Technology has undoubtedly shaped every aspect of modern life. From entertainment to transportation, technological innovations have made life infinitely easier and more convenient. TechRadar highlights how the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) has kicked off the digital transformation of everyday life. Given the rate that technology is developing, it’s not at all surprising that these innovations are making their way to peoples’ homes.
And while the gadgets mentioned in our article on the ‘Best Portable Carpet Cleaner’ are impressive, they barely scratch the surface of how technology can completely redefine and revolutionize a home. To give you a better idea of the benefits, we’ve put together a list of the five essential smart home devices you should consider investing in.
Smart Speakers
While the name may be a little misleading, smart speakers are more than just for playing music. Smart speakers are the foundation of a smart home. For those of you who are familiar with Amazon’s Alexa or Google’s Nest, these devices act as a hub from where you can control all your smart devices. These devices let you access the smart devices in your home via voice commands.
Do note that you’ll have to set the devices up before you can get them working properly. Other than that, choosing a smart speaker is pretty simple. All you have to do is make sure that your chosen smart speaker is compatible with the other devices in your home. And if you are really tech savvy you can set up multiple smart speakers around the home, ensuring you don’t have to interrupt what you’re doing to make a request.
Smart Lighting
While they may seem simplistic, smart lighting can actually be quite useful. According to HomeServe’s article on smart homes, smart lighting can regulate itself depending on the amount of daylight present, preset timers, and the number of people in a room. Not to mention the level of convenience that voice activation can give you, as you can now turn lights on and off from an entirely different room. This can also be great from an energy efficiency standpoint, as it prevents electricity from being wasted on unnecessary lighting.
This becomes especially true when you consider that around two billion sockets in the United States have energy-wasting light bulbs connected to them. Smart bulbs won’t just make your life more convenient but it will also help minimize your carbon footprint. It’s a win-win situation.
Smart Security
Technology has also given homeowners an added layer of protection in the form of smart home security. Not only has smart security made things more secure but it has also provided homeowners with an unprecedented level of access. Smart security takes the IoT and incorporates it into traditional home security tools. This has resulted in smart locks, smart home security cameras, and smart home security systems.
The biggest advantage of doing this is having access to your home’s security wherever you are in the world. Most smart security tools come with smartphone integration. This means accessing cameras, unlocking doors, and checking your home’s security system through an app or a website. This level of access is what makes smart security systems so effective, as they let you monitor your home’s security status remotely as long as you are connected to the internet.
Smart Thermostats
Thermostats may just be the most popular smart home devices. This is due to the fact that they can greatly improve your quality of life via simple and subtle changes. Similar to how smart lights operate, smart thermostats also take outside factors into consideration in order to optimize how it functions within your home. You can also assign temperature schedules to your smart thermostat to automatically change how warm or how cold your home is depending on the time of day.
Some smart thermostats even take it a step further and learn your preferred temperature based on how you use it. You can also program it in a way to reduce energy consumption to help make your home more environmentally friendly and energy-efficient.
Smart Stoves
Cooking has always been an exact science, as it can be very unforgiving when it comes to mistakes. This is what makes it pretty intimidating for beginners, as it can be quite easy to mess things up. Indeed, overcooking or undercooking food is a fast way to ruin a meal. Enter: smart stoves. Smart stoves are pretty self-explanatory. Just like the other devices on this list, smart stoves help make cooking easier by automating certain steps of the process.
These modern stoves can streamline the cooking process. They control the cooking temp and timer through the use of its smart technology. This ensures consistently good results by taking human error out of the equation. Smart stoves like the TempControl is a great example of this, as it can cook a variety of different meats and vegetables using its intuitive sensors and preset modes.
2020 has been the year of increased technology usage, and while many people have become a servant to technology, these devices will get technology working for you.
