Tech Trends: The Hottest Gadgets for Your Home
Fall is here and with it comes more than pumpkin spice and harvest festivals. This is the season where the tech world releases their latest and greatest products. Here we take a look at some new tech that will cover your home inside and out. From amazing kitchen appliances and accessories that will help you create gourmet meals, to outdoor items that illuminate, protect, and entertain, this is our list of the best in new home technology.
The Vivint home security system is easy to arm using the interface tablet or your smartphone and connected apps.
Security
A relative newcomer to the security world, Vivint Smart Home has shot to the top as one of the best and most recommended smart home securities on the market. Do-it-yourself smart home security systems are great for frugal homeowners, but these systems don’t take action when an alarm is triggered. It’s up to you to check in when your smoke alarm goes off or the front door alarm is tripped. If you are looking for an automated home security system, then you would want to choose a subscription-based service like the one that comes with the Vivint.
If you don’t need comprehensive home monitoring and are simply interested in protecting your home from porch pirates, the Ring Video Doorbell and the Nest Hello Doorbell are still your best options.
Ring now offers four video doorbells: Video Doorbell, Video Doorbell 2, Video Doorbell Pro and Video Doorbell Elite. They all allow you to see, speak, and hear people at your front door and Ring’s doorbells are compatible with most smartphones, PCs, and tablets. All of the above options, except the Video Doorbell Elite, can be self-installed. Since they are available in both hard-wired and battery-operated versions, Ring Doorbells work for any home. They are also durable and certified for outdoor use in temperatures from -5 to 120 degrees. The one major drawback with the battery-powered doorbells is their short battery life. Ring claims they average 12 months of battery life. However, tests done by safehome.org show they only offer about two months of battery performance.
The Nest Hello Video Doorbell lets you see who is at your door day or night. Compatible with Google Home Mini, the device can announce when someone is at your front door. The image quality is crisp and bright thanks to HD video and night vision. Since it continually streams video to the cloud 24/7, you can check in anytime. Nest also features a three hour snapshot. While it is easy-to-install and use, the Nest requires a hard-wired connection so it’s not ideal for customers who need a battery-operated doorbell.
Tech can be a very helpful sous chef. From baking to cooking, these great new advancements can help you create a wide range of delicious dishes.
Kitchen
The kitchen is a space where technology and flavor meet to create the perfect pairing. While some kitchen tech can seem a little superfluous, there are great advances that can make your life a little easier.
For those who like to bake, a kitchen scale is an important item since many recipes call for ingredients by weight. The Drop kitchen scale is a Wi-Fi-equipped food scale that works with a recipe app to make baking simpler. It will also adjust measurements if you’re short on an ingredient and will offer substitutions. The app also gives you screen-by-screen, illustrated instructions as you cook.
Not sure when you opened that jar of marinara, or how long that container of sour cream has been in the fridge? DaysAgo is a digital tracker with a suction cup; attach it to an item when you first open it, start the timer, and it will record how many days have passed. This handy invention helps you cut down on food waste by eliminating the, “Do I need to throw this away?” guessing game we all play.
If you’ve heard about the Instant Pot but you aren’t sure what all the hype is about, now is the time to get one for yourself. This new generation of pressure cookers speed up cooking time and use up to 70% less energy while producing consistent and convenient healthy food. The Instant Pot replaces seven kitchen appliances, creating more storage space. The new Instant Pot Smart WiFi is fast, efficient, precise, and intuitive. The Smart WiFi provides a handy 8-in-1 appliance with the convenience of WiFi connectivity, allowing you to set, monitor, and control your multi-cooker from almost anywhere.
While technology has advanced in all areas, items centered around fun and relaxation are the ones we love the most. Smart speakers from Sonos can enhance your downtime and create a clearer, crisper audio experience. Now, sleeker and smaller, speakers don’t have to take up a ton of space in your living room.
Entertainment
Technology has come a long way in all areas, but the most fun gadgets can be found in the entertainment genre. For the most part, these smart devices are used to enhance your downtime and create a clearer, crisper audio/visual experience. Additionally, there is smart technology which helps create a full home entertainment experience like lighting and smart control devices. Together, these items produce an immersive entertainment experience.
Multiple lists put the LG C9 OLED TV at the top as the best overall television of 2019. OLED, or organic light-emitting diode technology, is considered the pinnacle of picture quality. The LG C9 features impeccable OLED display, excellent color reproduction, precision lighting and unbeatable black levels, cutting-edge HDMI 2.1 connectivity, best-in-class performance, and great sound. It’s also compatible with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa to help you create an integrated entertainment experience.
When it comes to home sound systems, the Sonos 5.1 Home Theater Surround Set is a top-of-the-line choice thanks to its great sound, sleek design, and user-friendly technology. It also features the most intuitive, app-driven interface in the industry. The Sonos One speaker (also sold as a stand alone speaker) incorporates two class-D digital amps, a tweeter, and a mid-woofer. The Playbar’s nine speaker design handles left, right, and center channels and will play any source plugged into your TV. The end result is surprisingly rich, room-filling home theater sound in a very aesthetically pleasing package.
The Timberline 1300 Pellet Grill by Traeger is a great time saving option for both the aspiring home BBQ chef and the most competent grill master.
Outdoor
There are also some exciting products available for the exterior of your home. From smart grills, to lighting, to bug control, you can create the perfect outdoor space with the help of some innovative devices that will enhance your outdoor activities.
The smoked meat craze is only growing and it’s easy to taste why! Succulent, tender, and flavorful, smoked meats are both delicious and time consuming. Traditionally using a smoker means being on standby for hours on your weekend as you test temperatures and smoke levels to ensure you were getting the right cook and flavor. The Timberline 1300 Pellet Grill by Traeger is a great time saving option for both the aspiring home BBQ chef and the most competent meat master. The smart grill’s natural hardwood pellets are automatically fed into the fire pot for a steady burn and you can control the heat using the Traeger smartphone app. The Timberline 1300 has TRU Convection, which is an induction fan that generates a delicious vortex of heat and smoke. This size is great for a crowd as well—it can hold 60 burgers, 12 chickens, 82 hot dogs, or 14 rib racks simultaneously.
Exterior lighting is vital to the enjoyment of your home’s outdoor patio and entertaining spaces. To enhance your next outdoor gathering, consider the Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance Calla Bollard. It offers an easy-to-use app and the ability to pick from a large range of lighting colors to enhance the ambiance of your garden, pool, or barbecue area. It does require a hub like the Hue Bridge, the Amazon Echo Plus, or the SmartThings Hub.
As we approach the most beautiful time of the year in Southwest Florida, why not invest in a home theater for your backyard? Grab a few blankets, pillows, and your favorite snacks, and you have a fun activity the whole family will enjoy and remember. The SilverScreenTM Series System provides you with everything you need for movie night. Their Savi 1080p HD projector provides a sharp and vibrant image and the projector’s controls and remote make it easy to adjust and focus. It’s LED bulb lasts more than 20,000 hours (ten years at six hours a day). The screen’s durable quick set up frame means it doesn’t need to be inflated so you don’t have to worry about the sound of a blower interrupting your movie. It also pairs with all your devices.
Incorporating new technology into your home can be as easy or advanced as you wish. Why not take advantage of the convenience, safety, and enjoyment these gadgets provide in our busy daily lives?