Home 2018 March

The Gourmia IoT Cool-Cooker has something other slow cookers don’t

Before I fell in love with my Instant Pot, I used a slow cooker to cook chickens and roasts while I was at work during the day. The only annoying thing about using a slow cooker (aka crock pot) is that I’d have to get up earlier than usual to put all the ingredients in the cooker. I don’t like getting up in the morning, so getting up even earlier does not make Julie a happy camper. But the new Gourmia IoT Cool-Cooker might be the holy grail of slow-cookers because it not only cooks your food, but it keeps it cold BEFORE it starts cooking it.

The Gourmia Cool-Cooker has a built-in refrigeration unit that keeps everything cold before it’s time to cook. You can add all the items to the cooker the night before, like meat and vegetables and then control it later from anywhere with an app on your phone to start the cooking process. The Gourmia Cool-Cooker can even be controlled using Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa voice assistants.

The Cool-Cooker is a 6-quart 11-in-1 cooker that can bake, make rice, roast, yogurt, porridge, slow cook, keep food warm, sauté, steam, and sous vide.

There isn’t any pricing info at this time, but the Cool-Cooker will be available at retailers later in 2018. More info will be available at Gourmia.com

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The Gourmia IoT Cool-Cooker has something other slow cookers don’t originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 9, 2018 at 7:00 am.

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Sonoff S31 WiFi socket and Slampher RF bulb adapter review

Turning your home into a smart home is a whole lot easier if you add the home automation tech during the building phase instead of waiting years later to retrofit tech into an existing home. Although that’s great advice, it won’t help you if you want to get into the home automation game with an older home like mine. My home was built in the 1970’s and the smartest thing about it when I bought it was… ok there was nothing smart about my home when I bought it, but I’ve slowly been adding smart home gadgets over the years to raise its IQ.

Today I want to show you the Sonoff S31 WiFi Socket with Power Consumption Detection and the Slampher RF adapter. These devices provide an easy way to turn almost any plug-in device into a smart device and a light bulb adapter that turns dumb bulbs into smart ones that you can control with your smartphone. Let’s take a look.

What is it?

The Sonoff S31 is a WiFi enabled smart switch that you can control with your smartphone, Alexa enabled speakers, Google Home, and Google Assistant.

The Slampher RF adapter is a WiFi enabled adapter that will turn a regular light bulb into a smart light bulb that can be controlled by your phone, Alexa, Google Home, and Google Assistant.

What’s in the box?

Each of these adapters is sold separately and do not come with any special parts or accessories. The small keychain remote is also sold separately.

Design and features

Sonoff S31

The S31 is compact size 1 gang US standard wifi smart plug with energy monitoring that turns a “dumb” device into a “smart” device that can be controlled via WiFi with an iOS or Android device or voice assistant from Amazon and Google.

The adapter is made of white and black plastic with two status LEDs on the front.

On one side is a power button that you can use to manually toggle power to the outlet.

The Sonoff S31 WiFi Socket has a horizontal layout that keeps it from blocking the other outlet on a standard wall outlet.

I used the S31 adapter with an IR heater in my basement. With the S31’s socket powered on, the heater performed normally, but with the eWeLink app, I could control it in real time or with timers and schedules.  The app also provides info on usage and power consumption. More on the app in a sec.

Sonoff Slampher RF


In addition to smart WiFi enabled socket adapters, Sonoff also sells adapters that will turn a regular light bulb into a smart light bulb that can be controlled by your mobile device. These adapters are bulky and might not fit in certain lamps because they add extra height to the bulb.

Sonoff even sells a wireless controller that can be used to toggle power to their N and W series RF switches and adapters like the Slampher RF. However, I was never able to get it to work because it didn’t come with any instructions and everything I tried (instructions with the Slampher RF light bulb adapter) did not work. The product page for the remote has quite a few comments from customers who also are unable to get it to work.

Let’s make our home smarter!

Setting up and configuring the Sonoff WiFi Socket and Slampher RF light bulb adapter is quick and easy using the eWeLink app for Android and iOS.


The app walks you through adding a new device and once added, it shows up on the main screen like you see above on the left. Power to the Slampher RF adapter can be toggled by tapping it on this screen. Controlling the S31 socket requires that you go into the detail view for that device and then tap the power toggle.

The detail view of the S31 shows a real-time reading of how much current and voltage it’s drawing if it’s powered on.


The app allows you to set a timer to record power consumption during a specific time frame. It also tracks historical usage whenever the switch is in use and keeps a log of the last 100 days with the ability to export it as a CSV file.

You can also customize the data by plugging in your electric company’s rates. Every power company is different and my company (Duke Energy) uses three different rates:

First 300 kWh $0.092945 per kWh
Next 700kWh $0.054178 per kWh
Over 1000 kWh $0.044464 per kWh



The eWeLink app can be used to schedule times when the switch will be powered on/off and info for overload protection.

One way you could use the schedule feature is for charging your phone during the night. Instead of having it trickle charging all night which can cause your battery to age prematurely, you can set the S31 to turn off after 3 hours.

If controlling your smart switches by your phone is too much trouble, you can also control them with your voice assistant. I set up the Sonoff switches with Alexa and it worked great. I could say “Alexa, turn off the heater” and bada boom bada bing, the switch would turn off.

What I like

  • Easy to use and install
  • Can track power consumption and cost

What needs to be improved

  • Slampher RF adapter didn’t want to work with CFL and LED light bulbs
  • Couldn’t get the wireless remote to work with the Slampher RF adapter
  • Slampher adapter is bulky and adds height to the bulb.

Final thoughts

Sonoff makes easy to use products that can help you turn your non-smart home into a better smarter version without a lot of hassle and expense. I liked the S31 WiFi socket quite a bit but wasn’t impressed with the Slampher RF adapter. I’d rather just buy an inexpensive WiFi enabled smart bulb.

Price:$18.90 for the S31 socket, $16.09 for the Slampher RF
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by ITEAD.

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Sonoff S31 WiFi socket and Slampher RF bulb adapter review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 8, 2018 at 1:00 pm.

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Evergoods: trail-ready bags with city-refined style

Following a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2017, Evergoods is now rolling out the first in their new line of bags & apparel. And there’s a good reason to be excited about this one: the founders of Evergoods, Jack Barley and Kevin Dee, hail from GORUCK and Patagonia respectively. Not only do these guys know a thing or two about building great bags, but their product-driven design philosophy is something I  can get behind. You can read all about their story on their web site.

The mission behind Evergoods is to produce “crossover” bags that combine trail-ready technical refinement & durability with style & ease-of-use for everyday carry. The first two products look fantastic. The Mountain Panel Loader 30L ($249) leans towards hiking and outdoor use, while the Civic Panel Loader 24L ($229) is targeted at the daily commute. Both bags incorporate usability and design features that enable them to go either way like side carrying handles, hydration bladder ports, swing-around access, and ergonomics that favor all-day hauling.

There’s some great design work going on here, and the bags look great. I’m looking forward to checking these out. It also looks like both bags are ready to ship. To learn more, hop on over to the Evergoods web site!

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Evergoods: trail-ready bags with city-refined style originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 8, 2018 at 12:00 pm.

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LectroFan Kinder Sleep Sound Machine and Night Light review

According to Harvard Medical School, there are several variables that have an influence on sleep quality, including temperature, light, and noise, and this is true for infants, toddlers and adults, alike. Eliminating stressful elements and distractions in the bedroom can lead to better sleep, which has given rise to various white noise devices, like the LectroFan Kinder Sleep Sound Machine.

What is it?

The Kinder Sleep Sound Machine is a small speaker that plugs directly into the wall and emits dozens of unique, non-repeating nature sounds, ambient noises or lullabies to promote more restful sleep for your child. It also sports a top facing multi-color LED with several brightness levels. LectroFan makes several models of white noise devices, but this one in particular is aimed at infants and toddlers.

Hardware specs

  • Plugs directly into a wall outlet
  • High fidelity, non-looping sounds create a peaceful environment and mask noise disturbances
  • Soothing LED nightlight displays a rainbow of color
  • Controlled by easy to use iPhone or Android smartphone app
  • No Wi-Fi or internet connection required

What’s in the box?

And that’s all you need. The packaging is cute, though.
  • Sound machine
  • Instructions

Design and Features

I’ve used a sound device in my daughter’s room since she was a baby, just a simple one with about 7 different looping sounds. The one thing I disliked about that one was the few sounds that it had (rain, ocean, heartbeat) were noticeably repetitive. You could make out the loops in the sound waves very quickly and that was super annoying to my ears.

That’s where one huge difference lies between that old device and this LectroFan Kinder Sound Machine. Not only does the Kinder have 75 sound environments, the sounds are very high fidelity and non-looping. From what I understand, the proprietary technology behind LectroFan’s sound machines mean the audio created is somewhat organic and not just one looping sound file. So if you have the sound set to Ocean, you’re not going to hear the same one wave over and over again. Any loop was undetectable, to me, when testing out the different effects.

My favorites were the fan sounds… attic fan, box fan, industrial fan and even an oscillating fan. Since I usually sleep with a fan on in the room, the Kinder did a great job in emulating that low steady hum. I also appreciated the top-facing nightlight. At the very dimmest setting, it’s just about perfect, although I wish it could get a bit dimmer, still. The multi-color LED allows a wide range of colors or slowly cycle through a rainbow, which is a neat effect in a dark room.

I mostly kept it at a blue-green, since that seemed like the best color conducive to a sleeping environment. Although if you really want your kid to have some nightmares, you could choose red.

The Kinder Sound Machine is controlled entirely through the downloadable app, so if you don’t have a compatible smartphone, you might as well stop reading right now. With so many sounds and light colors to choose from, I don’t see how else you could control it. The app is easy to use and connects to the device via Bluetooth, so you can use it almost anywhere in the house.

Everything is controlled through their cute, straightforward app.

The Kinder does have a physical button on the device itself that turns it on and off, using the last setting programmed into it. The good thing about remote operation is that you can place the device in an out of reach socket, like behind a dresser or bed, and turn it on or off without having to be in the room.

Using the app is simple and intuitive, but feels a little clunky when trying to browse through all of the sounds. It allows for savable custom presets, so you can find your perfect mix of sound, light color and levels for both brightness and volume.

Naturally, the star of the show is the sound quality. The tiny speaker does a fantastic job of reproducing the ambient noises. It’s plenty loud and has natural-sounding acoustics. And they didn’t skimp on the sound selection… everything from nature, with rainstorms, distant thunder and several beach scenes, to a wide range noise “colors”, from muffled deep brown to hissy white.

They all sound great and most importantly, are designed to be unobtrusive and ignorable. After a few moments, it’s like your brain just sort of tunes out the noise and focuses on something else, which is exactly what you want when trying to fall asleep.

What I liked…

  • great audio fidelity
  • app is easy to use
  • adjustable nightlight

Might be a turn-off, literally…

  • has an on/off button on the device, but requires smartphone app to control light/audio levels

Final thoughts

The LectroFan Kinder is fantastic. I wish I would have had it when my daughter was younger, so I didn’t have to listen to those repetitive ocean waves while rocking her to sleep so many evenings. Simple to use and dozens of ambient non-looping sounds to choose from. I loved it.

Price: $79.95
Where to buy: You can purchase the LectroFan Kinder Sound Machine on Amazon.
Source: The sample of this product was provided by LectroFan. You can find out more on their website.

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LectroFan Kinder Sleep Sound Machine and Night Light review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 8, 2018 at 11:00 am.

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The Kenko Auto Extension Tube Set is another cost effective option for macro photography


In the world of macro photography, getting as close as possible to an object to be able to shoot a detailed photo is a very important and enjoyable aspect. Extension tubes are a great way to give non-macro lens the ability to get in closer. They connect between the lens and the camera and work by simply increasing the distance between the lens and the camera sensor. There are many manufacturers of extension tubes which are available in various specifications but ultimately do the same job. What is also important is the build quality, and how well they are threaded to match the lens they are designed to fit, without binding or creating difficulty when putting them on or taking them off.

While many people tend to use tubes manufactured by the same company as their camera, I tend to look for others that are well made and just as efficient, but cost-effective. As a Canon fan, I have one Canon extension tube, but I also have a 3-piece set of Kenko Auto Extension Tubes. The Kenko tubes are well built and work flawlessly. I chose the Kenko set based on the build quality, reviews by other buyers and because the 3 tubes came in the lengths that allowed me to obtain my desired magnification. It is important to understand that extension tubes do not contain any optics. What is also great is that these tubes generally retain the autofocus capability even with my Canon lens. The tube set can be combined in any order to increase the length.

If you would like to give them a try, you can head over to B&H Photo Video or Amazon to pick them up for $124.

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The Kenko Auto Extension Tube Set is another cost effective option for macro photography originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 8, 2018 at 10:00 am.

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