Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Do You Have or Want A Smart Home?

Do you have or want a smart home? Maybe you're confused about what a smart home is. Basically, it's a home that has some automation. You have products in your home that have an internet connection so you can control the devices with your phone, tablet or computer. Sounds complicated doesn't it? The devices are not complicated to operate but do seem a bit magical.



Several common smart devices that you might have heard or know about are things like the Nest Thermostat for your furnace. You set this thermostat to control the heat in your home, schedule when it should come on or go off, when you want the heat to come on if you're away from home and even if you want it to gradually turn up the heat so your home is warm when you get up. If you have set the thermostat to be off during the day when you're at work or school, you can log if from your phone if  you will arrive at another time of day and have the heat come on or off for that days schedule. Very handy, fuel efficient and cost saving.


Another smart device you might have in your home are smart plugs. These plugs work in a similar fashion to the thermostat. You plug them into an outlet, plug your lamp, radio or item you want to control into the smart plug and then use the corresponding app to control the time of day you want the lamp to come on, go off etc.

Did you know that you can also buy smart light bulbs? Same principle here, put the bulb in your lamp, control from the app on your phone. Some of the smart lights also can produce different colors on the light spectrum, so white during the day, maybe blue at night or any other color you choose.

When the Amazon domes opened this week, did you see how they controlled the roof opening in the roof with Alexa? So yes, there are also devices like the Amazon Echo or Google Home. These devices can turn on lights, play music or answer questions or other actions of your choosing.

There are also smart door bells, security cameras and more.

So yes, the smart home is the wave of the future but it's also here today. Of course there will continue to be smart devices added and still more that are available already so imagine what else you would like to see and maybe it's already in the stores for you to buy.