Smart Home Archives - COOLCURATION

May 15, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Best Home Printer UK 2026: Laser Beats Ink, Every Time

Last updated: 15 May 2026

By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance

Affiliate disclosure: this post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend kit we would put on our own desks.

Printers are the one piece of tech that has somehow got worse over the past 20 years. They jam, they run out of ink the moment you need them, and they cost more per millilitre than vintage champagne. So when we set out to find the best home printer UK buyers can actually live with in 2026, we started from a position of mild rage and worked outwards.

Here is the short version. For most homes the best home printer UK answer is a small Brother mono laser. It is boring, reliable, cheap to run, and the toner never dries out. If you genuinely need colour at home, skip ink cartridges entirely and buy a refillable ink tank such as an Epson EcoTank or a Canon PIXMA MegaTank. That is the whole guide in two sentences. The rest is the working.

Published by Stiv in Buying Guides, Consumer Tech, Home office, Smart Home, Tech News, Technology lover

Tags: AirPrint, best printer 2026, Brother printer, Canon PIXMA, Epson EcoTank, home office, home printer, laser printer, refillable ink, UK printer guide

May 11, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Best Portable Speakers UK 2026: 12 We’d Actually Buy

Last updated: 11 May 2026

By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance

Long before the AirPods era, before Sonos was on every shelf, before "Bluetooth speaker" stopped sounding faintly novel, there was the Jawbone Jambox. We had one of the original models knocking around for years. Tiny, weirdly heavy, sounded like a pocket-sized rock concert, and felt like the future. Then Jawbone went bust, the Jambox died, and the entire portable speaker world quietly got a lot better. So in this guide to the best portable speakers UK shoppers can buy in 2026, we're rounding up the speakers we'd happily replace that old Jambox with today.

A good portable speaker turns a garden into a festival, a kitchen into a club, and a park meet-up into something worth staying for. A bad one sounds like music playing inside a tin can from three rooms away. Here's how to pick the right one without overpaying.

This guide contains affiliate links. If you buy through our links, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Published by Stiv in Buying Guides, Smart Home, Tech News, Technology lover

Tags: audio, Bang and Olufsen, best portable speakers, bluetooth speakers, Bose, JBL, Marshall, portable speakers, smart home, Sonos

April 21, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Best Refurbished Laptops UK 2026: Top Picks and Where to Buy

Last updated: 21 April 2026

By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance

A brand new MacBook Air costs over £1,000. A refurbished laptop with the same specs, a 12-month warranty, and a 30-day returns policy costs under £750. Same laptop. Same performance. Just without the new-box smell. If you have been wondering whether refurbished laptops UK buyers can actually rely on are any good, the answer is yes. We know because we buy them. Here is how to buy refurbished laptops in the UK without getting burned.

Two of us are typing this on refurbished MacBooks right now. One came from Back Market, the other from the Apple Refurbished Store. Both arrived looking and performing like new. The Back Market one was about 30% cheaper than buying new.

This post contains referral links. If you buy through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps fund the site. As always, our recommendations are based on genuine experience, not commissions.

Published by Stiv in Money saving, Services, Smart Home, Sustainable Living, Tech News, Technology lover

Tags: Back Market, laptop buying guide, MacBook Air, refurbished laptops, refurbished MacBook, refurbished tech, sustainable tech, ThinkPad

April 16, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

FYTA Beam G2 Review UK: The Best Smart Plant Sensor We’ve Tried

Last updated: 16 April 2026

By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

This review contains referral links. If you purchase through our link on the FYTA Beam detail page, you get 10% off. Our opinions remain entirely independent.

Cool Factor: 4/5

We have been searching for a reliable smart plant sensor for years. After failed attempts with Xiaomi and Parrot, we finally landed on the FYTA Beam G2. This FYTA Beam review covers four months of daily use across 13 sensors in a London flat, and the short version is: it is genuinely the best plant tracking system we have found. Not perfect, mind you. But properly impressive.

Published by Stiv in Green fingers, Green Living, Reviews, Smart Home, Technology lover

Tags: FYTA, FYTA Beam, FYTA Beam G2, indoor plants, plant care, plant sensor, reviews, smart home, tech

April 3, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Feliway vs Pet Remedy: Which Calming Plug In Is Best? (2026)

Last updated: March 2026

By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

If you have got an anxious cat at home, you have probably come across two big names in calming plug ins: Feliway Optimum and Pet Remedy. We bought both, tested them side by side, and paired them with smart plugs to squeeze more value out of each refill. In this Feliway vs Pet Remedy comparison, we share our honest experience, including what worked, what didn't, and a couple of bonus products that made a real difference.

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Our opinions remain entirely our own.

Published by Stiv in Cat Lovers, Comparison, Comparisons, Dog Lovers, Pets, Reviews, Smart Home

Tags: Adaptil, calming diffuser, cat anxiety, Feliway, pet calming, Pet Remedy, pet stress, plug in diffuser, smart plug, Tapo

March 29, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Dyson Spot+Scrub AI Review UK: Overpriced, Outsourced, Underwhelming

Last updated: 22 March 2026

By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.

Cool Factor: 0/5

This Dyson Spot Scrub review is not one we ever expected to write. We've reviewed hundreds of products across CoolCuration and never once handed out a zero. Not once. But the Dyson Spot+Scrub AI, priced at a staggering £1,049.99, has earned the dishonour of being our first. It's a robot vacuum that somehow offers less suction than its predecessor, appears to be manufactured by a third-party Chinese ODM, and arrives stamped with a premium price tag that only the Dyson name can justify. For a vacuum cleaner, the Dyson Spot+Scrub AI really does suck. Just not in the way you'd want it to.

Published by Stiv in Reviews, Smart Home, Tech News, Technology lover

Tags: best robot vacuums, Dyson, Dyson review, Dyson Spot Scrub AI, robot vacuum, robot vacuum review, smart home

October 31, 2025 — Comments are off for this post.

Best Smart Plugs UK: Tested and ComparedBest Smart Plugs in the UK

Last updated: 24 March 2026

By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.

Cool Factor: 4/5

Smart plugs remain one of the cheapest and easiest ways to start building a smarter home. After testing and comparing the best smart plugs UK buyers can get right now, the Tapo P110M is still our top pick for 2026. It offers Matter support, real-time energy monitoring and a compact design, all for under £17. Here is how it stacks up against the Philips Hue, Eve Energy and Meross alternatives.

Published by Stiv in Reviews, Smart Home, Technology lover

Tags: best smart plug UK, best smart plugs UK, Cool Curation techies, energy monitoring plug, Eve Energy, Matter smart plug, Meross smart plug, Philips Hue Smart Plug, smart home UK, smart plug comparison, smart plug review 2025, Tapo P110M review