By Rachel Dylan
Smart home technology has gained a lot of traction in recent years. However, it has become much more widespread and popular after the ongoing pandemic.
With most people staying at home and scrolling through social media apps like TikTok and Instagram, users have seemingly gained interest in products such as smart lights and voice assistants, as advertised on these social media platforms. There is a whole category of smart home products – anything from smart cameras, smart sprinklers, to smart alarms and even smart blinds now!
Here are some smart home devices that might peak your interest. Ones that can make the basic home essentials smart.
- Smart Lights
Smart lighting isn’t only restricted to color-changing bulbs, rather smart lighting comes in the form of floodlights, light strips lamps, and more! Smart light strips that change color are smart devices that have gained a lot of popularity from social media apps, namely from TikTok.
Smart lights can easily be controlled through their respective mobile applications, as well as through voice commands via your smart speakers. If you’re still new to the whole smart home market and don’t have a smart speaker in your home, you can easily control them through voice assistants on your smartphones too. That means whether you are away from home or in a separate room, you can control your smart lights right from your fingertips through the smartphone application. This basically leaves no room for any carelessness and allows users to save up on energy bills as well.
The benefit of smart lighting is that it can be paired with different devices to work accordingly. For example, when using the Google Nest Camera, users can sync their smart bulbs or smart floodlights to light up as soon as the camera detects any movement in the surrounding area.
- Smart Blinds
You read that right! Smart blinds are also available on the market among the wide range of smart home devices that you can find.
Using a simple voice command or remote control to open and close your blinds is no longer something that we only ever could imagine! With smart blinds comes voice control, app control, and remote control functionality (or all three) depending on the device that you buy.
Since they are smart, voice and remote control functionality is not the only selling point for these. Smart blinds also have the added ability to automatically be raised or lowered according to a schedule user can set. Additionally, if you attach a UV sensor to your smart blinds, they will raise or lower themselves when the light in your home reaches a certain level – perfect for those hot summer afternoons.
Smart blinds are relatively easy to install. They can easily be mounted onto regular window frames. Some blinds may however require batteries while others come with rechargeable battery packs.
How to Make Your Existing Blinds Smart
If you’re not interested in replacing your good old blinds with smart ones, then here’s how you can make existing blinds smart!
Smart Blinds can be pricey which is why people tend to see them as an unnecessary purchase, but there are DIY automation kits that can also help you transform your otherwise regular blinds into smart ones, without the hassle of getting in entirely new ones and getting rid of those already perfectly fitted ones.
The kits can vary as they come at various prices, different systems of operation, and different functionalities as well. Some kits may be based on pulley or motor systems, while some might not allow for the voice control feature through voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home – which is something that is fairly common among smart devices now.
To install an automation kit to make your blinds smart, you simply have to install a motor that in most cases that will provide you with all the functionalities. If not, some kits come with separate parts that can easily be configured and installed.
- Smart Cameras
Smart cameras are one of the top security smart home devices. Compared to traditional security cameras these are much more efficient and have the added functionality to keep the user in the loop 24/7 no matter where they might be. These make them much more reliable than standard surveillance cams as with other security systems.
Most cameras such as the Google Nest smart cameras have built-in motion detectors and artificial intelligence functions. With the help of this technology, these cameras can immediately detect differences between vehicles, animals, and people, and immediately alert users regarding anything that requires attention. The camera also takes a snapshot and sends it to the user through its smartphone application.
Any suspicious and unwanted activity can thus be easily detected and smart cameras alert the users in real-time, no matter where they are so that they can contact the relevant authorities. Users can also seamlessly access the HD, high-quality live video footage through the smartphone applications of smart cameras, at any time and from anywhere – provided they are connected to a stable Wi-Fi connection. By having the ability to have access to live footage users can remain at peace knowing that they are safe and protected in their homes.
Conclusion
Would you have ever thought that such devices had their smart counterparts? Well, you know now! Head on over to FirstEnergy Home’s website, www.firstenergyhome.com and check out what other smart home devices there are. You’ll find a whole category and something that is definitely bound to fit into your home and lifestyle.
