Smart home technology is no longer reserved for the rich or tech-savvy, and the tech industry has responded with ever sophisticated solutions. While a lot of people associate this technology with gadgets such as Google’s Nest and Amazon’s Echo or Apple’s HomeKit the term is more expansive than that and covers many different options for your home. This includes everything from remote-controlled lighting and heating to CCTV bizcrisis.net/5-rare-jobs-to-work-from-home home security systems, doorbells and smart locks. Some allow you to keep track of children or elderly relatives as well as pets to monitor electricity or water usage; and more.
Integration is the most important aspect of an effective smart home system. This is why the most effective devices are those that can work with other systems and devices to make your home smarter. A smart light bulb, for example, can communicate with the central hub to set your lights to a set schedule or turn them off when leaving the house. A video doorbell could warn you of unexpected visitors or alarms could call the police or fire departments. And, once you’ve mastered IFTTT (If This Then That), you can use services such as Stringify to automate your devices in more sophisticated ways.
Of course, bringing in a variety of new smart devices into your home comes with its own set of concerns. That’s why CNET works to learn about the privacy policies of the companies, highlight issues and take questions directly to the companies concerned.