Connected House
Dimmers. The founder of Lutron invented the solid-state dimmer in the late 1950s, and the company has been developing high-tech light switches ever since. Lutron will showcase its Caseta Wireless collection of dimmers, shown here, and will make announcements regarding new integration capabilities for its products during CES. In another effort to make the technology more appealing to the average consumer, companies are focusing on offering options with broad aesthetic appeal so homeowners can try to make devices part of the decor and not have a living room that looks like the bridge on the U.S.S. Enterprise. For example, Lutron has more than 30 colors and five metal finishes for its products, as well as more than 1,500 fabrics for its wireless window shades.
Doorbell. You see a lot of Wi-Fi-enabled door locks out there but not many doorbells. DoorBird is a German product whose maker is hoping to change that. The device lets you talk to visitors via video and open the door using a phone or tablet, even if you’re out of the country. There’s a motion sensor that will send you an alert if someone walks up to your door, even if he or she doesn’t ring the bell. Cost: $349.
Nest Learning Thermostat - $250 Smart phone–controlled thermostat. The Nest Learning Thermostat does a lot of neat tricks, and the ability to be controlled from a smart phone is just one of them. The beautiful, futuristic-looking round Nest replaces your old thermostat. But it’s not just an electric box full of wires. It’s a little computer that connects through your home network via Wi-Fi. It downloads its own software updates, for example. So when the company improves the software, your thermostat automatically improves, too. The best thing the Nest does is learn. Here’s how it works. You just set the temperature as you normally would, either at the device, on the web or on your phone. The thermostat keeps track of the temperature and humidity conditions that exist when you change the temperature, as well as the time of day and other variables. Over time it learns what you do and when you do it, and starts doing it without you. The thermostat can even tell if someone is in the room. It maintains upper and lower limits (set by your previous actions) for both when people are in the room and when they’re not.
Cyber-Rain Sprinkler Control System - $825 Smart phone–controlled sprinkler system. Cyber-Rain is an automatic sprinkler system that saves water by acting like a person: It checks the weather online and adjusts the amount of water accordingly. Best of all, you can set and control the sprinkler system either on the web or on a smart phone (iPhone and Blackberry only). The phone interface is especially useful for failure alerts. If something goes wrong, you get a notification on your phone.
Nexia Lock Control - $249 Smart phone-controlled front door lock. The problem with carrying the house key in your pocket is that it might scratch your phone. So why not get rid of the house key altogether? Schlage makes an electronic front-door lock with a deadbolt that can be locked and unlocked from your phone. The Schlage Nexia lets you control the lock conventionally, too. You can manually lock it, and unlock it with a PIN code. But the phone adds security and convenience. For example, you can choose to get an alert when someone uses the PIN code to get in. And if you’re not sure the door has been locked, you can check and lock it, even if you’re in another state.
Insteon LED Bulb - $29.99 Smart phone–controlled lightbulb. A company called Insteon sells a lightbulb controlled by an Apple iPhone. No, it’s not a lamp that’s controlled, but the bulb itself, which fits into a standard lamp socket. The Insteon LED Bulb is part of Insteon’s SmartHome line, and it comes with its own controller. You can add an optional SmartLinc controller for connecting to an iPhone. After downloading Insteon’s free app, you can turn the bulb on and off and also dim the light. You can even define presets: “working,” “romantic” and other settings that you determine.
Agipy Lockitron Keyless Entry System - $149 A company called Agipy is working on a very convenient smart phone lock called Lockitron. Rather than being a replacement deadbolt, the Lockitron fits over your existing deadbolt and turns it phyiscally when you send the command from your phone. The box runs on AA batteries, and the smart phone app will tell you when they need replacing. You can also turn the lock by hand. Lockitron connects through your home's Wi-Fi network, which means you can unlock the door from anywhere in the world over the Internet. And the Lockitron does a few more neat tricks. It can sense you approaching by detecting the Bluetooth signal from your phone as you approach the door, and will unlock the door automatically. It also has a knock sensor; when someone knocks on the door, you get a message. You can also grant access to others by sending them permission over email. Lockitron was actually rejected by the crowd-funding site Kickstarter, so the developers did their own crowd-funding effort and raised a small fortune. They expect deliveries of the product by summer 2013.
Edison Junior DoorBot Smart Doorbell - $169 Another crowd-sourced phone-controlled door project is called DoorBot. The DoorBot, made by a company called Edison Junior, installs next to your door with four screws. It has a doorbell and a camera, and runs on AA batteries that last a year, according to the company. The camera is infrared capable, so you can even see who's at the door at night. The way it works is that when visitors ring the doorbell, your phone alerts you and you can see who's there, even when you're not at home. And you can speak to them through your phone. Perhaps best of all, the DoorBot is designed to work with the Lockitron, so not only can you see and speak with whoever's at your door, but you can let the person in, too.
The latest addition to the WeMo line is the new WeMo Light Switch, announced this month. The switch, expected to come out later this year, replaces existing light switches and turns on and off whatever lamp or other electrical appliance is connected to the switch-controlled outlet. However, the WeMo Light Switch is also connected to the Internet over a home's Wi-Fi connection, enabling users to control the switch from anywhere in the world with an iOS app.
WeMo Home Electronics Controllers - $49.99 Belkin's WeMo products contain all the electronics that appliances of the future will have. They contain tiny computers and motion sensors, and have wireless connectivity. You plug them into outlets, then plug lamps, music players etc. into the WeMo units. WeMo products turn things on and off through motion, a timer or controls on a smart phone.
MeterPlug also does a neat trick: You can set it to turn off appliances that are using electricity while not being used, which is a common problem. The manufacturers claim that a game console like an Xbox 360 can cost you $220 per year from electricity use while the device is not being used. If that's true, and you have a game console, then the MeterPlug could pay for itself in a few months of use.
Cool rolling desk
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