Wednesday, 20 March 2013

How to Setup A Smart Home

When was the last time you ended up searching through the couch cushions looking for the remote control? If the answer to that question was, “which remote?” then you should keep reading. Do you love your Smartphone so much that it accompanies you everywhere – work, play, and everything in between? Tech geeks are in heaven these days because there are so many things you can do with your basic Smartphone. But you don’t need to be a huge technology

nerd to enjoy the perks of the latest innovations. In fact, getting yourself up to speed with the latest tech is easy. You can use it to make your life easier and more convenient so that you spend less time tossing the couch cushions and more time relaxing on your sofa. Making your home a “smart home” is a great first step towards getting yourself tech savvy.
Danny Briere and Pat Hurley of dummies.com describe a standard smart home as a “cutting-edge, fully connected home.” If that sounds good to you, then you should follow the below steps to making your house a “smart home.”

STEP #1 – Set up WiFi in your house if you do not already have it:

Wireless high speed business internet has gone from an optional luxury to a basic necessity for most Americans. You should have WiFi set up in your home, too, whether you live on a sprawling estate or in a tiny, cramped apartment. When you have WiFi you will be able to get online anywhere in your home without pesky, messy wires. Just be sure that your network is strong enough that your whole family can “share in the broadband wealth” and also make sure you protect your network with a password. (Money saving tip: If you live in an apartment building, share a network with neighbors you trust and split the bill.)

STEP #2 – Make everything remote control operable:
 
Every home is different and so not everyone needs to control the same things. If you live in New York, for example, you likely have both heating and air conditioning systems. If you live in Miami, you may only have the air conditioning. Either way, whatever systems are operating in your home, they can probably be made remote control operable. You can turn on the lights, turn off the television, or set your DVR with the right remote. Head over to Best Buy or another electronics store to check out what is available that you can afford.

STEP #3 – Make your normal routine totally automatic:

If you follow the same basic routine every morning, you can set it up to happen automatically. Program your coffee maker to start on its own and take other similar steps. The television can turn on automatically and even your shades can be set up to open on cue. It is surprisingly simple to program your appliances – just check their manuals for the instructions. (Don’t have the manual anymore? Look online. The manufacturer likely has instructions on its website.)

STEP #4 – Timers can save you money and help protect the environment:

It is no longer any secret that turning televisions off and switching the lights off when you leave a room saves energy. Most of us are also aware that wasting energy also wastes money because we pay for the energy we use on our bills. You can make sure you never leave the lights or television on again by setting up timers. You can also use a timer to set the thermostat. Simply have the temperature drop and the lights go off at the same time every night, once you are probably in bed. Staying up later than usual? No problem. Just turn the light back on and the thermostat back up.

STEP #5 – Use cloud computing on all of your devices:

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, cloud computing is defined as follows. “Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (for example, networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.” In other words: Cloud computing connects all of your devices making everything – all of your files, music, photos, etc. – accessible on all of the devices. Just make sure if you are sharing a network with neighbors that you take precautions to protect yourself. For example, do not put personal account information and documents in the cloud.

0 Responses to “How to Setup A Smart Home”

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
© 2012-2013 TricksMode

The content is copyrighted to Aman Verma and may not be reproduced on other websites.