Home automation is one of those technologies that has felt like it’s been just around the corner for years now.
But until now most of its products have felt like expensive novelties designed to impress guests rather than actually save you time and energy in your daily life.
With the advent of technologies like Apple’s HomeKit, and ITTT however, that’s all changed.
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Now your various home automation technologies aren’t just confined to their respective apps, but they can speak to each other. So for example you can have your smart doorbell activate your lights to let you know someone’s at the door, or have your thermostat turn off your music system when you’ve left the house.
We think this has the potential to turn home automation technologies into a mainstream phenomenon. The only problem that remains is the sheer cost of most of these products, which makes them the perfect thing to keep an eye on during this year’s Black Friday.
But what are the exact products you should be keeping an eye on?
Smarten up your lighting
Philips Hue is an obvious choice for a first foray into home automation. Lighting makes up a surprising amount of a household’s energy usage, and as such you could potentially save some money on your electricity bill if you invest in a system that’s able to automatically turn your lights off when you don’t need them.
But beyond energy saving, Philips has also expanded its lighting offering to offer a number of other benefits including giving you energy throughout the day.
Smart and Secure
Nest was an early player in the home automation market with its smart thermostat, but more recently it’s gotten into the security market, with a line of indoor and outdoor connected security cameras.
Such cameras are great if you want to keep an eye on your home while you’re away. They can be set to record if anyone trespasses onto your property, or in some cases even have an internal speaker to talk to delivery drivers if you affix your camera outside your front door.
Smart cleaning
Of course, if you want to splash out then you could invest in a robotic vacuum cleaner. The iRobot Roomba 980 is a great choice here. It’s clever enough to do a thorough job vacuuming your home, and although its dust collection bin isn’t the largest out there, if you run it regularly enough then it’ll easily make it around your home without filling.
Unfortunately as yet there aren’t any robotic vacuum cleaners that are integrated with a broader home automation ecosystem, so you’ll have to use their specific control apps for now.
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