Gadgetory

voice control is something that makes the smart home a whole lot more accessible rather than complex hubs that promise and often fail to manage connected devices on your behalf the Amazon echo is a straightforward gateway to your smart lights thermostats and more so when in doubt ask Alexa that's what we've decided to do at the Siena smart home Alexa tell Scout to arm away mode now arming the way mode in 45 seconds your system will be armed yes you can secure your home using something like Samsung smartthings but it's native integration with the echo is actually very limited so we decided to switch over to a DIY security system we've already reviewed called Scout that has a skills level partnership with echo that means you can ask Alexa what mode is currently set she can set specific modes she can tell you the status of specific sensors and even armed the Scout siren basically it's the best of what's available today for interaction between the echo and a security system and since we're making Amazon's Wi-Fi speaker the new centerpiece of the CNET smart home switching our security over to scout a simple but functional system that works well with Alexa was an easy decision