Smart Home Hubs and Controllers: The Amazon Echo family is the one to bring home. Echo is an Alexa-powered Bluetooth speaker. It works directly with a wide variety of smart home devices and with If This Then That (IFTTT) to control others via combinations you can create on your own. You could end up controlling most of the gadgets around your house with just your voice.
Smart Home Surveillance Cameras
The Arlo Ultra is an excellent outdoor camera that streams and records in true 4k or UHD. It’s also one of the most expensive, but it’s loaded with auto-zoom, motion tracking, color night vision, integrated spotlight and siren, one-click 911 connectivity, 180-degree view, and more. It’s also wireless.
Smart Lock And Home Security
The August Smart Lock Pro + Connect is the latest third-generation smart lock with a lot of features and options. It includes August’s HomeKit and DoorSense technology, Z-Wave compatibility, and Wi-Fi connectivity. It also works remotely with Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri voice commands.
Smart Heating And Cooling
The fifth-generation Ecobee Smart Thermostat has voice control features, enhanced Alexa and multimedia support, more powerful audio components, dual-band Wi-Fi, and much more. It also has a user-friendly app, lots of third-party support, and an easy installation process. Obviously, it offers much more than its predecessor, the EcoBee4.
Smart Lighting
The Philips Hue family gives you total wireless supremacy over all the lights in your home. The Hue Ecosystem is expensive, but it lets you control not just the intensity of the lights but also their color. It also works with every other system from Alexa, to IFTTT, to Siri. Philips will soon launch Hue White that will give you the same control over white lights. Outdoor bulbs are available too.
Smart Kitchen Appliance
The Anova Culinary Precision Cooker is the best sous vide cooking appliance there is. Sous vide is where food is sealed in plastic and immersed in a hot bath to cook it to perfection. This cooker uses Wi-Fi connectivity to let you control it from anywhere. It’s big dial lets you set the temperature to within a tenth of a degree. The display shows the water temperature, and its app lets you know the status of each step of the process.
