it will keep making your life easier even while you are away.

With homeowners’ growing reliance on smart home automation technology, it’s easy to forget just how new the modern industry really is. Certainly, many ground-breaking technologies and products debuted before 2010, but most people think of the innovations of just the past decade. Let’s take a look at some of them.

The world of smart home automation continues to boom with new products being introduced seemingly daily and companies positioning themselves to try to leap ahead of the competition with innovative systems and business structures. Here we discuss a couple of the more notable recent developments.

Real estate pros agree: adding smart home automation increases your home's curb appeal and property value.

Diagnosing networking problems is often difficult.  If your computer is slow, it could be something related to hardware or software. If your smartphone or tablet is slow, it could also be related to the device itself or the software it’s running. 

Perhaps a website you’re accessing is slow for a period, and it’s not any of your devices.  If you’re trying to watch a Netflix movie on your TV, is the quality something less than HD (high definition)?  Perhaps your internet signal slowed down temporarily.  There’s always the possibility that it’s not your signal or any device. 

Your network installation may be the culprit in a multitude of connectivity sins.  And in Manhattan, we often live in buildings with tens or hundreds of other networks, which can create issues with crowded airwaves. How do we figure out if our problems are network related? 

We’ll cover some ways to narrow it down.  Just keep reading. 

Going around turning lights on and off can be tedious.  Perhaps it’s a first world problem, but here in Manhattan, with all the tall buildings densely packed together, light is essential, whether natural or manmade. 

You want your New York City home to have the right amount of light. Chances are you have invested in extra lighting for your place – perhaps lighting in built-ins that artfully draws attention to your first book collection, sconces adding soft light to your dining room, and LED spot lighting for your carefully curated artwork. 

You want to be able to control all that lighting easily, and not be reaching everywhere for switches to turn things on and off.  With a home lighting control system, you’ll have lots of choices for doing that.  Read on to learn more.

If you have a residence in Manhattan, you already know the most significant benefits that come with living in the city that never sleeps.

You’re never too far from the action – whether it’s eating at the hottest restaurant or seeing the newest Broadway show. There’s always something happening in New York City.

Chances are, if you’re living in Manhattan, your residence also has a spectacular view of the city’s skyline or even the East or Hudson Rivers.

This begs the question: Are you making the most of your unit’s view?

If you don’t know the answer to that question, we have a solution: Switch out your regular blinds for motorized window treatments. 

What, exactly, can motorized shades do for your Manhattan residence? Below, we share three reasons why it’s a worthy addition to your property.