Best Buy Canada announced Thursday that their Life & Tech Festival is returning to Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Square for the third year.
The interactive festival showcases smart home and connected health devices, along with the latest in wearable tech, connected toys and drones, and gaming and virtual reality systems.
Best Buy says over 60 exhibitors from around the globe will be demonstrating products at the 2017 fest.
The event runs daily from September 12 to 14 between 11 a.m. and 9 p.m. It’s free for the public to check out.
Are you interested in Best Buy Canada’s Life & Tech Festival? Share your thoughts in the comments below or at facebook.com/bamcatBuzz.
Belkin’s WeMo-enabled “smart” Crock-Pot is a great slow cooker. But are the connected features worth it?
Ever since I installed the Nest Learning Thermostat and saw the benefits of it in regards to making my home more comfortable, I have gone on a bit of a mission to make my house as “smart” as I can. This has amounted to me incorporating many connected devices over the last few years and has, for the most part, changed the way my family and I live.
Take the coffee maker – besides being able to turn it on via an app on your phone you still need to clean it and put the ground coffee and water in the machine before you can brew a pot. Having it connected only replaces the need to set a timer, which every coffee maker can do. Not really that smart in my opinion.
This brings me to Belkin’s WeMo-enabled Crock-Pot I was sent to test a few weeks ago. In theory it’s a great concept, but the features it currently has don’t quite make it a must-have device.
Connecting it to WiFi gives you the option to adjust the temperature remotely via the WeMo app, turn the unit off and be alerted when your meal is ready. What it can’t do is keep your food chilled so that you can add all your ingredients and turn it on at a later time and it also can’t stir your food.
The WeMo app lets you adjust the cooking temperature of the Crock-Pot and will alert you when your meal is ready.
If all you want is a functional slow cooker with the ability to adjust the cooking temperature from another room and be alerted when your food is ready, then the Belkin WeMo-enabled Crock-Pot is for you. If you’re looking for something truly “smart” and groundbreaking, wait until an appliance with the features I mentioned comes along.
Belkin’s WeMo-enabled “smart” Crock-Pot retails for around $159.99 Canadian. Visit crock-pot.ca for more information.
Share your thoughts on connected devices (and your slow cooker recipes) in the comments below.