There’s no doubt about it – our households are getting smarter with tech in the home. Gone are the days where fridges were simply places of appropriately chilled storage and hoovers were controlled by the human touch, instead we have entered an era where technology is taking over our roles as humans and of course, outsmarting and outperforming us at every turn. Here are five household smart gadgets you didn’t know you needed, but will almost certainly add a little something to your life.
Smart Lighting
They say “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it”. You might then wonder what calling this world has for smart lighting in the home. Well, it’s for the dreamers, the people with imaginations and those who like to impress – plus in the long run, it’ll help you to save energy too! Smart lighting apps allow you to control the brightness of your bulbs and, if they’re coloured LEDs, set the ambience with different hues around the home. A cost effective way of achieving a bespoke lighting look around the home, smart lighting is a party trick to impress.
Parrot Flower Power Wireless Plant Monitor
When considering elements of the home that could and should be connected, the greenery in your plant pots probably doesn’t spring to mind. Perhaps designed for the not-so-green-fingered homeowner, the Parrot Flower Power Monitor keeps an eye on levels of sunlight, temperature, fertiliser and moisture, and even send alerts to your smartphone when something is flagged up as needing attention. So before your plants teeter on the verge of becoming shrivelled shells of their former selves, the app will let you know that they need watering, ensuring healthier, happier plants in the home!
Drop Kitchen Scale
Some say baking is a science and others say it is an art, but to many, it’s simply a minefield of oven-baked fatalities waiting to happen. For those of you who weren’t born with culinary flare, the drop kitchen scale is on hand to offer some assistance when it comes to minimising and even averting disaster. More than just a fancy scale, the device is packed with hundreds of recipes ready and waiting for you to try. The app connects to the scales and takes you by the hand to guide you through each recipe, even adjusting ingredient amounts should you find you’re short of something. Nailing exact quantities of ingredients, you’ll be a dab hand in the kitchen in no time, as this nifty gadget brings the science of baking into the average family home.
Smart Fridges
Something the world never envisaged it needed, but will likely become standard in decades to come; the smart fridge. In terms of kitchen gadgets, this one is hailed as perhaps the most innovative and indeed functional. We all know the plague of sadness that can be cast upon the family home should you wake up and head downstairs to find there’s not a drop of milk in the fridge for a morning cup of tea, but with the smart fridge, that’ll never happen again. Many smart fridges are being built with interior panoramic cameras that can be synched to smartphones, letting you check the contents of your fridge whilst out shopping. The likes of the Samsung smart fridges allow you to double tap the fridge’s exterior display, turning it translucent and revealing the contents of your fridge without opening it. You’ll also find freshness tracking apps that let you keep on top of your food’s expiration dates. By linking up Alexa, for example, users can adjust their fridge’s power settings and even order shopping with their voice.
Image source: Flickr
Kohler Moxie Showerhead + Wireless Speaker
From the kitchen to the flowerbeds and now finally, the bathroom. If you claim not to sing in the shower, you’re telling lies. This nifty number slips into the showerhead via a magnet and connects directly to your smartphone or tablet to provide the soundtrack to your morning routine. The device can also be removed and used elsewhere around the home.