Withings Aura Connected Alarm Clock and Sleep monitor

The Withings Aura Connected Alarm Clock and Sleep monitor is a high-tech alarm clock combined with a sleek equally high-tech lamp. This device gives you the perfect way to fall asleep and wake up each day while monitoring your sleep using the optional sleep sensor.

The sleep sensor sits under your mattress and is connected via a quite long USB cable to the Aura alarm clock and tracks your sleep duration, sleep cycle variation (deep, light and REM stages), time awake and wakes you at the best time during your sleep cycle within the time frame specified in the Withings Health app on your iOS device.

Once paired with the iOS app, the Aura goes to work. You set it up to your home Wi-Fi network and it automatically sets the time, monitors the room temperature (hoping that it’s in a comfortable range of 65-72 degrees F), and can wake you up to your favorite songs on Spotify.

It uses research that Withings has done to use the lamp to display optimized colors which promote the secretion of sleep hormones if you use it to fall asleep. It will also play a sound program you specify from a predefined list of songs designed to help induce sleep.

We strongly recommend this alarm clock and sleep monitor if you're looking for a better night's sleep and a way to get more data about how you sleep!

NOTE: We were provided with a Withings Aura to facilitate this review. There was no promise made of a positive review. All opinions are our own.

I know it's been a while...

So I know it's been a while since I've posted but this winter has really got me beat. Between the snow, leaks, upended commutes into Boston (the train's new "normal" schedule has been 30 minutes consistently late), and other craziness just has me shifting my priorities more towards my full-time job in IT and family life and unfortunately the one thing that's gotta give here is the blog. Hopefully I'll be more mindful and devote some time to the blog in the coming weeks.

Thanks for sticking by us!

SimpliSafe: A unique home alarm system

We were fortunate enough to be able to review the SimpliSafe alarm system. This easy-to-setup system is easily expandable to fit any house situation. The kit we received included a base-station, three sensor units for doors and/or windows, a wireless keypad and a keychain remote which doubles as a installation USB flash drive for your computer.

To start, we opened the box and followed the instructions for setting everything up which was very easy. All of the pieces came with the appropriates batteries. I went around and figured out what we wanted to alarm and tested out each sensor as I connected it. One great thing about the system is you can set it to make a chime noise when one of the sensors are triggered. This happens when someone opens or closes a door, which is a great bonus feature since we have a two year old who can find her way out of the house easily now.

The setup process for the base station was easy and works with any web browser and computer. We set up a few codes for ourselves, a master password and some codes that we could give out to contractors. The base station connects to the internet and SimpliSafe has a monitoring company that will watch for notifications from the base station if anything is triggered and the alarm isn't disabled. The monitoring service starts at $15/month and goes up to $30/month at the high end which includes the ability to enable and disable the system from an iOS app.

This system is great and unique because you install it yourself so people don't need to be traipsing around your house putting in tons of equipment and wires. It is also wireless and in addition to the internet connectivity, has a cell-phone network backup (which is included in the $15/month monitoring cost) in case your phone/internet lines get cut. If the power happens to go out, the system has a battery backup that will last for a few hours so your house will stay monitored even if someone tries to cut the power and phone lines to your house or rob you in the event of a natural disaster.

The best thing about this system is that it is fully removable (they use special double stick tape that doesn't appear to damage walls) so if you move apartments or houses, you can take it with you. This is great for people and families who live in apartments, condos, houses, really any living situation.

NOTE:  We received a base-station kit from SimpliSafe to facilitate this review. We did not promise a positive review, but rather an honest review. All opinions are 100% our own.