Today, smart connections are indispensable for homes, and the reduced price makes it easier and easier to automate your home. We want to share with you the “starter pack” to make your home smarter for 2019. This article will review voice assistants, smart lighting, thermostats, and smart outlets. These devices are a great way to begin to automate your home.

Read on to browse our selections and purchase the best home automation technology on the market.

Voice Assistants

Having a voice assistant in your home is a must! The assistant is what will control all of your devices. Alexa (the assistant in Amazon’s Echo device) and Google Home are currently the lead devices on the market because of their range of features and integration. Alexa is made by Amazon, Google Home is made by Google, and HomePod is made by Apple. 

They all have a difference in commands but the same basic book of rules. It’s possible to connect many different devices and tools.

By itself, it’s still very useful for playing music or informing you about, well, anything. It searches and reads recipes, answers your questions, makes calls, plays music, turns on a variety of devices, creates timers, alarms, and reminders, and has a myriad of other functions.

Whether you are on a budget or are ready to spend more, these companies give you different options. This is the perfect way to start automatizing your home!

Purchase the Amazon Echo from Amazon, the Google Home from Google and the Apple HomePod from Apple.

Lighting

Since most people spend much of their time in their home, lighting is key to establish and regulate the right mood. We suggest using these meross lightbulbs from Amazon.

Some bulbs can also be connected to your Google devices or Alexa; click here to purchase your compatible lights from Amazon.

Choose between brilliant colors, intensity and of course, turning it on and off. This will uniquely set the mood in any space from any distance with your phone or even your voice.

Another cool feature is the possibility to integrate online tools like Zapier or If This Then That (IFTTT). It offers options like turning the lights off when you are not home (based on the location of your phone), adjusting the colors at certain times of the day or if the weather changes, or even reacting after a timer or when receiving a call. The possibilities are limitless! Purchase one of these innovative devices below.

Smart Bulb Compatible with Google Home and Alexa: $22.95 per bulb

Philips Hue Smart Light Bulbs: $49.99 per bulb. Purchase and configure the Hue Bridge for $59.99 to connect up to 50 light bulbs, allowing for highly customizable functionality. 

Thermostat

Another way to have your home just the way you want it and save some money is to connect your heater or air conditioning unit to your home automation. According to energy.gov, if you turn your thermostat between seven and 10ºF below its normal setting for eight hours a day, you can save nearly 10% on your total heating and cooling bill. 

Smart thermostats may save you even more and can be integrated with tools like IFTTT, Google Assistant, and other automation integration systems. Other utilities include regulating specific settings depending on the time of the year and hour of the day, turning the thermostat off if you are traveling, increasing or decreasing temperature based on the weather, and even voice and remote control through the use of your phone.

We suggest the most commonly used thermostat in the market, the Google Nest (available on Amazon), because of its wide acceptance with any voice assistants.

Outlets

Smart outlets are tremendously useful for saving energy and also connecting devices to the cloud. Many people are unprepared to spend a big sum of money on smart gadgets. Smart outlets are a cheap alternative and will do the job of connecting your TV, microwave, blender, panini maker, and other gadgets. The only options are to turn them on or off, but still, it’s a useful connection. According to CNet, outlets consume up to 10% of your electric bill, because they are in ‘standby mode,’ even though they are not being used. 

Smart outlets can control the on/off capability of your different devices, to help you control your energy usage better.

Price: $20-$80 depending on the device you want to connect. You can purchase the best selling smart outlet on Amazon here.

The future is bright for smart homes and home automation. Check out the Time online magazine article “What will smart homes look like in 10 years?” to learn more about the potential of artificial intelligence and its role in home automation. Thanks for giving this article a read and we hope that you can find the best smart device for your home.