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Smart automation for your house is just one way to add exceptional value to your home while making every moment in your house more enjoyable.

Smart homes aren’t a new concept, but technical advances mean home automation is more streamlined, enjoyable and effective than ever. Here are the best and most popular smart home features you need to invest in this year.

1.      Climate automation

Climate automation can make your home more welcoming at the end of a busy day, and save you hundreds of dollars off your power bill each month thanks to enhanced specificity.

Heating and cooling automation using your smart phone
Imagine leaving work, dreading the cold of your lounge room; yet when you walk in the door your home is the perfect ambient warmth thanks to a swipe on your smart phone. Through integrated technologies with your handheld device, you can select the perfect temperature on your heating and cooling unit long before you set foot in the door.

Automated curtains and blinds are a must-have
Save on your power bill plus prevent expensive carpet and furniture bleaching thanks to automated curtains and blinds. In summer, set your blinds to open in the morning to help you wake up slowly, then program them to close at 3pm when the afternoon sun pounds through your windows onto your furniture. In winter, set your blinds to stay closed whenever the sun is not directly on your home to insulate windows and prevent the cold from seeping through.

2. Voice control automation

Voice controlled home automation is more advanced than ever thanks to new software such as ‘HAL system’ and ‘assistants’ from Google and Amazon.

Voice-activated holistic home systems such as HAL allow you to tweak everything from your security to your thermostat with simple voice commands.

If you’re looking for something more simple, stand alone devices such as Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home might suit you best. These devices work with software to help manage everything from your lights, thermostat, security cameras and power plugs.
If you want to fully automate your home, connect your ‘assistant’ to a hub such as Samsung Smart Things or Logitech Harmony. These hubs can create an integrated smart home; for example when you activate the smart lock on your front door, your heater will come on and your favourite song will play.

3. Lighting automation means never leaving a light on again

Ambient lighting can create a welcoming feel like nothing else. Automated lighting can be programmed in isolation, or with other automations such as music and heating.

Never leave a light on by mistake as automation enables you to switch individual lighting on and off from your smart phone, or simply switch off an entire room. If you’d prefer an automatic approach, you can link lighting to motion sensors to ensure lights are switched off when no movement is perceived for a period of time.

4. Locks, power points and music

Smart locks enjoyed a surge in popularity thanks to the Air Bnb website, and they’re a godsend for those who always lose their keys. Program your smart lock to open or close when near your smart phone’s bluetooth signal, or purchase a voice-activated smart lock.

Smart plugs such as TP-Link HS 110 will give you remote access to appliances you’ve plugged into it, plus energy monitoring data so you don’t get a sky high energy bill. You’ll also be able to schedule plugs to become active, and be able to switch on ‘away mode,’ which turns off all your devices when you leave the house.

Music automation is perfectly paired with lighting and climate control to create an inviting space in your home. You may choose to have different themes in different areas of your home, or you may schedule your favourite song to wake you in the mornings as your blinds open.

Transform your home into a smart home to add exceptional value and make staying home more comfortable and personal than ever.

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  • Sounds fancy. What happens if something fails? I like having manual control over things. Even with my car, why I drive a manual.

    Reply

  • The more automated things you have, the more things you have that can break. No thaks

    Reply

  • Come along way since we thought “clapping” to turn lights on and off was awesome! It still is but now with voice activation it is much more fun, safer (hopefully), might make us more lazy though.

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  • Nope. Not interested. Happy to do all these things on my own. Bit of a control freak maybe

    Reply

  • I’d like some of these but not others.

    Reply

  • Not quite sure how I feel about automation.

    Reply

  • My husband would love light automation as his pet hate is lights being left on in every room.

    Reply

  • I’d like to have more of these features in my home. We have Amazon Alexa Echo Plus. For now we just have one smart light in the dining area, but I love the array of possibilities that exist out there!!

    Reply

  • I’d love this for my home

    Reply

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