Smart home technology has become a popular option for everyone, not only the wealthy and tech-savvy. The tech industry has responded by creating ever more sophisticated solutions. Many people associate smart home technology with devices like Google’s Nest or Amazon’s Echo, but the term covers a variety of options for your home. This covers everything from remote-controlled lighting and heating to CCTV, home safety systems doorbells, and smart locks. Some even let you keep track of children elderly relatives, pets and children as well as monitor electricity or water use; and more.
Integration is the most important aspect of a good smart home system. This is why the most effective products integrate with other systems and devices to make your home more intelligent. A smart light bulb, for instance, can communicate with a central hub in order to schedule your lights on a specific schedule or turn them off after leaving the house. A video doorbell can notify you of visitors who aren’t expected and alarm systems can notify police or fire departments. Once you’ve mastered IFTTT (If This Then That) it is possible to use services like Stringify to automate your devices in more complicated ways.
Of course, bringing a wide variety of new smart devices to your home has some issues. CNET is determined to learn about the policies of companies, raise privacy concerns and direct questions to companies.
