Remember back in September when I shared how I experienced a carbon monoxide leak in my house right before my family and I were about to go on vacation? I could not help thinking about what if the leak had started after we had already left? How would we have known about it? Or what about the many times when I cannot remember whether I locked all of the doors and windows when I leave home, or at night when I am already in bed?
I am not the only one. Everyone has had that moment after having left the house in a hurry and the worries arise: “Are the lights off!?!?” “Did I shut the garage door?” “Is the oven on?!?!” Plenty of U-turns have been made just to make one-hundred percent sure that the home was left safe and sound.
These worries can be a thing of the past by making the house a smart home. In the past couple of years the emergence of connected devices have opened up new ways of interacting with everything in our home – from the thermostat to locking our doors to turning off the lights. The home of the future is here – a home where you can check the status of all your devices remotely and turn them on/off with the swipe of an app.
How To Make Your House A Smart Home
Recently named as one of the top ten consumer trends for 2015 and beyond, connectivity integrated into daily life is not just for those who are super wealthy or tech-savvy. Now anyone can make their house a smart home. There are products available for all experience levels – and budgets.
To get some tips on how to make your house a smart home, I spoke to Brett Worthington, the Vice President and General Manager of Wink, which makes connected devices accessible.
How To Make Your House A Smart Home
What exactly is the connected home?
Brett: The connected home is everyday devices and products that you control through a single smart home app. Think about all of the promises that we’ve had all of these years for a “Jetsons-esque” type of lifestyle. Now with a couple of taps on my phone or tablet, I can control all of the products around my home: I can make my blinds go up and down, I can turn my lights on and off, I can even detect a water leak in my basement.
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Why should people invest in connected devices for their home?
Brett: There are so many different values to these connected products. People who invest in these products have the ability to monitor all of the activity in your home through a camera, and have the ability to understand what is going on your home even when you are away. Another benefit is convenience: the convenience of being able to raise and lower the temperature on your thermostat or turn a light off or on from your couch or wherever you are in your home.
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How does the connected home help you stay safe?
Brett: When you think about products in the home like a water heater and a garage door opener, or a door lock, one app can control all of those products anytime anywhere. Things like if you’re away from home and you left the heater on. If you don’t remember if you locked the door, you can see if the door is actually locked or unlocked, and actually lock, and unlock it all from one app that controls the products you put in your home. Or you can set some schedules to make your light turn off and on to make it look like there’s people inside while you’re traveling. You can even set up alerts: if something happens at your house you can receive a text message right to your phone and pull up the camera in your house right away.
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Can a connected home save you money?
Brett: There are so many great products that are being made by great consumer companies. And you can learn about those products on www.wink.com and determine what products are best for you, your home, your and lifestyle and your budget. The great thing about these products is that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get started, and you can add on devices and products as your budget allows.
How To Make Your House A Smart Home
How much does the connected home cost? Is it easy to set up?
Brett: The great thing is that these products are now affordable. You can get most of these products and get started in making your house a smart home for under one-hundred dollars. People are getting started with simple connected home products such as lighting controls, smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors that are now connected and affordable. And it has become so much more simpler to set up than before. Simply install the products and download the app, follow the instructions and instantly connect the product date to your phone.
How To Make Your House A Smart Home
Where can our viewers/listeners go to learn more?
Brett: Wink.com is a great resource to learn about not only all of the smart home products and price points, but to also see how it really fits their lifestyle and learn more about how to make their house a smart home.
How To Make Your House A Smart Home
Heading into the holiday travel season, connected devices can give busy families peace of mind that everything in the house is shut down and turned off. Plus, if anything while away visiting family and friends, alerts will send notice automatically. Even in the summer months when family travel becomes more frequent, or just in the day-to-day operation of the home, making your house a smart home is definitely the way to go.
How To Make Your House A Smart Home
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~To discover more about how to make your house a smart home, visit Wink.com. You can also connect with Wink on Facebook and Twitter.
How To Make Your House A Smart Home
Great way to be safe. Awesome app.
I think this is a really cool concept. I would love to do this at my house.
Sounds like this could be really helpful! It’s funny how we can now do things we only saw on the Jetsons!
This is a really neat idea. I will show this to my husband he is the tech guy of our house.
I need a home first! We live in an apartment. I would love to have all of this in our first home, I love this new tech for the house!
This is so cool! My house is dumb, but I’d love to make it smart! =D
This would be so useful in my home. When I travel, I often get paranoid that I left things on at home.
We just installed a new garage door device that lets us open and close it from our phones. I can’t wait to make the rest of our home “smart”!!
This is pretty see some! There isn’t much phones cant do anymore. This is such a good idea!
I love the thought of controlling my house with just a smart device. Right now my house is a dunce, though.
I bet this one’s a good investment! I really am so amazed with what can technology do nowadays.
What a great interview! We currently rent, but we’re thinking about buying in 2015 and making our new house a smart home will be at the top of my wish list!
This sounds amazing! I am always worrying about turning off the oven or the lights!
I love how advanced technology has come. We have so much control at just the flick of our phone!
I am on the fence about having a smart house. I can see all the positives, but I’m not sure I’m ready for the upgrade!
I love the idea of having a smart home. My sister has her house linked to her smartphone. It has made her feel so much more secure.
I thought my house was smart until I read this post! I definitely want 1 app to rule them all now!
I had no idea you could get this all set up for that cheap! I would love a video camera or two on my home. It would be awesome to be able to monitor my home when I am out of town.
This is so neat! I would love for my house to be a smart home.
One day my house will be a “smart house” I love the options of controlling everything in my home from my phone. Sometimes I wish I could unlock my front door using a simple key code!
My husband is in the process of making our home a smart house. It’s so great that we have these technological options nowadays to forewarn us of problems in our home to keep us safe!
Being able to control my home alarm from my phone was a game changer for me. I can’t wait to add more smart features to our home.
I love the idea of having a smart home. I am not sure if I could convince my husband to make some changes but I’d love to be able to control the air/heater from my phone so I can keep it cool or warm and ready for when I get home.
Does it all apply to a smart apartment? LOL I guess once I switch to a house I will have to really start researching this stuff. Not sure if I like all this one controller for the entire house stuff yet! Too much power in one remote! LOL
This is something my husband and I are looking into for our home. A smart home is so interesting.
This looks promising, yet not sure how comfortable I would be when it comes to trusting this just yet. I think it would definitely give me OCD due to stressing about whether it worked or not. I am slow at accepting new technology. Give me a few years. lol
Oh we’e made a few U turns to double or triple check that all was safe! There’s nothing like that nagging feeling that something isn’t right. This sounds like a great tool to bring “peace of mind” and I love that you can get started for under $100 dollars, which makes a safe home affordable for everyone 🙂
I didn’t realize it was so reasonably priced to add smart house items. Def. worth looking into!
We have a security system similar to this and I have to say we love it. There’s something so nice about being able to make sure the doors are locked, what the thermostat is at, etc. no matter where you are!
I love smart homes. we are slowly making ours. our latest is an electronic Bluetooth lock for our doors. it is pretty cool.
Great article. I’m a tech geek but never gave any thought about a carbon monoxide leak. Thank you for this.
I can see how that would be an awesome investment. Great interview! I’ll be looking into this more.
This is a really great idea. You can’t be too safe these days and if you can use technology to improve your safety then you should.
TL Smith liked this on Facebook.
We have a smart thermostat and it is awesome. I can be out at the store and turn the heat down if I forgot before I left the house. I can’t wait to have lights and everything connected to save energy!
My husband would absolutely LOVE this! We have a smart thermostat, but I know he would love to have our entire home be a smart home.
I want to invest in more devices that will connect our home with our phones. It’s nice that these products are becoming more affordable.
What a great investment. The price point is also affordable and well worth the money!
Thank you so much TL! 🙂
TL Smith liked this on Facebook.