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5 connected devices to make your “smart home” a reality — the Friday Five

Punchkick Interactive
  • Punchkick Interactive
  • September 19, 2014
5 connected devices to make your “smart home” a reality — the Friday Five

From smart appliances to home security apps, the connected home represents a network connecting objects, platforms, and systems—dubbed the “Internet of Things”—all able to coexist together and offer new cointegrated features. Of course, figuring out which high-tech devices to set up in your home is a big challenge. Whether you are just embarking on the connected-home journey or you are an experienced gadget aficionado, there are a number of new devices to consider. While Apple is doing well to explore the connected home with HomeKit, there are other ways to bring your house into the next century. Here are five other innovators looking to make homes more intelligent and more efficient for their inhabitants.

1. Honeywell Lyric

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Honeywell’s contender to the popular Nest Thermostat is its recently introduced Lyric. The Lyric is a smart thermostat that provides away-from-home temperature monitoring, geofencing capabilities, and easy customization of temperature settings from a phone or tablet using short cuts and intelligent “Smart Cues.”

By tracking the homeowner’s location via their mobile device, the Lyric is able to adjust the temperature of their home accordingly. This is where the Lyric’s geofencing feature comes into play—when enabled, homeowners can set a 500-foot or 7-mile adjustable geofence that will only notify the thermostat and adjust temperatures when users cross the geofence’s threshold.

Homeowners can ensure that their thermostat adjusts to keep the heat and air conditioning off, reducing energy usage and keeping costs low while they’re away. Lyric’s built-in Fine Tune control considers both indoor and outdoor temperature, humidity, and weather conditions to provide an extra cost-saving feature, adjusting the conditions within the house based on user preferences. This is an exclusive functionality that Honeywell claims “no other do-it-yourself Wi-Fi thermostat on the market today” can offer.

Further customization via Smart Cues help ensure on-time maintenance for ideal system operation by keeping homeowners always informed. In addition, shortcuts let homeowners create custom settings for recurring events that would otherwise involve heavy use of complex settings menus. Apple’s media event last week even showcased the Lyric’s integration with Apple Watch—homeowners who leave the custom geofence can receive push notifications and review a real-time snapshot of their home system in the Apple Watch’s “Glances” system.

2. Dyson 360 Eye

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Oreck may have dazzled consumers with their vacuum demos with bowling balls, but Dyson just transformed the home of the future with the king of robot vacuums. After 16 years of intensive research and development, the company introduced its first robotic vacuum cleaner—the Dyson 360 Eye. Featuring a unique 360-degree vision system that can anchor reference points in a room to triangulate its position, the Dyson Eye will keep track of what needs cleaning and where it’s already been. By systematically sectioning off the floor into 3 meter grids, the Dyson Eye takes on both tile floor and carpet with ease.

When it comes down to purchasing a vacuum, homeowners want to know how well it cleans. Dyson’s proprietary digital motor in the 360 Eye rocks a V2 turbine that runs at 104,000 RPM—Dyson estimates that the Eye has 20 times the force of other robot vacuums. Take a look at Dyson 360 Eye’s official ad and see if you can’t help but call it the “terminator” of dust and debris. The accompanying Dyson Link app for iOS and Android lets users take control of the robot to make cleaning more efficient. Users can review maps created by the Dyson Digital Algebra’s optical 360-degree camera and schedule out cleans.

3. GE Brillion Connected Appliances

GE’s foray into smart home appliances begins with its line of kitchen appliances—the double and single-walled ovens. The Brillion app for iOS and Android turns homeowners’ smartphone into a remote control for GE-Brillion-enabled appliances. After syncing with Brillion connected appliances, app users will be able to receive push notifications about status changes. Users will be able to change appliance settings from afar—pre-heat, adjust settings, or turn on and off from a mobile device. GE has plans to roll out additional smart appliances that will be app-ready. For now, those looking for additional control and app features for ovens can check out the GE Brillion Add-On Store. In regards to GE’s outlook on connected appliances, a company spokesperson said:

“Consumer convenience will always be a driving factor in GE’s new appliance designs. Consumers use smartphones to manage their lives, so it only makes sense that the technologies would converge.”

4. Samsung SmartThings

Given Samsung’s penchant for exploring new tech markets, the company made a big move last month to acquire SmartThings, an open platform for smart home devices. Up till this point, smart devices have existed in siloed systems, communicating only between distinct apps and mobile devices. SmartThings hopes to change that by creating a hub for connected devices. Homeowners will be able to control the things around them—like the thermostat, locks, and lights. Under Samsung’s new level of direction, SmartThings will play a crucial part in the company’s innovation strategy. Since its adoption into Samsung’s Open Innovation Center (OIC), SmartThings has grown to include several new partners like Belkin, Sonos, and Philips. In total, SmartThings supports more than 1,000 devices and 8,000 apps, spanning both iOS and Android platforms. Samsung CEO and President Boo-Keun Yoon, spoke optimistically about the future of smart homes at this year’s IFA 2014, pointing that “the opportunities ahead are enormous.” In regards to the growing market of smart homes, Yoon adds:

“There will be 45 million smart homes in operation by 2018 in a global market worth $100 million.

5. Philips Hue Connected Bulb

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No smart home is complete without connected light bulbs. Philips Hue bulbs provide a highly customizable lighting solution, giving homeowners the freedom of choice to create the perfect ambiance with 16 million colors to choose from. The bulbs can cast various tones of white—from warm yellow white to vibrant blue white —helping adjust the warmth and mood of a room instantly. Users that want to just “set it and forget it” will enjoy the Light Recipes feature. Four choices are available in this mode: Relax sets a soft, soothing glow, Concentrate mimics the fluorescent crispness of a school environment to boost focus, Energize provides a bright and vibrant light to boost alertness, and Reading provides the perfect setting to ease into the latest novel.

The Starter Pack comes with three LED bulbs and the Hue Bridge. Set up is easy—plug the Bridge into your wireless router and it will act as a hub that translates Wi-Fi signals between the homeowner’s smartphone and bulbs.
Philips Hue bulbs can be controlled from the free apps available for iOS and Android. Once downloaded, the app will search for the bridge and connect to the lights nearby. The Philips Hue system lets users connect up to 50 bulbs simultaneously—more than enough to power the next housewarming party.

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