Smart Home Technologies
Smart home technology has become a common option for all, not just the wealthy and tech-savvy. The tech industry has responded by creating ever-more sophisticated solutions. While a lot of people associate this technology with gadgets such as Google’s Nest, Amazon’s Echo or Apple’s HomeKit the term is more expansive than that, and covers an array of options for your home. This includes everything from remote-controlled lighting and heating to CCTV, home security systems, doorbells, and smart locks. Some let you monitor your elderly relatives, pets, or children and even monitor your children.
Integration is the key to an effective smart home system. This is why the best products integrate with other systems and devices to make your home smarter. A smart light bulb, for example is able to communicate with an central hub to schedule your lights on a schedule or shut them off when you leave the house. A doorbell with video could alert you to unexpected visitors and alarm systems can notify police or fire departments. And, once you’ve mastered IFTTT (If This Then That) You can make use of services such as Stringify to automate your devices in more sophisticated ways.
Of course, bringing in new smart devices into homes is not without its own set of issues. CNET works hard to understand the policies of companies, raise privacy concerns and ask questions directly to companies.