The past year saw the Internet of Things making some huge strides, and one of the biggest areas of progress has been in Smart Home automation solutions. Keeping your home safe and secure can now be as easy as tapping a few virtual buttons on your smartphone or tablet, allowing you to see who’s in your home in real-time, remotely control the lights and temperature, and even grant door access to visitors, from anywhere in the world.
But there are many different Smart Home gadgets and gizmos available, that consumers are often left bewildered by the sheer choice. Nevertheless, many people want to get in on the latest trend in tech, and so if you’re determined to make your home a little more ‘intelligent’, we’ve made your choice a little easier by identifying our Top Ten Essential SmartHome Solutions:
10. Intelligent Glass
Glass is a great material to accentuate any house, but aside from being a display piece, it can also be used to improve your home or office. Intelligent Glass effectively makes the glass in your home or office ‘smarter’. Basically it’s a piece of souped-up adhesive film that can turn from clear to opaque by just pressing a button. It can serve as a way to offer more privacy, hide stuff, or even offer information.
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9. numi
numi is a highly advanced toilet that’s motion activated, with functions controlled by a touchscreen remote. You can customize it to stream your favorite music whilst powdering your nose through an integrated bidet that’s controlled via a touchscreen remote, and program it so it knows the preferred specifications for different ‘users’. This toilet even heats up the floor AND the toilet seat, so you never have to worry about cold feet or a cold tuckus on those chilly winter mornings.
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8. HiCan
HiCan, otherwise known as the High Fidelity Canopy, might just be your dream bed. Aside from providing you a comfortable place to catch 40 winks (of course), HiCan has dozens of nifty features. Our favorites include the automated blinds to enclose you in pitch-black darkness so you can sleep in peace at anytime of the day, as well as the state-of-the-art sound system, reading lights, a built-in PC, full multimedia components for entertainment systems and game consoles, and a connected projector that casts HD movies and images on the home theater screen that slides down on the foot of the bed. The bed is also equipped with a complete home automation system too, so everything on the bed can be controlled easily, and you can also add other appliances to the HiCan.
The only drawback we’ve found is that once you get used to sleeping in the HiCan, waking up in the morning is going to be an even harder challenge than it is already!
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7. airfy
One of the essentials of having a connected home is having a reliable WiFi network. Though there are many WiFi devices for your home, few look as good as airfy. It offers WiFi 802.11N or 802.11AC for a secure connection, which means it’s safe to use for homes and even businesses. It has 50 LEDs that light up when you get a call or message, with further modifications available through IFTTT recipes.
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6. DoorBot
See who’s knocking at your door, even when you’re not at home thanks to the DoorBot. This WiFi-enabled video doorbell lets you see and talk to your visitors via your smartphone. It’s built to withstand the worst that the elements can throw at it – including extreme humidity, rain, sleet, snow, ice, and searing heat, so you don’t have to worry about leaving it outside. What’s also good is that the internal battery lasts for up to a year without needing to be recharged or replaced. It’s a great way inform unexpected visitors when you’ll be coming back, or alternatively to inform unwelcome visitors that you don’t want to see them, without having to get your ass off the sofa.
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5. Smart door locks
Two smart locks received a huge amount of attention over the last year. For now, both are still in pre-order stage, but they look extremely promising. The Kevo and August smart locks promise to deal with home security by doing away with the need for physical keys. Both smart locks use Bluetooth to make a connection with your smartphone, allowing you to lock or unlock the door, and you can even send e-keys to members of your family or chosen guests that grant them temporary access to your home.
The only real difference between the two is, with Kevo, you need to touch the lock with your finger, hand, elbow, or nose to ‘wake it up’ so it can make a connections. With August, the connection is made as soon as you approach the lock. The upside of Kevo is that you can still use a physical key in case you’ve forgotten your phone or key fob inside the house. But if you do the same with August, you’ll need to use another device to access the web and get a code to open the door for you.
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4. Revolv Smart Home Solution
There are so many Internet-connected smart home solutions available now that one of the biggest problems is dealing with all of those bloody apps that are needed to control each device. Revolv aims to eliminate this ‘app fatigue’ by unifying premium, off-the-shelf smart home automation devices such as Sonos’ HiFi wireless speakers, Philips Hue’s wireless lighting, Yale’s automated locks, Insteon‘s home control devices, Belkin’s WeMo and other popular automated thermostats.
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3. SmartThings
SmartThings offers a complete solution to help you get started turning your home into something smarter. A good place to start is with the aptly named ‘Starter Kit’ at $199, which includes a SmartThings Hub that acts as the brain for your newly-intelligent home. Also included is the SmartSense Multi which detects movements, vibrations, orientation, and the temperature of your home; SmartSense Presence, which allows you to keep track of easily lost items or pets; and SmartSense Motion, which detects movements and alerts you of them.
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2. Nest + Sunrun
Not so long ago, Google’s latest acquisition Nest Labs partnered with Sunrun to offer a money-saving, solar power-maximizing solution. Those who purchase a Sunrun package will be given a free Nest Learning Thermostat, which retails for $249. Sunrun offers a way for homes to use solar energy without having to deal with costly installations and solar panels. This bundle ensures that your home will utilize its energy most efficiently, while producing its own power to help you cut down on your energy bill.
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1. Zero Home
The ultimate smart home isn’t one that can be controlled remotely. Well, okay so it’s certainly a factor, but wouldn’t you like to live in a home where you don’t have to worry about skyrocketing electric bills? The Zero Home is a collaboration between Garbett Homes and Vivint. The latter provides smart home automation solutions, while the former builds homes that come complete with solar panels, energy management systems and even charging ports for electric vehicles.
Zero Homes not provide remote monitoring and control of your home’s appliances, lights heating and so on, but they’re also able to produce greater energy than most households can consume.