Olivia Lin

Olivia Lin

Vancouver

Tech journalist covering smart home, wearables, and consumer electronics. Former editor at TechCrunch.

Articles by Olivia Lin

Is the House Gem Mug Warmer with Temperature Display Worth the Counter Space?
AI & Robotics

Is the House Gem Mug Warmer with Temperature Display Worth the Counter Space?

The House Gem Mug Warmer with Temperature Display sits in a very specific corner of the kitchen-gadget world: the small electric pad meant to solve the extremely ordinary problem of coffee going lukewarm before you finish it. It is not a coffee maker, not a travel mug, and not a fancy app-con...

Hatch Restore 2: The Science of Sunrise Alarms, Without the Hype
Climate & Comfort

Hatch Restore 2: The Science of Sunrise Alarms, Without the Hype

The Hatch Restore 2 sits in an interesting corner of the sleep-tech market: it is not just an alarm clock, not quite a bedside lamp, and not really a medical light-therapy device either. It is best understood as a guided sleep-and-wake system — a bedside device built to use light, sound, an...

The Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Plug Mini: Where It Fits in a Real Smart Home
Smart Home

The Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Plug Mini: Where It Fits in a Real Smart Home

The Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Plug Mini sits in one of the least glamorous but most genuinely useful corners of the smart-home market: the tiny adapter that turns a normal lamp, fan, coffee maker, or holiday light string into something you can control from your phone or with a voice assistant. This is...

Google Nest Smart Thermostat: What to Know Before You Install One
Climate & Comfort

Google Nest Smart Thermostat: What to Know Before You Install One

The Google Nest Smart Thermostat sits in one of the more practical corners of the smart-home world: the thermostat you buy because you are tired of paying to heat or cool an empty home. This is not the flashy, premium Nest Learning Thermostat with the metal ring and auto-learning reputation. ...

Is the TCL QM8K 65" 4K TV a Smart Upgrade for Your Setup?
Guides

Is the TCL QM8K 65" 4K TV a Smart Upgrade for Your Setup?

The TCL QM8K 65" 4K TV sits in a part of the TV market that has become unusually crowded: the "premium but not absurdly priced" big-screen category. This is where brands promise flagship-style brightness, strong contrast, gaming features, and smarter picture processing without pushing you int...

SwitchBot Hub Mini (Matter): Setup and Troubleshooting in Plain English
Smart Home

SwitchBot Hub Mini (Matter): Setup and Troubleshooting in Plain English

The SwitchBot Hub Mini (Matter) sits in a very specific corner of the smart-home world: the little box you buy when you are tired of juggling one more app, one more voice-assistant compatibility chart, and one more "works with" badge that turns out to mean "sort of." Its job is not glamorous....

LEVOIT Top Fill Humidifier 2.5L Explained: What It Does and Where It Fits
Climate & Comfort

LEVOIT Top Fill Humidifier 2.5L Explained: What It Does and Where It Fits

The LEVOIT Top Fill Humidifier 2.5L sits in a very practical corner of the home-comfort market: the small, bedroom-friendly cool-mist humidifier that is meant to be cheap enough to buy without a week of research, but useful enough to matter through dry heating season. It is not trying to be a...

Kaleidescape Strato C Movie Player: Who It's Really For
AI & Robotics

Kaleidescape Strato C Movie Player: Who It's Really For

The Kaleidescape Strato C Movie Player sits in a fairly small and very expensive corner of home entertainment: the dedicated movie player for people who care about cinema-quality playback enough to build around it. This is not a streaming stick, not a Blu-ray player in the usual sense, and no...

The KeySmart iPro: Lifestyle Gadget or Genuinely Useful?
AI & Robotics

The KeySmart iPro: Lifestyle Gadget or Genuinely Useful?

The KeySmart iPro lives in a slightly awkward but real category: the everyday-carry gadget that tries to solve an old annoyance with a bit of tech. In this case, that annoyance is bulky, noisy keys and the very common habit of losing them somewhere between the front door, the car, and the cou...

Is the Rossetta Dual Lens Galaxy Projector 58 Effects a Weekend Win or a Drawer Filler?
AI & Robotics

Is the Rossetta Dual Lens Galaxy Projector 58 Effects a Weekend Win or a Drawer Filler?

The Rossetta Dual Lens Galaxy Projector 58 Effects sits in a crowded but still oddly confusing category: the bedroom ambience gadget that tries to be part night light, part sleep aid, part Bluetooth speaker, and part cheap home-theatre-for-your-ceiling. These products are everywhere now, espe...

Dreo Smart Ceiling Fan: Features That Matter vs. Features That Sound Nice
Comparisons

Dreo Smart Ceiling Fan: Features That Matter vs. Features That Sound Nice

The Dreo Smart Ceiling Fan sits in a more interesting category than it first appears. Ceiling fans used to be one of the dullest purchases in a home: pick a blade colour, hope the wobble is manageable, and forget about it for 10 years. Smart models change that a bit. They combine airflow, lig...

The Case For (and Against) the CIRCLE JOY Gravity Electric Salt and Pepper Grinder Set
AI & Robotics

The Case For (and Against) the CIRCLE JOY Gravity Electric Salt and Pepper Grinder Set

The CIRCLE JOY Gravity Electric Salt and Pepper Grinder Set sits in a very specific corner of the kitchen gadget world: not essential cookware, not chef gear, and not quite novelty either. It is a convenience-first seasoning set designed to make one small kitchen task easier with one hand. Th...