According to many industry analysts, we’ll soon all be living in smart homes, with Internet-connected devices providing greater functionality than ever before. Below we take a look at some of the appliances that early adopters are already putting to use.
[easy-tweet tweet=”Many of the electronic devices that we use in the kitchen are prime candidates for #IoT technology” hashtags=”SmartHome”]
In the kitchen
Many of the electronic devices that we use in the kitchen are prime candidates for IoT technology. Smart fridges are already available that let you monitor your food via an embedded camera and alert you when anything is starting to go bad. Samsung’s Smart Fridge also comes with built in speakers, a screen displaying news and weather, and offers seasonal recipe suggestions.
There are also plenty of other ways that businesses are updating our kitchen tools. Modern dishwashers utilise cameras to monitor areas that are already clean, helping to reduce water usage. There are also pans with temperature sensors, chopping boards with built in scales and oven-connected apps.
In the bathroom
There’s plenty of innovation in the bathroom too, whether your priorities lie with singing practise or saving water. Wireless speakers are now available as built-in parts of the shower, while the Waterpebble monitors exactly how much water you’ve used and lets you now when your water usage is getting excessive.
For those of you that want your smart home devices to provide a little more comfort, there are applications that allow you to store personal settings for your shower and bath and implement them from anywhere on the home network. There’s now no need to step into a freezing cold shower or scolding hot bath.
The rest of the home
Gadget fans are already spoilt for choice when it comes to smart home devices. Mobile-controlled vacuum cleaners, IoT light bulbs and garden sensors that monitor your soil conditions all give you greater control than ever before, all from the comfort of your smartphone.
The smart home hub
The real concern for huge tech firms like Google and Apple is developing a smart home hub. Sales of connected fridges and vacuum cleaners may well make them some money, but the entire home IoT ecosystem is likely to rely on a central hub – ensuring that this is where the real revenue will come from.
[easy-tweet tweet=”Integration will be a key concern as the smart home ecosystem develops” hashtags=”IoT, SmartHome”]
Integration will be a key concern as the smart home ecosystem develops, which is why winning the race to become the number one smart home hub is so important. Will the homes of the future be running on a variation of Android, iOS, or something completely different? Time will tell, but in the meantime there are already plenty of smart home devices to tinker around with.
The editorial team behind Compare the Cloud made up a unique group of IT specialists, digital marketers and cloud specialists. We understand the industry from both the IT manager’s perspective and the perspective of the IT service provider.