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A brilliant light, a smart plug… and Alexa
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Published: Feb 18, 2019
Category:
Home
My mother turned 102, and it was finally time for her not to live in her apartment with only caregivers for company, so we found an excellent assisted living complex a few blocks from my brother’s house, and I went out to California, and we de-accessioned and stored and filled two dumpsters and engineered a near flawless move.
My mother is 80% blind, so there were a few things she needed.
It turns out I can use them too.
Yes… something electronic. But NOT Nest. Consider this…
At first, it was a beeping that woke Ellen and Nathan Rigney in the middle of the night. Then it became something more sinister.
A stranger’s voice, spouting “sexual expletives,” wafted through a baby monitor in the Rigneys’ room — one that was linked to a Nest camera in their infant’s room upstairs, according to KRPC News.
Alarmed, the Rigneys turned on their lights. Unprompted, a Nest camera in their room activated and the same man’s voice told them to turn the lights back off.
“I’m going to kidnap your baby,” the voice said next, Ellen Rigney recalled to the news station. “I’m in your baby’s room.”
Nathan Rigney bolted upstairs to his son’s crib. But the 4-month-old was fast asleep, oblivious to the unsettling incident that had just transpired and spooked his parents. There was no one else in his room.
That’s when the Rigneys realized they had been hacked — and set about shutting down their cameras and WiFi, as well as calling the police…
So let’s think a little less tech. Like this…
A useful bright light. The Brightech Sky LED Pole Light. 30 Watt LED generates 1,660 lumens of light, blazing bright. Touch switch. Built in dimmer. Weighted base. 3 year warranty. [To buy it from Amazon for $80, click here.]
The Amazon Smart Plug. Works exclusively with Alexa — you’ll need the latest Alexa app and a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network. We plugged the light into this. [To buy it from Amazon for $25, click here.]
Alexa/Amazon Echo. The brains of the operation. All the tech anyone needs. For my mother, it turns the light on and off and adjusts the brightness. Reads favorite books. Plays Sinatra. And maybe even Al Jolson. [To buy it from Amazon for $50, click here.]
