10 Cool Smart Home Features To Make Your Life Easier
Smart Home Technology Benefits
Over the past few years, the rapid development of Wi-Fi and 4G technology has brought along a host of new ways to make the most of the internet. In the home, you are no longer limited to just connecting your phone and laptop up to the internet; you can also hook up a whole host of different devices that can help to make your life easier. Here are a few of the ways that you do this.
1. Make Voice-Controlled Searches
Smart speakers such as the Amazon Alexa and Google Home Nest make it easier to search for everything from the latest weather forecast to a step-by-step recipe guide. You can also use them to select songs and put on your favorite podcasts without having to lift a finger!
2. Remotely Control Your Appliances
Rather than having to turn your appliances on and off at the switch, you can make them smart and put this control onto your phone. All you need is a few smart plugs and you can hook up any device and give it this capability. This way, you can do everything from turning off the smart bulb lights at night to switching on your coffee machine when you want your morning cup of Joe!
3. Clean Your Home
Cleaning your home is another time-consuming task that can be made easier with smart technology. A robot vacuum cleaner such as a Roomba goes around picking up dirt and debris. These devices have been around for years now, but they have also gone through a smart upgrade. So, you can control the different functions using your smartphone.
4. Protect Your Valuables
There are plenty of smart alarm systems out there these days that allow you to control what is going on around your home with regards to security such as the sensors, lighting, etc. You could also invest in a smart lock that gives you remote access to who you want to let into your property. Rather than having to give a spare key to the dog walker, you can let them in remotely instead.
5. Check Who is At the Door
Closely linked to the security of your home, you can also check exactly who is at the door by using a smart video doorbell system such as the ones available from Ring. As well as having a video image, you can also communicate with them via a two-way system.
6. Turn the Heating On and Off
Smart thermostats have become enormously popular over the past few years, and they are particularly useful for people who don’t keep consistent hours as it gives them the opportunity to get the heating on at home before they arrive, so it is already nice and toasty. Plus, you have more control over cutting back on your heating bills.
7. Keep Your Home Safe
Another way that smart devices can keep your home safe is via fire extinguishers and carbon monoxide monitors. These will send alerts directly to your phone, meaning that you can check everything is okay – even when you are out of the house. There are also the air quality monitors that check what you are breathing in for dust and other toxic chemicals. You can certainly breathe easier with one of these!
8. Touchless Items
There has certainly been a lot of added concern over recent months about the things that we are touching on a day to day basis. Essentially, you can get more and more items that operate without you having to lay a hand on them. For example, there are faucets that operate with you simply gliding your hand underneath and bins that you can open with a sensor. Perfect for hygienic opening and closing!
9. Stream With Ease
Nowadays, the big streaming services like Netflix are so pervasive that it is difficult to imagine life without them! Even if you don’t yet have smart TV technology, you can plug in a little USB like a Fire TV Stick or Chromecast to give access to your favorite streaming services, games, and more.
10. Protect Against Water Damage
A highly useful piece of smart technology that you may not have heard of before is a water sensor that can tell if there is any excess moisture being produced in a certain area. Hook it up to your Wi-Fi network and you can get alerts sent directly to your smartphone to make sure that everything is running A-OK.
As you can see from the range of different options above, there is a lot that you can now do with smart home technology. While you can spend a lot of money upgrading your house, there is also plenty that you can do on a limited budget, so why not make one or two home improvements yourself and free up your time for other things?
Sources:
- Today’s Smart Home Tech Can Help You Age in Place – AARP
- Smart Home Devices Need Smart Security – University of Colorado