Top smart-devices that everyone needs nowadays.

Smart devices! Don’t you just love them? Wonderful money, time and labor-saving devices that make our lives better, faster and easier. The only thing I’m worried about is that if this keeps going much longer soon my home will be smarter than I am!

And you know what that means. Your house telling you when it thinks what you’re doing isn’t such a good idea. Fortunately, we’re not there yet. And until that time, I’m going to keep collecting these wonderful gadgets to turn smarten up my house!

Smart Lock Pro

The Smart Lock Pro is a great place to start making your house smarter. Why? Because one of the best functions of smart technology is the If this then that technology. And one of the first places you’ll want to install that is when you come home or leave it.

In this way, you’ll be able to set your thermostat, your security system, your stereo system and a lot more to make sure that it’s on when it needs to be and off when it’s just wasting power.

Some other great things it allows you to do is open or close your door even if you’re not nearby, check who comes and goes, as well as who can enter your house without your key. That last one is a life-saver for me, because before I had this baby I had to get my lock replaced about once every two months.

Ecobee4

You’ve probably heard how heating harms the planet and your bottom line, right? Chances are, though, that this hasn’t made you change that much. After all, it’s a hassle to always have to set the thermostat and so often we just leave it on one setting.

That’s why you have to go smart with your thermostat. And if you’re going to go smart, then you have to go Ecobee4. It’s just a step above the rest. You can program it with the same IFTTT which I mentioned before – so that it turns down when everybody is asleep while starting to warm the house before you have to get up in the morning so that you don’t have to step out into the horrible cold.

And really, that’s just the tip of the iceberg!          

Amazon Echo

We used to have a real problem in my house with people playing with their smartphones during dinner time and not playing well with others as a result. Now we’ve got the Amazon Echo and that’s hardly ever a problem.

That’s because Echo works hands-free – which means we don’t need to stare at a little screen but can shout out our questions. My youngest has decided that we need to set a plate for our Echo every time we eat. She’s part of the family, she insists. I’ll go with that, seeing as the Echo new answers more homework questions than I do.  

Belkin WeMo switch

An electric socket, you think, why do I need an electric socket? Simple! For those devices which you haven’t yet made smart! Belkin WeMo Switch can cut the electricity to a device and thereby turn it on or off.

This is great if you’ve got a bunch of tools that you don’t really want to get rid of but that aren’t yet smart enabled. As long as they go on when the power does, you’re golden.

So you can set your lights, your heating, your humidifier and your coffee machine on one of these babies and suddenly they’re smart as well!

Logitech harmony elite

Don’t always feel like talking with your stuff? Then get the Logitech harmony elite. It’s a remote control that will let you program and control all the gadgets in your house. Great for people who happen to lose their voice a lot. Wonderful for places where you expect quiet. Also, a lot of fun when people aren’t paying attention and you keep changing the settings on whatever they’re using.

Controls Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Z-Wave, or infrared devices. So yeah, it does manage to connect to almost everything out there. Of course, you will need to get an Amazon Echo to ask it where you put the damn remote every time you lose it!

Philips Hue White A19 60W Equivalent Smart Bulb Starter Kit

Smart lightbulbs? Yup, smart light bulbs. Change the color, change the amount of light and turn things on or off based on what other things are doing. For example, has everybody left the house? Then you can get these lights to turn off as well – thereby saving you money. Enough to quite quickly earn your investment in the Philips Hue White back, as a matter of fact.

Then, the moment you come back into the house you can have them turn back on again. You’ll never have to worry about those lazy kids again!

Another great way to use this kind of lighting is to set it up with your alarm clock so that the lights come on when it’s time to wake up.

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