Call a Computer PRO to learn more about Smart Home Devices

• Does smart home technology intimidate you?
• Do you have a smart home device that you aren’t sure how to use?
• Are you interested in learning more about how smart home devices can save you time and money?

Here is a sample of some of the smart home devices that we have experience setting up and working with.  If you have any of these devices or would like to get one installed give us a call.

Amazon Echo and Echo Dot

Amazon makes a handful of smart home devices that integrate (are compatible with) other devices.  The Amazon Echo device has a built in speaker for music and the dot is a smaller more portable device.  If you are an Amazon user you could benefit from getting an Amazon Echo as a hub for your other smart equipment.  For example, you can tell Alexa (Amazon Echo’s personality) to play music, tell you the weather, read the news, change the temperature in your house or even turn on/off lights in various rooms.  It is a powerful device that is fun to use.

Philips Hue Lighting

LED and smart lights are a great way to automate your light systems and also save money.  With a Philips Hue light system you can configure lights to turn on when you arrive at home and they can also be scheduled to automatically turn on or off at certain times of the day.  This is especially useful for lights in areas that constantly get left on.  For example, one of our customers had lights on their front porch that would accidentally get left on all day.  With Philips Hue lights the bulbs could automatically be scheduled to turn off at sunrise and to turn back on at sunset.  The lights can even be toggled and scheduled from your phone while you are traveling to make it look like someone is home.

Nest Thermostat

The Nest Thermostat is an essential piece of smart home equipment.  The device replaces your current thermostat and uses some of the following techniques to save you money.  Firstly, it knows the weather outside and can automatically make adjustments based on the temperature and the amount of light coming into the room.  Next, it learns your system and measures how long it takes to reach temperature through heating/cooling.  By knowing this it can turn off a degree or two before reaching temperature and just run the fan to finish hitting temperature.  Finally it can use Eco saving features by integrating with your phone.  When integrated it knows if you are home or not.  When you are not home the system automatically adjusts to a wider margin of temperatures to ensure that you are heating/cooling your house to comfort when you are not home.  The Nest thermostat advertises that it will pay itself off in the first year in energy savings.

Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Chromecast and Smart TV’s

Having cable is becoming unnecessary with increasing availability of on demand and other live options like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Sling etc.  Many new TV’s come with the option to turn on Netflix or Hulu.  Those TV’s that don’t can use external devices like Roku to add in support for these services.

Logitech Harmony Remote Control

Do you have an entertainment system with multiple devices connected that require different inputs and devices being turned on/off?  A Logitech Harmony remote can be setup to know what devices you have and to operate in scenarios.  For example.  You may hit the ‘Watch TV’ button and, using a single remote, the TV will turn on and go to the correct input, the cable box would be turned on, if applicable the surround sound system would turn on and the remote would automatically be ready to change channels on your cable box and adjust the volume on your TV or surround sound system.  If you decide to watch a DVD/Blu-ray you’d hit the ‘Watch Movie’ button and it would turn off the cable box, turn on the DVD/Blu-ray player and change  your TV to the right input.  All without having to touch any other remotes.  This is a great piece of equipment to simplify your entertainment setup.  It is especially useful for family/friends that are not technically savvy.

Roomba

Smart vacuum cleaners are one of the easiest ways to save yourself the time and trouble of vacuuming the house.  Roomba vacuum cleaners can be scheduled to automatically vacuum the house during a scheduled time.  During that time it will intelligently move its way through the corners of your house, avoid going off the edge of a stair case and return to the base to be charged.  All you have to do when you get home is enjoy the clean floor and empty the vacuum’s dust bin.