The idea of a smart home isn’t exactly new. In fact, people have been predicting many of today’s smart home technologies for many years now. What you may not know, however, is that smart home technology has grown and expanded so much recently that it can now affect nearly every part of your home and the way that you interact with it.
The majority of the technologies on the market today make it easier for you to interact with your kitchen, bathroom, lighting, and air temperature, making your home more energy-efficient, comfortable, and capable than ever before. The best part is that each of these technologies is just getting better and better as time goes on. In fact, many of them are versatile enough to allow for future upgrades as well, enabling you to get even more out of the product.
Smart Home Technology Ideas
Check out these 10 remarkable smart home technology ideas to see what you might be able to apply to your home of the future.
Home Management Panel
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Imagine that instead of a bunch of wall switches you use to control your lights and other electronics, you have a smart, touch-screen panel instead. And instead of only controlling the lights, you can access nearly everything in one place including security, an intercom to call other rooms, smart lights that sense when you enter the room so they turn themselves on, plus get the weather, program lights to turn on even when you’re away and more. Smart home panels like this make it easy for you to control every area of your home with just a few taps. And because they install seamlessly right onto your wall, you can place them anywhere your family gathers to make life even easier for you all.
Water Leak Detection
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There is nothing more devastating to a home than water damage. A slowly leaking pipe can do thousands of dollars in damage before you ever discover it. And things like burst pipes in the winter can sometimes go undetected in the middle of the night or when you’re away from home, making it difficult to stop the problem before it’s too late.
Water detection technology helps fix this problem. By installing a leak detector at those areas where you’re most likely to see a problem – at the toilet, beneath a sink, down in the basement – you’ll be alerted instantly when occurs, giving you the time to shut the water off and call a plumber before the damage begins to multiply.
Smart Home Locks
Image source: http://www.kwikset.com/SmartSe... you’re tired to fumbling around with a bunch of keys to get into your home each day, or you want to be able to let your kids in without giving them a key they could lose, consider a smart lock for your door. Smart locks have the option of both keyed and keyless entry systems, letting you engage the deadbolt through a code or a key. And new technologies also offer things like burglar protection, having you enter random numbers before entering the code so finger smudges on the keypad can’t give away your code, automatic relocking after 30 seconds, and wireless alerting of security systems in case of a break in. There are even locks that unlock with your smartphone, so you don’t even need to remember a code.
Smart Thermostats
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The thermostat is the key to keeping your home comfortable day and night. Over the years, thermostats have gotten better and better at allowing you to control the temperature of your home whether you’re there or away, many without needing constant adjustments to do the job, either. Now, thermostats exist that make use of wifi technology and sensors to allow you the ultimate control over your home’s comfort levels.
Use your smartphone from anywhere to turn up or down the temperature of the home, so if you leave suddenly or are planning on returning sooner than anticipated, you can still have the control you need. And smart thermostats also learn your patterns over time, so they’ll turn themselves off and on according to your schedule so you don’t even need to think about it. All of this adds up to a more comfortable home and a huge savings on energy bills each month.
Smart Refrigerators
What if your fridge could do more than keep your food cool? Many people already use their refrigerators to hold notes, photos, and the family calendar, but what if your fridge could do all this and more? Smart refrigerators now come with built-in family hub touch screens that allow you to access the internet, watch your favorite show, leave notes for one another, access the family calendar, and more. Smart fridges also can come with the ability to sense temperature fluctuations within, ensuring that your food stays at an optimal temperature at all times.
Smart Water, Smart Bathroom
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Most people tend to focus on smart technology in the kitchen or the living areas of the home, but there’s a lot to be said for smart technology in the bathroom as well. New water-saving features in the bathroom include faucets that turn themselves off when they sense you move away and showerheads that blend and sculpt water to make it feel as though you’re getting more water in your shower than you actually are. Combine this with toilet seats that can self-close, stream MP3s, and provide heat and bidet functions, and you can turn your bathroom into a smart home retreat.
The Ultimate in Lighting Control
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Light switches are fine for small rooms that don’t have multiple functions, but most people today use their living areas for a full range of different activities, all with a variety of different users as well. What better way to control the lighting in these rooms than through a smart light panel? Light panels give you more dedicated control over the various types of lighting throughout the room, so you can more easily set the right amount of light for your activities at the touch of a button.
Smart Light Bulbs
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While dimmer switches and apps to help control the lighting in your home can meet some of your needs, they can’t always make the subtle adjustments necessary to ensure optimal lighting in every room of your home. Enter the smart light bulb. With the ability to sense the type of light already in the room, these bulbs can actually switch from soft to bright white light, grow dimmer, and even turn themselves on and off when you enter and leave the room. Now you don’t even necessarily need to have any light switches at all, just a light bulb that can intuitively sense your every need.
Smart Garage Door Openers
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Tired of having to grope for your garage door opener only to have push the button multiple times in order for it to work? New smart garage door openers work with your smartphone to allow you the ability to access and open or shut your garage door from anywhere with the touch on your screen. These innovative garage door openers even allow you to adjust the lighting inside your garage so you can make better use of the space as a whole.
Smart Cooktops
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If you love to cook or you have young children in the house, you need an induction cooktop in your kitchen. These smart ranges don’t get hot the way traditional cooktops do, instead they use induction technology to heat only the food in your pans, which means they use less energy, cook your food faster and more evenly, and prevent injuries from heat. Most also have touch-screen capability to make cooking even faster, easier, and more fun than ever before as well.
Build a Smarter Home
With so many different types of smart technology around, you’ll have no trouble customizing your home to fit all of your needs. Invest in a few or all of these smart technologies to help ensure that your home does everything you want it to and more.
