Tomorrowland is Today: Take a walk through the modern-day smart home and see the potential of a house with IoT built into, well, almost anything. Best of all? Each one of these devices is (or will be) available for retail selling.
See also: What Is A Smart Home?
In The Home Office
Olibra is the flagship offering from smart-home integration resource Bond, and was designed to connect remote-controlled smart-home devices like ceiling fans and major appliances to a home Wi-Fi network with minimal muss or fuss. The puck-shaped device is Alexa- and Google Assistant-friendly, and sets up in minutes to control speed settings, lights and on-off functionality from a phone, tablet or smart speaker. Suggested retail: $99.
TP-Link kicked off the summer with the release of its Deco M9 Plus Tri-Band Mesh Wi-Fi two-pack system. The latest addition to its mesh offering, the Deco M9 Plus functions as both a router and a smart-home hub for simple control of ZigBee, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi-enabled smart-home devices from its Deco app. Also compatible with Amazon Alexa and IFTTT, the system provides wireless speeds of up to 867 Mbps across 4,500 square feet, plus antivirus and malware protection. Two-packs are priced to retail for $300 and single packs carry a $180 retail.
This high-end HDR monitor ($1,699) is geared toward both pros and serious photo enthusiasts. In addition to a non-reflective adjustable shading hood for color-critical projects, it comes with the company’s Display Widget to adjust and save individual profiles and settings with just a mouse click. Specs include a color palette with up to 1,000 nits of brightness and LED local dimming in 384 individually controlled zones.
Secure The Castle
Long in the making, Kwikset’s newest smart lock, the Kevo Contemporary, began shipping last month. This latest DIY iteration features easy installation, a modern design and Touch-To-Open technology, which can read a fingerprint when an authorized device is within Bluetooth range. HomeDepot.com is the first to offer it, for $229 retail.
D-Link has released a new trio of affordable HD Wi-Fi cameras designed for home monitoring. The most advanced features can be found in the DCS-8525LH-US, which offers pan-and-tilt functionality and full-HD images. The unit has 340 degrees of side-by-side motion and an up and down range of 110 degrees; two-way audio; sound and motion detection; a night vision range of 16 feet; and is Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa and IFTTT compliant. The unit retails for $100, and the price includes free Cloud access on a rolling 24-hour basis.
The company’s Smart Keybox 2 ($169) is a smart lockbox for homeowners and Airbnb hosts that can work offline and requires no permanent alteration of doors nor app download by guests. Instead, the device employs Bluetooth keys or PIN codes that can be shared via SMS, Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger and other formats to unlock the box and expose the house keys. Other features include customized start and end times, access log generation, a security lockout mode, low battery warning and an emergency power supply.
This third-generation security system has been redesigned and rebuilt for faster, stronger and more comprehensive safeguards within a smaller footprint, the company said. Developed with global design firm Ideo, the system boasts a base station with 24 hours of backup power; precisely calibrated glass-break and motion sensors that are 50 percent smaller but have double the range of their predecessors; and SmashSafe technology that gets an alarm signal to authorities even if the base station, siren or keypad are damaged. Suggested retails for pre-packaged kits range from $229 to $539.
Oooma’s new AI-powered video camera can detect and recognized people, pets and sounds to prevent false alarms. Featuring onboard image processing and 16GB of internal storage, the $200 retail Butterfleye also boasts advanced battery technology to keep the camera working during power outages. Users can also program Ooma’s separately sold motion, water, door and window sensors to record video upon detection.
This all-in-one security camera provides a full 360-degree live HD field of view and a matching range of motion detection, which is triple that of typical Wi-Fi security cams, the company said. Replete with automatic arming, night vision, two-way communication, 90dB siren, magnetic hanging-ball mount and a suggested retail of $230, the weatherproof camera provides what Guardzilla describes as an easy-to-use and cost-effective home-security solution that works off AC or battery power.
This Wi-Fi camera is geared for both indoor and outdoor residential use, with features including 1080p FullHD video, night vision and IP65-rated weatherproofing, True Detect heat-sensing technology reduces false-alarm triggers like pet movement or trees blowing.The 120-degree wide-angle viewing lens, meanwhile, enables consumers to capture faces and license plates from multiple angles.
