Is Your Home Getting Smarter?

If you thought keeping up with smartphone technology was challenging, what about your gadgets at home? From LED lights that shut off when you leave the room to sensors that alert you to problems with your plumbing, brainy home applications are emerging on the market. Are you ready to tell your washing machine to start and stop from the comfort of your couch? Or light the porch and open the windows to let some breeze in through the use of a free app on a smartphone or tablet?

Smart home devices are quickly evolving to provide peace of mind to users. They are making San Antonio homes safer, conserve energy, lower maintenance costs and generally make life more comfortable.

Here are a few smart machines trends that may improve the quality of life in your home.

Motorized Blinds and Shades

Through the use of the PowerView app on your smartphone or tablet, you can easily control your window treatments remotely. The PowerView®  Motorization provided by Hunter Douglas allows window blinds to remotely set to positions where they provide the best ambiance in a room, maximize privacy and protect your furnishings from the direct sun. The type, color and design of these blinds and shades are virtually limitless. You are sure to find a style to fit your décor and your budget.

The PowerView®  App on a phone or tablet or the PowerView® Pebble Control remote can then be used to control them and provide beauty and convenience in the home or office.

Smart Thermostats

From the palm of your hand, you can remotely connect your smartphone to your home’s smart thermostat. These thermostats are connected to the internet and allow you to adjust settings for optimal heating of your home, saving you energy costs by allowing you to have the AC running effectively when you are home, and then selectively when you are not. Not only do many of these smart thermostats provide suggestions of the best temperature levels, they can also notify you when home air filters need to be changed.

Smart Security Cameras

Smart security cameras are usually easy to install and connected to the internet. They can be installed as single cameras or a set with several cameras in different parts of the home. They can be indoor or outdoor and can even offer the option of night vision. You can see what is happening in any part of your home while away at work or on vacation.

Smart Security cameras can be connected to store recordings on memory cards, hard drives or in the online cloud. These cameras can also be set to notify you through your phone when they detect and activity and send live pictures and video to your phone.

Smart Garage Door Openers

From any distance from your home, you can open or close your garage door through a free app on your smartphone or tablet. Smart garage doors are connected to the internet, and through the app, you can tell from anywhere on the globe whether your garage door has been left open and close it. You can also receive alerts when the door has been left open for a specific amount of time. The app can also be used to schedule your smart garage door to close after a specified number of minutes after you leave your home.

Smart Home Set Up

Many Smart home appliances are not expensive to buy and are easy to install. In most cases, they simply require plugging to a power source, downloading a corresponding app to a smartphone or tablet and following easy installation instructions.

As technology continues to evolve, we will see more and more ways that our homes can be automated for our convenience, comfort and energy efficiency. The more popular these products become the better they will get and competition will make them more and more affordable.