The Smart Home

Helping in so many areas of your smart living…

Currently there are two choices available – Amazon’s Echo Range, uses a voice assistant many know and love as Alexa and the Google Home range whose voice assistant is simply known as Google Assistant.  Both are easy and straight forward to use and you can interact by asking Alexa or Google a question and they will respond with the answer.  This is great if you just want to find out the news for the day, any traffic problems or whether you should take out a brolly for the day if it is going to rain – really helpful eh! 

Smart speakers are being used more and more for social activities – this can be when you have friends and family over – you can access quizzes and listen to music and guess the name and artist right through to using them for recipes, and to time your favourite dish until it cooks to perfection. 

More gadgets are becoming available that can be controlled by your smart speaker such as other speakers, lighting, thermostats – imaging sitting and enjoying your family films and asking your Google Assist to dim your light to the mood of the film – adding to your whole experience.

It is so easy to get started with the first level of speakers being available at affordable prices, for example, Amazon Echo dot and the Google Home Mini cost just between £30 and £50.

Check out our Latest Home Tech Section for news and reviews of some of the latest home products, or if you need any professional help or assistance contact one of our Approved Installer by using the search box on our homepage.

Money saving…

Our heating bills can quite often be one of our highest so being able to control our heating systems from our phone is a massive benefit.  If you go out and realise you have accidently left your heating on- you can easily switch it off from your phone.  The technology used can learn to schedule turning your heating on or off by learning your habits of being out and at home – you can also easily set your own schedules. 

Being more aware of your usage and being able to switch off your heating remotely when not in use will definitely create savings, and getting monthly usage reports can teach you how much energy you are using to look at changes you can make yourself to save money.  Nest is one of the most popular smart heating devices and they estimate that UK customers save between 8.4% and 16.5% by using smart heating devices.

Check out our Latest Home Tech Section for news and reviews of some of the latest home products, or if you need any professional help or assistance contact one of our Approved Installer by using the search box on our homepage.

At the heart of everything…

The WiFi in our homes is at the heart of everything ‘smart’, making our internet services vital to enable and connect smartly. All of your ‘smart’ devices will go online to communicate not just with you but with each other where it is required. You can connect some ‘smart’ devices via the Ethernet which can sometimes make them work more effectively but the majority of ‘smart’ devices use WiFi so it is absolutely vital to ensure you have the best and most stable WiFi service available for your area.

Imagine your broadband being the engine for your ‘smart’ home and your smartphone is the steering wheel. Each of your ‘smart’ devices will come ready to be connected to the relevant app that is then used to control the device from anywhere remotely – this can only happen if you have an internet connection.

Check out our Latest Home Tech Section for news and reviews of some of the latest home products, or if you need any professional help or assistance contact one of our Approved Installer by using the search box on our homepage.

Interactively control your viewing experience…

At the heart of any entertainment is our TV and smart TV’s offer an enhanced viewing experience. By being connected to the internet and with the support of a range of apps preloaded (or available for download) in to the TV dashboard meaning you can have more entertainment options to stream from Netflix and other similar platforms as well as providing access to games, social media and other gadgets.

Many include access to Alexa and Google Home devices which means you can control some areas by using voice recognition. In addition they will connect to your smart speakers allowing you to experience the best sound and atmosphere whilst watching your favourite films. Keeping the software updated on your smart TV is essential to keep the services as up to date as possible.

Check out our Latest Home Tech Section for news and reviews of some of the latest home products, or if you need any professional help or assistance contact one of our Approved Installer by using the search box on our homepage.

Turning your appliance not smart to smart…

Such a cool idea allowing you to turn any electrical device in your home into a smart device and be able to control it remotely via an app – meaning you don’t need to run out and buy new devices to create a smart home. Smart plugs like the Amazon Plug or TP Link HS110 do just this.

Using these plugs provides such an affordable way to turn your devices or lights to smart and it is so simple to achieve. We all know that sinking feeling when you get to work and you are bugged by the thought – did you switch off your hair straighteners, is the coffee machine still on? Well know by using smart plugs you can switch them off remotely from your workplace giving you peace of mind and to keep your home safe.

Check out our Latest Home Tech Section for news and reviews of some of the latest home products, or if you need any professional help or assistance contact one of our Approved Installer by using the search box on our homepage.

Safe and providing peace of mind..

Peace of mind means you can be settled and enjoy yourself more when you are away from home, either when simply at work, out with friends or on holiday. Easily monitor your home remotely by using a smart security camera. They provide a live stream of your home or wherever you monitor and can even check up on when deliveries are being made – watched easily on your phone.

Whether you choose an indoor camera maybe to keep an eye on your pets or an external camera, companies like Hive, Nest and Canary have options for both with the outdoor cameras obviously being weather resistant – they detect motion during the day or night and alert you direct to your phone. You can go that step further and also add in a smart doorbell, something like the Ring Video Doorbell that will alert you and then let you view who is at your door – you choose if you want to answer and even talk to the person waiting there – really helpful to inform a delivery driver where to leave your parcel – what a timesaver!

Check out our Latest Home Tech Section for news and reviews of some of the latest home products, or if you need any professional help or assistance contact one of our Approved Installer by using the search box on our homepage.

Enhance your experience with light…

Your mood and how you feel in an environment can depend a lot on light which can lift your mood or quite simply set the experience for whatever you are doing. Gone are the days where you just to have be satisfied with white light.

To get the most out of your light experience by using connected lighting systems – available at places like IKEA and from companies such as Philips Hue. These systems enable you to change the brightness and colour of your light to suit whether you are reading, chilling and listening to music or even having a cosy romantic night in with your partner – allows you to set the mood.

As kids didn’t we always get told off for leaving all the lights on and now we hear ourselves saying the same to our kids!! Well now is the time you can take this headache away – smart lighting allows you to turn off your lights via an app or set a schedule so your lights can turn off automatically when it gets dark or at a specified time – great also for when you are away.

Check out our Latest Home Tech Section for news and reviews of some of the latest home products, or if you need any professional help or assistance contact one of our Approved Installer by using the search box on our homepage.