Harmony Hub: Add Voice Control to Your TV and Entertainment Center

The Logitech Harmony Hub, Part 1:

     

Control your TV, DVR, and Other Entertainment Components with Your Voice

If you have a Fire TV and Alexa, you've probably already played around with voice controlling it.  And you may have wished you could extend these voice-control abilities to your TV itself, as well as your other entertainment system components.  Well, what if I told you there was a way to add this voice control to your existing equipment?  Would you like to learn more?

Today, we're going to tell you just how to do that, using the Logitech Harmony Hub.  In Part 1, we're going to introduce you to the Harmony Hub itself, and talk about how it can enhance equipment you already own.  Later, we'll get a little bit deeper into setting up the Harmony Hub, as well as configuring it to work with your equipment.

What is the Harmony Hub?

The Harmony Hub is a small device that connects to your home wifi and turns your smartphone or tablet into a universal remote control. Additionally, once you activate the corresponding skill, it adds Alexa Voice Control abilities to your home entertainment system. So the Harmony Hub gives you BOTH universal remote and Alexa voice control abilities.

Telephone Phishing: Voicemail Messages You Should NOT Return

Phishing Phone Calls:
No, There is No Warrant for your Arrest,
and the Police are NOT on Their Way

DO NOT Return a Scammer's Call

Today's world is full of people who are fraudulently trying to separate you from your hard earned money.  Phishing has become a real problem on the Internet, something we've talked a lot about on this blog in the past.  Spoofed e-mails. bad links, text message spam, and malicious Facebook Posts are common ways in which the fraudsters attack.  

But what about offline? Are you safe from phishing attacks if you do not use the Internet at all? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is no.  As people get wiser about online attack strategies, the Bad Guys have begun to attack you offline.  And one of the most prevalent methods of offline phishing uses your telephone.

Today, we're going to look at Phone Phishing.  We are also going to look at two phishing attempts, both employing voicemail.  In both cases, these are examples of voicemails you should NOT return.

Windows 10 has an Emoji Keyboard

Quick Tip: How to Access the Emoji Keyboard in Windows 10

Did You know Windows 10 includes a hidden Emoji Keyboard?  And that this Emoji Keyboard has a lot of the more popular emojis, including smileys, food, transportation, and celebration emojis?

You can access this hidden keyboard using a keyboard shortcut:

Help! I Can't See ANY Comment Sections in Firefox since it Updated!

Quick Tip: Fix Display Issues with
Third-Party Comment Plug-Ins and Page Elements
in the Mozilla Firefox Browser

At some point today, Firefox updated itself.  And afterwards, I found I could no longer see Facebook Comment Sections on third-party sites, (like Buzzfeed or USAToday.)  Certain embedded elements, like Tweets and Instagrams, were also being replaced with the ALT text.  I did NOT like this behavior at all!  Refreshing the page did nothing, nor did disabling ad-blockers.

Alexa Says My Device is Not Responding: What Do I Do?

Smart Home Glitches and How to Resolve Them:

Fixing Issues with Amazon's Alexa

Smart Home devices are fantastic, when they are working properly.  But like any other electronic device, Smart Devices can experience errors.  So what do you do when you ask Alexa to turn on the lights, and she tells you a device is not responding?  Today, we're going to look at troubleshooting errors with Alexa and your Smart Home Devices.

Alexa Says "I'm Having Trouble Connecting to the Internet."  What Do I Do?

Like any wi-fi device, Alexa can experience connectivity issues.  A user generally discovers the Echo or Dot has lost connectivity when they issue a command, and Alexa responds with "I'm having trouble connecting to the Internet right now."  Additionally, the light ring will flash red rather than blue.  Despite the fact my Dot is the closest device to my router, it seems to experience connectivity problems more often than my other Alexa-enabled devices.

Sometimes, connectivity issues are caused by a blip in the wi-fi. This blip might be caused by interference from a microwave, a cordless phone, a back-up beeper, or any number of things that can cause wi-fi "noise."  I find often, if I wait a few seconds and reissue my command, the connectivity issue resolves itself.  If it doesn't, the next step is to reboot the malfunctioning Alexa device.  You may use the power button on the top to reboot Alexa, however, I often find it easier to yank the power adapter, wait about 30 seconds, and then plug it back in.  That way, I do not inadvertently turn off the microphone by mistake.  Like with most electronic devices, rebooting can clear about 80% of issues.