Homes are getting smarter all the time, thanks to great advances in technology. Check out our favorite home tech products and add a little brains to your abode!
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Nest has got it right with the second-generation model of its Protect smoke and carbon monoxide detector. It integrates with Nest’s Learning Thermostat and Nest Cam. It will test for low batteries and communicate with other Nest devices in a home. It can tell you where the problem is and uses two wavelengths of light to look for both fast and slow burning fires.
Find out how to maintain smoke alarms in your home.
Those in search of that modern house feel will want to upgrade to the Electrolux IQ Touch Electric Range. The front control design, Flex-2-Fit heating elements and Perfect Taste Dual Convection will make cooking everything from the weeknight meal to holiday dinners easier. The easy-to-clean cooktop surface and seven cooking modes will help even the most novice chefs prepare marvelous meals.
Give your oven a break and control your dinner from anywhere with the WeMo Crock-Pot slow cooker. Just use your smart device and the WeMo App (free) to adjust or schedule cooking time and temperature. Dinner will be ready when you are!
You’ll make the perfect drink every time with the Perfect Drink Pro. Great for your home bar, tell the Perfect Drink Pro via the app what you have in your liquor cabinet. Choose a recipe and this bar-top appliance will help you measure out just the right proportions for your drink. Then shake or stir.
The Brazen Plus Coffee Maker features adjustable settings for water brewing temperature and pre-soak, and guarantees brewing temperature to within 1 degree of your setting. The oversize shower head and pulsed water flow ensures complete coffee bed saturation for the perfect cup every time. And use a permanent filter or paper filters, and don’t forget to use those leftover grounds for pest control.
About once a year here at the office, we encounter ‘The Perfect Product.” This year the title winner has to be the SnapRays Guidelight. Even though it’s just a lowly night-light, it’s practically perfect in every way. Here’s why:
The Guidelight is powered by two little prongs that snap over the terminal screws on the receptacle. Brilliant! No batteries, no wiring, no nuthin! You have a choice of two outlet cover types in ivory, almond or white.
My 3-year-old granddaughter thought the USB ports on my son’s laptop would be a great place to hide her hairclips. It was powered up at the time, and the clips shorted out the $800 main board (he had to remind himself how precious she is).
The service guy said port damage is common, and not just from little gremlins jamming hairclips in them. Dust, dirt and metal fragments can accumulate in the ports and cause damage when you jam the plug in. So my son sealed his smartphone and laptop ports with silicone anti-dust stoppers. It’s really cheap insurance against costly repairs.
Rick Muscoplat, Contributing Editor
We had a problem with strangers disposing of their garbage in our dumpster here at work. On a few mornings, it was completely full of construction debris! We could either start locking the dumpster at night or keep paying the $80 early pickup fees. I bought a Master Lock Bluetooth padlock because I didn’t want to carry any more keys in my pockets or try to remember a combination.
The app on my phone lets me open the lock remotely (within Bluetooth range). I can also use the app to set combinations that my coworkers can use. If I give out individual codes, I can track who opened it and when—not that I don’t trust my coworkers. I can give out single-use codes as well. I bought the heavy-duty outdoor model No. 4401DLH online. — Josh Risberg, Lead Carpenter
The Weber iGrill 3, which is compatible with the brand’s Genesis II and Genesis II LX gas grills, allows you to closely monitor your food so you get perfect results every time. The Bluetooth-enabled device supports up to four probes and sends information such as food temperature, cook time and even propane tank levels to your smartphone or tablet via the Weber iGrill app.
The CAT S60 Android smartphone is far more rugged than a consumer-grade phone. It’s shatterproof up to a 6-ft. drop onto concrete, dustproof, shockproof and waterproof down to 5 meters for up to an hour. This phone works in temps from minus 13 to 131 degrees F, and the touch screen has glove-on and wet-finger tracking ability, so it operates in any weather.
The CAT S60 has a 13-megapixel camera as well as an infrared (FLIR) camera. Use the FLIR camera throughout your house to measure surface temperatures and find air leaks and temperature differences behind walls, electrical problems and even beehives. The S60 works with AT&T and T-Mobile and affiliated GSM networks using a nano sim card. It comes with 32GB internal memory and accepts a microSD card for extended storage up to 128GB.
Philips has finally provided an answer to whether the lights were left on at home with its Hue Bulbs. The Hue app connects to the lights, which you can turn on and off remotely. The app also allows users to set schedules for lights. Order these bulbs here.
Learn more about smart light switches and how to choose LED bulbs for the home.
