I’ve talked about my geekiness before. I can’t help it, I love gadgets. I love that they just keep improving our lives. For example, my father had a pacemaker put in last week. The hospital gave him a box that just plugs into an ordinary wall outlet. But what it does is far from ordinary. The box gets information from his pacemaker and sends it to the Cardiology group wirelessly. He doesn’t have to connect to it or hit any send buttons. How cool is that!
Because of my love of all things technology, I’ve written in the past about home tools like iRobot. Today’s article is a continuation of that theme as it’s about home automation.
You have probably heard the phrase “Internet of Things” or IoT. It’s currently transforming the way we live. Our lives are no longer connected to the internet through just computers and smartphones – we’re now able to connect to any device in our home, from refrigerators and security systems to thermostats and baby monitors.
The list of IoT devices gets longer by the day and will only continue to grow. What exactly is IoT? According to Business Insider, the IoT is “a network of Internet-connected objects able to collect and exchange data using embedded sensors”. To put it simply, any device that connects to the internet (but isn’t a computer, tablet, or smartphone) is considered an IoT device. IoT devices will lock your front door, activate your sprinklers, vacuum your living room, purify your air, manage your washing machine cycles, start dinner for you, and remind you what you need to pick up from the grocery store.
IoT and Connected Home automation are becoming the norm. Forbes projects that 71% of consumers are expected to own at least one smart home device by 2025. By 2020, there will be over 24 billion IoT devices on earth – that’s four devices for every person (Business Insider). By 2021, according to Statista, smart home revenue will reach $32.2 billion. As consumers continue to buy smart home devices, non-smart options will become less and less available over time.
Transforming your entire home into a smart home can leave a small dent in your wallet. But smart home devices such as thermostats and air conditioners can save you money on your electric bills, meaning bigger savings in the long run.
Of course, there is also a dark side to having all this connectivity. Hackers are using it to get access to homeowner’s personal information or to listen to our personal conversations. Gary Davis from McAfee says that the most vulnerable part of any smart home system is the mobile device that controls it. Make sure your mobile device and any other devices communicating with it have 128-bit encryption or higher. Because Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices can have security vulnerabilities, Davis says that both baby monitors and home monitors create the most risk. This is the nature of technology. The bad guys keep trying to abuse it and manufacturers have to constantly come up with new ways to try and prevent these intrusions.
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