That’s a fun question… the answer? Almost anywhere! Although we might leave some out, let’s list 10 applications of smart devices around your house.
- Kitchen: Big one! Smart refrigerators, smart oven, smart microwave, SMART COFFEE MAKER. There are many applications around this one. When I think of a smart kitchen, I always picture myself trying to save time when I woke up late and needed to be somewhere 15 minutes ago! If you decided the night before that you wanted those extra 5 minutes in the morning, you might get lucky and have your coffee ready by the time your alarm goes off, or some time later, giving you a chance to get ready. A smart fridge can go anywhere from tracking energy consumption to showing the contents inside and even having a built-in touch screen that gives you personalized recipes and keeps track of your shopping list (just the tip of the iceberg).
- Security: Nowadays, it is very common to install your own security system that keeps track of unexpected activities and notifies you on your smartphone. There’s many options in the market including security cameras, alarm systems, door locks, all to keep you safe. To the point that some services have created platforms that serve as neighborhood watch and community safety services.
- Heating, Venting and Air Conditioning (HVAC): This one has some cool features. When heating or cooling an environment, there may be some preferences towards temperature settings, but there also may be some practical applications. Picture this: you leave your home on a hot day, and you want to control the temperature in a way that saves energy. Instead of turning the AC off and back on when you get home and wait for it to cool down, a smart thermostat can give suggestions or even automatically identify patterns to control your home temperature based on when you arrive or after a certain hour.
- Garden: No more dead plants! Well, at least not because of improper watering. Smart watering systems can know when your garden needs water, and when nature has done the job, with features like rain monitoring to not drown them.
- Entertainment: Smart TV’s are one of the more known gadgets out there. Although there’s a wide range, the main features are Wi-Fi enabled functionality, and access to many streaming services. There’s algo smart speakers and sound bars, to enhance a complete audiovisual experience.
- Lighting and electric appliances: Halloween and Christmas lighting to turn on once the sun sets, check. But many other features are available. “Set the mood for movie night”, or “I’m going to bed” can control lights in your living room or entertainment area to provide a movie-theater-like experience, or plainly turn on hallway lights for a short period to allow you to get to bed properly lighted and secure.
- Plumbing: Although gardening deals with watering plants, smart plumbing handles things like monitoring water consumption, water leaks and unusual peaks in water flow. Also, you can cut water remotely in case you either forgot or were notified of a leak while on vacation. No more returning to a flooded basement!
- Smart hubs and virtual voice assistants: Of course, the central intelligence that merges most smart devices is the smart hubs. Many brands bring their own version of a hub ranging from voice controlled features, to interactive devices and a whole house network that can enable functions all around the house. This is when you would say “Alexa, tell me a joke regarding today’s weather.”
- Pet Things: Yes folks, your pet also can have intelligent and functional devices, such as feeders and water bowls but can also have things to ease their day (even more than plainly sleeping all day!). There are smart ball/treat tossers that can be activated on command or by timer and even have cameras and two-way microphones. To that line, there’s a bunch of smart toys and tools to keep these important members of a household active, distracted, fed and safe.
- Garage Doors: Don’t those 30 seconds while the door opens feel like forever some times? Enable a smart garage door to open with your phone’s geolocation when getting close enough, and go straight in! Do you tend to forget to close it? Automate that as well!
This is not by any means an exhaustive list and not all of these areas may apply to all. However, many chores revolve around one or more of these. Any other smart devices around the household? Feel free to chime in and let us know, we’ll do the research and expand on the details we find!
