Skip to main content

This smart display alternative can now use AI to plan all your meals

The Skylight Cal Max installed on a wall.
Skylight

Skylight is a smart home company that produces a variety of smart display alternatives, such as the Skylight Cal Max. These serve as a central hub for all your daily planning — they’re primarily used as a digital calendar, but you can also use them to track chores, make lists, or meal prep. That last aspect just became much more exciting, as Skylight is officially introducing Sidekick, an AI-powered assistant that can plan all your meals in just a few minutes.

Sidekick is a new AI feature for Skylight devices. It’s capable of generating personalized recipes based on your budget, family size, and dietary restrictions, and it’ll even create a shopping list and load up step-by-step cooking instructions. Skylight hopes the new feature will save families 10 hours every month, as they’ll no longer need to worry about the logistics surrounding meal prep.

The new Sidekick menu on the Skylight app.
Skylight

Here’s how it works: After launching the Skylight app on your phone, you’ll now see a Sidekick button. Inside this menu is a Plan Meals button. Selecting this allows you to select which days of the week you’d like to generate recipes for, select how many people you’re cooking for, and choose to use only recipes you’ve already cooked or allow Sidekick to generate new recipes. You can also have Sidekick add all the related ingredients to your Grocery List.

Recommended Videos

The best part, however, is the Notes section. This is where you can type out any restrictions for the AI assistant to follow, such as budget restraints or cooking time limits. For example, I asked Sidekick to “create vegetarian dishes that take less than 30 minutes to prep,” and it offered me a Vegetable Stir-Fry with Tofu and a Caprese Pasta Salad. Along with populating these into my calendar, it provided a list of ingredients and cooking instructions.

Sidekick does more than just create meal plans. It can also import events to your calendar from PDFs or photos, import a recipe from cookbooks or websites, and create lists from photos or screenshots. Skylight notes that Sidekick is currently in beta, and it’s only available to Skylight Plus members. It’s already shaping up to be a great new feature for Skylight devices, and it’ll be exciting to see how it changes during this beta phase.

Jon Bitner
Jon Bitner is a writer covering consumer electronics, technology, and gaming. His work has been published on various websites…
These buttons and dials offer a unique way to access your smart home
The Flic Smart Button on a table.

One of the major pain points of the modern smart home is its digital nature. Whether it’s controlling your smart lights, robot vacuum, smart lock, or thermostat, there’s a good chance you’re using a smartphone for most of your interactions. That makes it less than ideal for other members of the household -- or even guests -- to make changes to your setup. This is where Flic comes into play, as the company offers a lineup of physical buttons and dials so everyone can use your favorite smart devices without the need for a digital interface.

I’ve been testing out both the Flic Smart Buttons and Flic Twist, and while they lack certain functionalities, they’re bound to be a fun addition to most smart homes. That’s especially true if you use Alexa or HomeKit, as both platforms work with the innovative smart buttons.
The Flic app makes setup a breeze

Read more
Echo Show 21 vs. Echo Show 10: Is the bigger smart display better?
The Echo Show 10 on a kitchen counter.

The Echo Show 21 is the newest member of the Echo Show family, offering a massive 21-inch display and a powerful audio system to match. But how does it stack up to the existing Echo Show 10? Aside from its large touchscreen, is there a big difference between these two smart displays? More importantly, which one is better for your smart home?

From pricing and design to display and available features, here’s a closer look at the new Echo Show 21 and Echo Show 10 to help you decide which to purchase.
Pricing and design

Read more
Echo Show 15 (1st Gen) vs. Echo Show 15 (2nd Gen): What’s new on the updated smart display?
Echo Show 15 on wall.

Amazon has officially discontinued the Echo Show 15 (1st Gen), replacing it with the new and improved Echo Show 15 (2nd Gen). The new device makes a lot of improvements over its predecessor, but it also carries over much of the same functionality. That begs the question -- if you already own an Echo Show 15 (1st Gen), should you upgrade to the Echo Show (2nd Gen)? And what exactly is different about this expensive smart display?

Here's a look at all the new features on the Echo Show 15 (2nd Gen) to help you decide.
Pricing and design

Read more