The tech revolution has come to your pocket in the form of your smartphone. It’s coming to your car in the shape of EVs and autonomous vehicles. But is it coming to your home? You bet it is! Nothing can stop the march of technology, not even the four walls of brick and mortar that surround you right now.
The cool thing about home gadgets that is there’s something for pretty much everybody. Things are changing fast in the home space, so you’re bound to love the latest tech. It’s all designed to make our lives more convenient, more secure and more entertaining. Here’re some of our favorite picks.
3-Pound Printers
If you do a lot of travel, or you have a cluttered house, the last thing you want is a large printer. You want something that does everything a regular printer does but at a fraction of the size. Well, you’re in luck. Companies, like Primera, have made printers that you can pop in your suitcase or on the bookshelf. These printers don’t just print either. They scan and copy too, which is useful if you can’t get to the office. What’s more, they weigh less than 3 pounds. Dell’s smallest business-class printer weighs nearly 30 pounds. So it’s a big difference.
Arguably, the biggest benefit of these printers isn’t in the home; it’s while you’re traveling for work. Small printers can be unpacked on long plane trips, and you can get on with work as if you were in the office. Printing on the move is something business travelers have been begging for for years.
Smart Frying Pans
If you’ve ever tried to pan fry a piece of meat at home, you know how difficult it can be. Knowing when the meat is done on the inside is next to impossible, and relies on the instincts of a seasoned chef.
Or at least it used to until the smart frying pan came along. Companies have started making frying pans with a basic level of understanding of the food that they’re cooking. Smart pans use temperature data to tell you when the piece of meat you’re cooking is ready to eat. This way, you know exactly when to dump it on the plate.
Think about how this could really help you in your own family life. It’s rare that you get to stand vigil in front of the pan for the whole time that the food is cooking. Instead, you have to attend to kids, answer the door, check your social media – whatever. Often this results in disaster. But if you’ve got a pan that alerts you via your smartphone app the moment your food is cooked, the problem goes away.
Wi-Fi Video Monitor
If you care about home security, you’ve probably already read some DIY home security system reviews. One of the products doing the rounds at the moment is Wi-Fi video monitors. The idea here is to connect video cameras to your home’s Wi-Fi router and then watch your home through a smartphone app. As long as your router is on and your phone is connected to the internet, you can watch what happens in your house.
Wi-Fi video monitors are great for two types of people. They’re great for people who worry about their pets being left in the house without them all day. And they’re also great for people who tend to travel a lot and want to keep a beady eye on their property.
The best systems are those that come with wall plugs where you don’t have to worry about batteries.
Emergency LED Flashlights
Ten to fifteen years ago, unless you were a tech enthusiast, you hadn’t heard of LEDs. The top of the range torch, used by boy scouts, was the incandescent bulb Maglite. And it was huge.
Fast forward to the present and LEDs are invading our homes in new and exciting ways. Take the Satechi LightMate, for instance. This is a LED flashlight that is brighter than the previous generation of torches but in a much smaller package. These torches can also often be used to charge your phone since their battery packs are so large.
For people who live in areas with lots of power outages, LED torches are a godsend. Because LEDs use so much less energy than regular flashlights, the batteries last a long time. And because the batterings are large, they can be used to charge you other gadgets in the event of a prolonged power cut.
Needless to say, these types of torches are also suitable for people who spend a lot of time camping and going away on weekend breaks.
Smart Hand Luggage
Clever startups are now looking for ways to get smart tech into the luggage industry. One player, called Bluesmart, has succeeded to some extent. The idea here is to connect luggage to the smartphone. People who use smart luggage can lock and unlock their suitcases through their smartphone apps. And they can also use the integrated GPS readers to precisely locate where their suitcase is. You can imagine just how useful GPS tech in luggage would be if your bags just happened to get send on to another airport. In a word: smart hand luggage is a godsend.
Smart hand luggage is for people, again, who do a lot of traveling. It’s also for those who get easily stressed while waiting for their baggage to appear on the conveyor belt.
Systems That Prevent Break In
There is a whole raft of companies who have systems that allow you to monitor your home in real time. These are marketed as security devices. And while they do help you keep an eye on what’s going on in your home, they don’t prevent criminal activity.
But now there’s a breed of security system that goes beyond just passively recording an intruder’s actions. These systems actively work to prevent crimes and scare criminals away. Currently, many of the world’s top security systems connect directly to the police. But new sensor technology is making it possible to scare burglars off before they enter your home. For instance, MyFox comes with a system that allows homeowners to track when their windows and doors have been opened.
If you’ve got the money, these systems are an excellent investment. According to the data, 80 percent of intruders will give up if they hear the alarm go off. That’s a seriously good deterrent from a home security system.
TV Sticks
It’s amazing how many channels there are but how little stuff there is to watch. If you’re one of those people who always flicks through channels, consider getting a TV stick. These TV sticks, like the Amazon Firestick, connect to your Wi-Fi. Then they present a bunch of on-demand programming designed to meet your particular tastes. You can choose from films, soaps, game shows, and drama series.
If you’re a person who is disillusioned by the quality of programming on the TV, this is the product for you. TV sticks are also a great product for people who spend a lot of time traveling. You can use these devices in hotel rooms, so long as the hotel has Wi-Fi. You can also take it to other people’s homes if you all want to watch something in particular together.
Couch Keyboard And Mouse
One of the big downsides of PC gaming is that you have to sit on a PC chair in front of your desk. It’s not exactly comfortable. You could move into the living room and game on your Playstation. But then you’d have to give up your keyboard and mouse and use a clunky controller. It’s a nightmare.
Well, it was a nightmare. Now companies are building ergonomic keyboards and mice designed to be used on your lap. Gaming giant Razer has made it’s own. Essentially it’s an RGB keyboard, with an extended area to act as a mousepad.
If you’re a fan of Steam, this is a great device to have in your living room. Until now, Steam Machine users had to make do with Steam controllers. They found it difficult to compete with other players in games like CS: GO. But with couch keyboards and mice, keeping pace has never been easier. It hardly feels as if they have left the PC behind.
The Smartmat
It seems that today, everything is going smart, even the very floor on which we walk. Smartmats are no joke. They contain thousands of tiny sensors. And these sensors are designed to tell you whether you’re doing your exercises correctly. If you’re a big yoga fan, this is definitely the gadget for you. These mats connect to an app on your phone via Bluetooth. The app then keeps track of your position, weight, and other metrics. If you’re not doing moves correctly, the software is intelligent enough to be able to tell you.
For busy people. The smartmat is a great substitute for having to go out to yoga classes at the local gym. You can simply lay out the mat, and get expert coaching in the privacy of your own home.