How to make your home a smart home: Smart lightbulbs, smart heating, smart switches & even smart doorbells

Installing smart lighting is a simple first step on your way to a smart home. Smart lighting can be pretty cool. Some of the bulbs we've tested allow you to set mood lighting for the different rooms in your house, control your lighting from afar from your phone or tablet, and schedule them to turn on and off at pre-set times. You can even use them as an alarm, gently waking you up in the morning. One of the smart bulbs we've tried can even blast out tunes from your ceiling.

You can also turn your home into a smart home by investing in a smart thermostat or smart heating system. You've probably seen the adverts for Hive with its quirky song about how great it is to control your heating from a laptop, smartphone or tablet. And yes, it is a cool thing to be able to do. But more than that, smart heating is likely to be a key part of every home going forward. As fuel costs rise and supplies run dry the ability to heat our homes in an efficient way will stop being a nice bonus, and become an essential part of every home's economics.

Read more: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/digital-home/3605663/how-make-your-home-smart-home/

Popular posts from this blog

Commercial Automation Leader SOMFY Joins ZigBee

The ZigBee Alliance, a non-profit maintaining and delivering open, global standards for the low-power wireless Internet of Things (IoT), announced that SOMFY has joined the ZigBee Alliance. A world leader in the home and commercial automation market, SOMFY develops, manufactures and distributes products in 58 countries across five continents. From motorized window treatments for residential and commercial buildings to automated outdoor extensions, gates and garage doors, SOMFY provides a complete range of the latest motorized solutions, automatic systems and alarms designed to make daily life easier, safer and more pleasant. Read more: http://virtual-strategy.com/2016/08/09/european-home-and-commercial-automation-leader-somfy-joins-zigbee-alliance-board-of-directors/
Read more

Home automation gets cheaper, smarter, easier

The promise of widely available home automation has been around since "The Jetsons" aired 50 years ago. But until recently, smart- home systems have been pricey and complex, typically requiring professional installation. And few consumers have been aware of the availability of such services or haven't been convinced that they needed them. But in recent years, major consumer service providers — including ADT, Comcast and Vivint — have entered the market, helping promote the concept of home automation and make it more accessible to average consumers. Companies such as Comcast and Vivint now offer basic home-automation systems for less than $500 installed. And Lowe's Iris, which is available for about $300 for a full system, is designed for self-installation. "We definitely see that (home automation) is moving increasingly into the mainstream," said Jonathan Collins, an analyst with ABI Research. Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_22649153/is-smart...
Read more

New home construction down last month

Construction of new homes nudged down slightly in May, with builders pulling back in the Northeast and Midwest. Housing starts ticked down 0.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.16 million units, the Commerce Department said Friday. The government's residential construction report can be volatile on a monthly basis, which might explain the slight decrease. Home construction has improved much of this year, with single-family houses accounting for much of the gains unlike recent years when developers focused more on apartments. Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_30027562/u-s-home-construction-down-slightly-may
Read more