How to make Your Home a SMART Home
In recent years, technology has advanced in leaps and bounds. Our phones have evolved into smart devices that have changed the way we socialize, shop and pay bills. The way we live in our homes is changing too and faster than you think. Already there is a wide selection of home gadgets available to turn your home into an interactive smart hub where you can stay in control remotely from your smart device. Here are a few examples to show you how to get started on making your home smart.
Smart Alarm Systems
When activated, smart alarm technology will not only detect movement but also alert you immediately via your smart phone, giving you options of how best to deal with the situation. You can choose to set off an alarm, contact the police or notify trusted contacts such as neighbours to investigate.
Smart Locking Systems
Ever left the house and worried all day about whether or not you’d locked the door? Ever lost your keys? Don’t get used to it. With a smart lock, you can check using your phone and lock/unlock your home remotely via the app. With keyless technology, your phone becomes your key, with added options to allow certain people access with a variety of customizable conditions. For example, you can give your cleaner access for a certain number of hours on specific days.
In-built technology senses when your smart device is near, unlocking the door for you as you approach and will lock it again behind you. In the event of a power cut, the device works on reserve battery power and will alert your device when it is running low. (Just don’t lose your phone!)
Smart Temperature Controller
OK, so we can usually set when our heating turns on and off already, but with smart technology you can control it remotely from anywhere using your device. If you come home early from work, you can make sure the house is nice and warm for when you get in, or if it’s too hot and you can’t be bothered to get out of bed – switch the air conditioning on. This one’s probably not a life saver, but it’s certainly one that’s nice to have if you like a lie-in.
Smart Lighting
This one is definitely a novelty. Smart lighting lets you control which lights are on/off in your home as well as a multitude of additional customization options such as brightness and even colour hue in some instances.
Smart Gardening
Imagine if your plants could talk. They’d probably last a lot longer if they could tell you what they need, right? Well this handy little gadget actually makes that possible. Sensors in the soil will give your plants a voice, messaging you when they need watering and getting in touch when they need attention. The perfect tool if you’re like me and you’ve killed more plants than you’ve planted.
Smart Aquarium
Very similar prospect, the smart aquarium lets you monitor the health of your fish, letting you know when the tank needs cleaning, or they need more food. This gadget actually goes a step further than the gardening version as it gives you the option to remotely release food into the tank and there are even some smart tanks available that can recycle bacteria into food meaning you’ll never need to clean it again!
Of course there are more smart gadgets popping up all the time, so these are just a few examples to get your imaginations working. If you can imagine it, it might already exist, so have a look. The future is today.