How many of you have a Smart Home device? We all have smart phones nowadays, but the advent of the Smart Home is relatively new. This infographic shows some of the more promising developments in this field.
For those of you unaware, the Smart Home trend is about wireless connectivity for everyday devices in the home. Getting “dumb” devices like the refrigerator, lighting system and more, can add additional features since wireless connectivity allows for programmable software on your phone.
What all this means in plain English is that you can now control the brightness of your lights with a smart phone app. You can also press a button to be in your Grandmother’s living room with the Nucleus home intercom system. This cool device is like an improved version of video calling, and it is very user-friendly so you can utilize it to connect with those in your family who aren’t as tech savvy.
The SimpliSafe home security systems are also an upgrade to existing technology. Instead of having to pay hundreds of dollars for home installation security systems, involving replacing electric wires and phonelines, this system is 100% wireless. It’s a cheap and more intuitive option for those looking to protect their home. It’s also re-assuring to be able to check on your home from anywhere through the app. With traditional home security systems you really don’t know until you return home.
Clearly the Smart Home has some advantages over the Dumb Home, but I want to feature one other gadget that I thought was really cool and helpful.
The Amazon Echo is really fascinating, and if you haven’t heard of it yet I’d be surprised. This device syncs all of the other Smart Home devices you own into one centrally managed system. So if you have all five of the other devices on the graphic, the Echo could direct the functions of each of them. As an example, you could tell the Echo to “call Grandma on the Nucleus” and it would do so, because it has state of the art voice recognition software.
I’m definitely interested in following this trend, because these items are just the forefront of the Smart Home. Within 10 or so years these will likely be commonplace, and there will be a new wave of even more advanced wireless devices. For those of you who have experiences with one or more of these items, how do they suit you?