SEE ALSO: Take Control of Your Home with Control4 Smart Home Solutions   Save More Energy Running the AC all summer long does a number on our utility bills, not to mention the environment. It takes heaps of power to keep a house cool all day and night. What if you could reduce your energy consumption this summer, even a little bit? Smart blinds co

SEE ALSO: Stuck at Home? Bring Your Entertainment Into the Backyard   Hear Audio Everywhere If you’re hosting a get-together or sitting down to dinner under string lights, listening to outdoor high-quality speakers will lift everyone’s spirits as much as the wine. But if someone heads to the pool or walks inside to prepare dessert, the music will

SEE ALSO: Perfectly Blend Outdoor Entertainment Into Your Landscaping Design Smart Devices Without Control4 If you’re using a smart speaker, video doorbell, smart thermostat, or another gadget without a centralized controller, it can only go so far. With a voice-assistant speaker, for example, you’re limited to choosing songs, and your smart TV re

SEE ALSO: How A Better Home Network Makes Cord-Cutting Easier In the Living Room: 4K, 8K, and Surround Sound If you’re ready to upgrade your family room entertainment, ask yourself: Is it time for 4K or 8K definition? 4K screens offer twice the number of pixels that standard 1080p does. With deeper blacks and more vibrant colors, images are more s

SEE ALSO: 3 Lesser-Known Benefits of Smart Blinds Large Screen vs. Projector Today’s LED, OLED, and 4K screens can get so large (up to 98” with the Sony MASTER Series) that a TV display can work beautifully as a home theater centerpiece. People often worry that projectors look washed out in rooms with ambient light. 4K TVs indeed offer deeper blac

SEE ALSO: From 8K Television To Hidden TVs, Discover These Creative Viewing Options   Can I Install A Regular TV Outside If It’s Under A Covering? You might wonder if you really need to purchase a special TV for outdoor entertainment. Can a standard flatscreen substitute an outdoor television if it’s safe under a patio roof, awning, or inside a me

SEE ALSO: Unique TV Solutions for Kitchens and Bathrooms Home Theater for Sports Increase Refresh Rate Have you ever watched a game on ESPN, and the action seems to be followed by a blur during major plays? The TV’s refresh rate was probably not high enough to show the fast-changing action. A refresh rate is the number of images displayed per seco

SEE ALSO: 5 Ways to Install a Hidden Speaker System   Playlists for Different Moods Music can enhance so many moments in our life and complement almost any occasion. Do you like music when you’re focusing on work? Doing a high-energy workout? Having a dinner party? You can create playlists for all those activities and immediately set the mood

SEE ALSO: Stuck at Home? Bring Your Entertainment Into the Backyard Set the Mood Tunable lighting isn’t restricted to indoors only! With a smart lighting system, you can fine-tune your bulbs’ color temperature and brightness through a slider on your smartphone. Want icy white lights to highlight the architectural details of your home? Or warm, gol

SEE ALSO: Innovative Ways to Use Landscape Lighting Many Forms of ‘Mood Lighting’ We’ve all been to atmospheric restaurants with a fireplace or tiny candles on the tables. The restaurant owners didn’t light all those candles to help you read the menu—they know that the right lighting will make you feel better and therefore enjoy their business. &n

SEE ALSO: Why Control4 Is A Superior Choice For Smart Home Automation A Better Way to Cook in the Kitchen It’s hard to prepare and cook food when the lighting is bad. A poorly design lighting system in your kitchen also casts a pall over the entire room. Who wants to socialize in a kitchen that’s unwelcoming? Cast some light on the problem with au

SEE ALSO: How You Can Benefit From Control4 Smart Home Automation The Bedroom: Your Haven of Rest and Retreat One of the most impressive features of a smart home is the seamless control you have over your technologies: the lights, shades, music, and TV. Just think about it. How many times have you settled into bed when you realize you forgot to tu

SEE ALSO: From Morning ‘til Night, Set the Perfect Mood With Smart Lighting Haunted Landscape Lighting If your outdoor lighting is integrated into a smart home system, you can set the bulbs’ colors to creepy purple, green, and orange shades. From the Control4 app, for instance, you can use a slider on the tunable light screen to transform the atmo

  SEE ALSO: Here’s What A Fully Automated Smart Home Can Do Home Improvements with Ygrene If you’re interested in the following new systems, you can finance them with our help as a Ygrene contractor: LED Lighting  Exterior Lighting Lighting control Motorized shading Energy storage systems You can read a full list of PACE-eligible improve

SEE ALSO: From Morning ‘til Night, Set the Perfect Mood With Smart Lighting First Priority Audio Ranked Amongst Top Home Technology Firms First Priority Audio has become one of the first in Fort Lauderdale to achieve the designation of HTA Certified home technology integration firm. The HTA uses 60+ criteria to evaluate dealers and only the top 10

SEE ALSO: Listen to Music On Another Level With Multi-Room Audio Focal 2-Channel Speakers 2-channel audio with left and right speakers is the ideal setup for anyone with a musical passion. It creates a multidimensional, immersive effect as if live music is playing inside the living room. From there, you can expand to a surround sound or multi-room

SEE ALSO: How You Can Benefit From Control4 Smart Home Automation Red Neeo Remote After using Control4’s Neeo remote, your old remotes will look like artifacts that belong in a museum. Its sleek aluminum body includes both a touch screen and hard buttons with Wi-Fi connectivity, displaying the music or show you’re currently streaming. And now, the

SEE ALSO: Listen to Music on Another Level with Multi-Room Audio Sony Master Series Sony’s new league of premium TVs, the Master Series, brings the sophisticated movie studio experience into your home. With “lens to living room” picture quality, you’ll see brighter colors, darker blacks, and a Netflix-calibrated mode that tweaks images as you’re w

SEE ALSO: Gift Guide: Screens & Projectors Any Movie Enthusiast Will Love Wireless Multi-Room Speakers Whether they love The Weeknd, Billie Eilish, or a band you’ve never heard of, the kids can enjoy their favorite tunes over a quality wireless speaker like a model by Sonos or Bluesound. They’ll select songs and playlists right from a tablet o

Retreat into a Wellness Room A wellness room could be any space—a home gym, a home library, or even a home theater that’s treated with wellness in mind. Plants and plenty of natural light can go a long way, but you can also use smart technology to add peacefulness and relaxation for whenever you need a break. Adjust your smart lighting to a bright