Home automation is the talk of the town nowadays. It doesn't matter where you go, you will see it in every home improvement store. There are so many flavors out there that it is hard to choose just which route to take. We would like to introduce you to a controller that wont break the bank and works pretty darn well. The Mi Casa Verde Veralite Home Controller by Vera (previously known as Mi Casa Verde) has been out on the market for quite some time. This controller just recently went on sale for about $99 due to the fact that Vera is ready to start selling its newer big brother, the Vera Edge, very soon. The Veralite supports the popular z-wave protocol that is one of if not the most popular protocol for home automation today in the US.

The interesting thing about z-wave is how the devices create a mesh network in your home which means that the more devices you have the better the communication will be between all of your devices.

The Veralite has a small footprint and an easy to use interface. It will allow you to control door locks, garage doors, lights, windows shades, thermostats, sprinklers, and many other devices. The veralite also allows you to view video camera streams which we thought was pretty neat.

The veralite controller does not require a monthly subscription service and is a dream come true for the techy type of person because it allows for creation of plugins and or use of community plug-ins such as one made for DSC alarms that will allow you to control your alarm and all z-wave devices from one simple interface.

The one feature that we loved that sets it aside from it's competitors such as the Wink Connected Home Hub, Iris Smart Hub, Smartthings Hub, and the Revolv are that this device does not need to interact with a server on the web to control your devices. The controller stores all the information needed within your home so if you lose your internet at home you can technically still control your devices via your internal wifi connection. Vera also has the Mi Casa Verde Vera3 which is a little more powerful and has a builtin wifi router with 4 ethernet ports. Both devices have apps for both iPhone and Android native apps. Get your very own Vera controller on Amazon.

Here are some screenshots of the Android app, the apple iOS version is very similar.

Welcome screen Vera Controller




Dashboard screen Vera Controller




Menu screen Vera Controller




Device screen Vera Controller




Scene screen Vera Controller




The Good
- Just recently went on sale and sells for as little as $99.00
- information stays on the hub.
- No internet required to control from within your wifi network.
- Plugins allow it to work with many other types of devices such as those that have wifi html interface. DSC Alarm Panelwith the EYEZ-ON EVL-3 and Nest thermostat are two of the more popular plugins.

The Bad
- The instrucions are not very clear on how to add devices. (Once you figure it out it is actually very easy)
- Only supports z-wave protocol

Here is a little kitchen gadget that is sure to turn some heads. I have always wanted to try to make some breakfast sandwiches at home for my wife and kids, but how could I make those perfect eggs like they make in the restaurants? Well I went off on a little hunt and found this little guy in a local Bed Bath and Beyond. The Joie Roundy Egg Ring was under five dollars so I figured I would give it a shot. I couldn't have made a better investment .

This little silicone egg ring makes some perfect looking and tasting eggs and who doesn't love the little egg smiling at you while you are cooking? The silicone is great because it doesn't scratch your pans or stick to your eggs. It washes easily and is easy to store just about anywhere. Best of all I made my wife happy by giving her restaurant style breakfast at home. You know what they say, happy wife happy life! We really loved this little gizmo. We used a small amount of butter to get the eggs not to stick to the pan and started to cook. Check out our first shot at a sausage egg and cheese Muffin. Get your very own Joie Roundy Egg Ring on amazon.

Joie Egg Ring Cooking the egg


Joie Egg Ring Cooked Egg


Joie Egg Ring Not sticking to Egg


Egg Muffin Sandwich using Joie Egg Ring

You have probably installed a computer, TV, or some electronic device in your lifetime and hated all those cables that are required to make it function. We for one came across this Wiremold Cord Cover Kit when updating our kitchen. We decided to put some under cabinet lighting but wanted to make sure that the cables were not visible. The wiremolds aren't too expensive and come in an assortment of styles and shapes. Take a look at our install below and see for yourself how much cleaner the installation looks after it is complete.


Before Wiremolds Were installed


Wiremold installed


Wiremolds first look at night


Wiremold in finished kitchen


You can get your very own wiremolds at your local hardware store or order them online on Amazon

I'm a father of two and didn't come across these pacifiers until my newborn son kept throwing up all his formula. Shortly after his birth the doctors diagnosed him with pyloric stenosis which is an abnormal narrowing of the valve at the outlet from the stomach, preventing normal passage of food into the small intestine. Not the best way to get introduced to a product but it was because of it that we came to know about Wubbanub Pacifiers. Three Years later I am happy to announce that my son is doing great after the operation at 9 days old and another a week later to take care of an infection. My son was given a Wubbanub pacifier shortly after the first surgery to sooth him. My son loved his little pacifier and so did his parents. The Wubbanub pacifiers are one piece BPA, PVC and Phthalate Free. The sucker is made wih a Soothie� medical grade, latex free pacifier. One of the things we loved most was that our baby wouldn't loose his pacifier because he knew intuitively that it was attached to his little red dog that he can hold and hug. The Wubbanub pacifiers are soft and cuddly so your kids will love them. The fact that the pacifiers have a small animal attached makes them easier to see therefore harder to leave behind or lose.

Here is a picture of my son shortly after the operation enjoying his wubbanub pacifier.


Get your very own Wubbanub on Amazon

If you want to protect your family from what is the web, make sure you read this! I have two little ones at home that are growing at an immensely rapid rate, or at least that's how it seems. From time to time my wife and I allow them to watch cartoons or tv shows on our tablet devices or laptop. It turns out that the little ones are very curious and end up opening all the applications on the devices. In order to protect those little minds, from going places that they shouldn't, we tried looking for applications to lock the devices. We couldn't find any application that would allow access to the few apps we didn't mind them accessing without blocking everything. After some searching we came across OpenDNS.

So what is OpenDNS? OpenDNS is an open domain name server. Believe it or not, you used a domain name server (DNS) to get yourself to this website. Your service provider directs you to their own DNS, this server translates text you provide into an address so that your browser knows where to go on the world wide web. You can think of DNS as a mailman, for instance you type your website URL on your favorite browser and the mailman delivers your package, or takes you to the web site you want to go to.

Having said that, we made the super simple configuration on our home router and in a matter of seconds we were protected against all adult-related sites, illegal activity, social networking sites, video sharing sites, and general time-wasters that we didn't want our family reaching. OpenDNS is doing the hard work of intercepting requests to only the sites you don't want your family going to from your dashboard as shown below.

OpenDNS Dashboard


The beauty of OpenDNS is that it lets you the parent take control and be as conservative as you wish. The configuration can be done on each individual computer or on the home wireless router (easier). They provide detailed instructions and its as easy as changing a few number on your routers configuration. Not only does Opendns provide security but as a side benefit, the OpenDNS is typically a lot faster than the DNS your service provider gives you which will get you to the places you do want to go faster.

If your family gets to a site you deemed they shouldnt be seeing, they will see the following webpage. I love the peace of mind this gives me knowing that my family is safe.

OpenDNS Blocked Site


OpenDNS also provides you with logs and stats if you want to see where the family is going and ultimatley tweak your settings, It really is up to you. You can also turn off logging if you are paranoid about them collecting your data. For the not so computer savy they have an option that applies default filters so you don't have to do any thinking! Got to love it. The best part is that its FREE!


OpenDNS Stats


Get started with OpenDNShere.

The Good
- It's FREE
- It Works
- Easy configuration
- Allows you as much control as you want.
- Faster than your service providers DNS


The Bad
- It may block sites you didnt want blocked ( we havent experienced this and have been using for over 2 months)

Other Resources
Another resource on internet safety you may want to look into can be found at backgroundchecks.org. This link has a toolbox of 120 tools and tricks for the concerned parent to keep their child safe online.

Here at the Lime we have a 2007 Honda Accord that is usually parked under a tree and is never garaged. Being that the car is always exposed to the elements it shows signs of paint wear and the owner wanted to try to see if we can repair some of the damage created by time and obviously share the results with you. Various car washes were used and although the car washes did good to clean the car, they rareley removed any of what semed to be tree sap or dry bug splat from the car. After reading many forums and looking for for products that could potentilally improve the look of the paint we read about clay bars.


We took a short drive to a local auto parts store and found a box of Mothers Clay Bar on sale. Since none of us at the office had ever used such a product we thoguht we would give this one a shot since it was the cheapest and none of the forums tended to name any brand better than any other.

We washed the car one more time to prep it for its first claying and went at it. After just a few seconds of applying the showtime instant detailer and rubbing the clay bar on the car, we really couldn't believe our eyes. It was such an amazing improvment that we had to show it to you. All of these pictures were taken by our in-house photographer with a Nikon D300. None of the images were modified but only reduced the size for easy viewing.

The first shot here is the before. This was after washing the car and please keep in mind that this is a close up of the paint. Notice the pits that are on the paint. These pits if left alone are what cause your paint to rust according to many reviews that we read. (We are by no means paint experts). You can see here how badly the paint has been neglected and in need of just a little TLC.





The second shot shows the difference after just one pass of the clay bar. Keep in mind again that this is a zoomed in picture.





This third shot shows some more improvment after a second and final pass. Lookincg closley you can notice that there are still some imperfections but these are miniscule compared to what existed prior to the bar.




Finally this is another shot focusing on the reflection. We tried to mimic what your eye would see and you can tell that the finish is amazing. Not only does it look like a million bucks but the feeling is amazing. The bar leaves the paint silky smooth to the touch.





The Good
- Easy to apply
- This specific kit comes with eveythingy you need in the box. (Bar, Detailing Spray, and towel)
- Amazing results with little work
- Outperforms any car wash we tried.

The Bad
- It's a little expensive (We got lucky and caught it on sale)
- The clay bar doesn't last forever. By the time we were done with the car we had gone through one full bar and half the spray. (The results were amazing however)


We were very impressed by the results and would recommend this product to our fans. Go ahead and give Mothers Clay Bar a try, we are sure that you will be impressed if you have never used a clay bar before. You can get your very own on Amazon.

If you are on the market for a car mount for your new smartphone or electronic device, take a look at the iMagnet. The unique design of the iMagnet allows for a Cradle-less mount of practically anything. The desing is strong enought to hold even todays larger phones like the Samsung Note3 or Sony Xperia.

The iMagnet is a strong magnetic base that adheres itself to a slim metalic plate that goes either between your phone and the case or attached via a sticker directly to the rear of the device. We have been using the iMagnet for about a month now and not once has the phone fallen off. We did notice that if the magnetic circle is not directly in the middle of the phone, it causes the phone to flop to one side but this is more user error than anything. We are really impressed with the power of both the suction cup that attaches to any smooth surface and the strenght of the magnet.

Shown below is the iMagnet being used with the Galaxy Note 3 from Samsung. It is one of the larger phones out in the market today and it grips on to this phone without any issues.



This is the rear view of the iMagnet used on the Note 3 with a Spigen Bounce case. It was also tested with the Spigen Neo Hybrid with equal results.

This is a shot from the rear of the iMagnet also on the Note 3 mounted on the windshield of an automobile.


The Good
- Strong magnet capable of working on even larger phones.
- No clunky cradel that obstructs view
- Simple and effective design
- Sold with three plates two with adhesive backing (rectangular) and one round to put between your phone and case. (All three can be used beteen phone and case.)
- Easy One handed operation
- Priced well
- Comes with a one year warranty

The Bad
- The mount does not allow for much maneuvering
- Does not mount well on surfaces that are pourous (such as dashboard which tend to have a porous material)
- Bad Name choice, makes it seem like the mount only works on iphones when in fact it works with anything.

All in all we recommend the product and are very happy with it. You can get your very own iMagnet on Amazon.

If you are looking for wireless headphones or a bluetooth earpiece for your cell phone or other device make sure to take a look at the LG HBS-730 Tone +. I tried out a plantroncs headset first and although they looked nice and are a little more compact, they just didn't fit my head correctly and were uncomfortable. I ran across the HBS-730 and gave it a try.

The wireless functionality is great and gives you freedom from wires getting snagged and having your earpiece pulled from your ears forcefully. Overall we are very happy with the purchase of this set. We paid $44 dollars on Amazon and they are well worth that price. We use them primarily as an extension of our phone for meetings and when we are doing something that reqires both hands around the office. We are very impressed with the sound quality, the life of the batteries, and the overall comfort of the unit. You can realistically have the HBS-730 on all day and not realize it. The unit is not bulky and conforms to your neck. The HBS-730 can be paired with up to two devices.

Upon turning the LG Tone + on, it tells you what the battery level is and lets you know when it is connected to your phone or media player. The controls for the volume and changing the media playing are very easy to navigate once you get used to them.



The only thing we didn't like was the power button seems a little cheap compared to the rest of the unit.



The HBS-730 does not work well when it is far from the source. We tested the unit with a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 inside a car while the car was being washed. The phone was placed on the drivers seat and was getting its music source from Pandora. The LG tone disconnected every once in a while when we walked away from the car. We would say 10 - 12 feet more or less. When we walked back the unit automagically reconnected and started playing music again. This was the other thing we didn't like of the HBS-730.

When close to the unit or in our pockets the audio was very clear and deffinitley shows improvment over the older LG HBS-700. The bluetooth 3.0 deffinitley shows its strength here. All in all the unit performed very well for phone calls and works amazingly well when you have the LG HBS-730 close to its source or in your pocket or purse.

Trying to figure out how the earbuds are kept in place while not in use? Its actually pretty cool. They have little magnets behind the earbuds that lock in to place when not in use.



One more thing to look at is the micro usb charging port, you have to love that it doesnt use a non standard charging cable.




We would deffinitley recommend the device as there are not many competitors that offer all of the options at a similar price. Buy your LG Tone Plus HBS-730 now on Amazon.

The Good
- Great Battery Life (10 hours of listening/15 hours of talk time)
- Clean Crisp Clear Audio
- Good quality controls
- Controls are easy to operate
- Not too expensive compared to similar units
- Uses same micro USB charger as many phones
- Noise Reduction and Echo Cancellation
- Built in apt-X technology (CD quality sound over Bluetooth)
- Text Message reading through LG"s BT reader App for Android OS

The Bad
- Didn't Like the main power switch. (Feels Flimsy)
- Not a stable connection when over 12 feet away

AI Director is a new web based controller for LED aquarium lighting made by Aqua Illumination. This new controller will take the place of the regular controller. It features a web interface and has wired or wireless (wireless dongle is included but not shown) connectivity to your home network.



The controller has the ability to connect to a web based service from AI that also allows you to connect remotely. We were able to get onto the beta program and got our hands on one of the controllers to control our two Vega lights that we have over an all glass 92 gallon aquarium.

It has been about two months now since we received our AI director. At first we were very disappointed with the controller, being that it was a BETA program we thought we would hang in there. It had very clumsy controls and had bugs that really made it useless. You couldn't even save your presets very easily and would find yourself resetting the controller time and time again and reprogramming it from scratch.



Well how things change, just a few software updates later and we feel like we have a new product. This thing although in BETA, is working flawlessly now. We have been running the controller without resetting it for about a month now and it works perfectly with out Vega's.

The Director features a built in feedback panel that lets you submit bug reports and or feature requests. So far the AI crew is pretty good at responding and making your bugs go away. The controller just like its predecessor allows you to simulate lighting and cloud cover. It also features coral acclimation programs and in a future update, AI promises to add a feature that will mimic the weather that is happening in your area. We can't wait for that to happen.

This director has unlimited potential and we hear rumors that they may eventually add the capability to add a webcam so you can see what is going on in your tank while you are away.

Here you will find some screen shots of our actual setup. Note that the colors on the interface change based on the picture you upload to the director of your aquarium, we thought it was a pretty nifty idea.

Graphical User Interface Screenshots
Automatic Control Scheduling





Manual Control Screen




Easy Setup





Multiple Custom Presets





Lighting Layout Configuration Tool




Lighting Effects Configuration




Beta Feedback Tool




Timezone Configuration





Guided Manual Screen



Ready to control multiple Tanks


At the moment the Director is still in BETA and not for sale but when available will be sold via Amazon. We are really happy with the director and found it to be a great investment.

How cool is this? The Makey Makey has been making kids and grown ups alike invent new contraptions every day for quite some time now. We were able to get our hands on one of these kits and we can't even describe how much fun we had with it.

The MaKey MaKey Original Invention Kit is a simple little printed circuit board that interfaces with your computer and acts like a human interface device. Basically it takes the place of certain keys and or mouse clicks without using the actual keyboard or mouse. The Makey Makey kit comes with a 6ft USB cable, 7 alligator clips, and 6 connector wires that will help you create some pretty interesting projects.

Out of the box it took us just 15 minutes to set up our first testing invention. I put my daughter (6 years old) up to the test and had her help me with setting this up. It was a basic control pad made of play-dough buttons so I had her use the pins that I hooked up to alligator clips and insert them into the play-dough. A short search on Google gave us a web based pacman game that was perfect for testing. The MaKey MaKey Original Invention Kit worked like a charm and it was funny to see how much fun my daughter and I were having playing pac-man through play-dough.

These are a few pictures of our trial run but check out the videos of some of the things you can do with your very own Makey Makey.










The Makey Make works on Windows, Mac and Linux so there is no excuse to not let your imagination run wild.

Check Out the Makey Makey videos











Where can I get my own makey makey? You can either buy your makey makey through Amazon, or you can also order one via the Makey Makey website at makeymakey.com.