For as long as humans roamed the earth, protecting the family’s health and safety has been an essential part of life, if not an existential obligation. The last decade has seen a phenomenal boom in the adoption of smart home devices, but it's only in the last few years their benefits have become increasingly apparent. Some of these devices have been revolutionary in boosting the security of our homes and enabling us to look after those we love. As we find ourselves working more from home, ordering more online, letting devices watch over our unattended things or letting them figure out how we can be in our most healthy states, we’ve put together a simple list of some of the most important devices any household will need to protect their family and own well-being.
Upgrade Your Home’s Main Safeguard With Lockly
Traditional door locks are ubiquitous. Since its invention in 1848, it’s been a home’s main form of protection against intruders. We often take for granted that it’s the sole thing that regulates what goes in and out of the house. But the near 200-year-old tool hasn’t really aged well. The simple mechanism can be easily picked and doesn’t offer any of the added surveillance and identification functions that smart door locks provide today. If you care about protecting your family, then you’ll like the idea of giving them a better sense of security.
Lockly, one of the most impressive smart locks in the market, makes your door virtually impenetrable. It comes with an OLED 3D fingerprint sensor and a complex AI-driven passcode system, but also lets you use a physical key to lock the door if your Wi-Fi ever plays up. It features a built-in camera that lets you see who’s at the door or what packages have been dropped off, a useful function to keep all deliveries safe. Lockly even lets you give access to any helpers or visitors who need to enter your home while you’re away. All of these features will help put your mind at ease so you can enjoy the precious time you spend at home.
Head over to Lockly’s website now for a look at the latest models, starting at $229 USD.
Nobi’s Smart Light Watches Over Your Grandparents
Did you know that an estimated “646,000 individuals die from falls,” globally? According to the WHO, “falls are the second-leading cause of accidental or unintentional injury deaths worldwide” and most of these death rates are “adults over the age of 60 years.” In the U.S., one in every three seniors over the age of 65 will fall, accounting for about 87 percent of all fractures and injuries. Falls are the “leading cause of spinal cord injuries and brain injury symptoms,” reports the CDC (Centers for Disease Control). Vision starts to diminish as people age, leaving seniors more susceptible to fall-related injuries. But unlike vision, falls aren’t a natural part of aging and there are a handful of ways we can prevent them.
One of the most effective and immediate ways to help seniors prevent this is by keeping homes well lit. Since it doesn’t really make sense to keep the lights on 24 hours a day, installing smart lights is a surefire solution. Among some of the most impressive gadgets unveiled at CES 2021 (Consumer Electronics Show), one of the most talked about smart home devices was the Nobi Smart Light for its capacity to watch over your grandparents. Nobi, with its minimal, humble appearance, packs a flurry of sophisticated sensors and features that lets seniors at home roam around freely under optimal lighting.
Nobi comes with RGB sensors that detect motion in the dark, and will illuminate a path for anyone walking around the house at odd hours. But accidents do happen, and in the case that someone falls, Nobi will send out alerts — including family, caregivers and emergency services — to get help quickly. It comes with a two-way microphone and it can be linked with smart locks, such as Lockly, to automatically open the door when a caregiver is rushing to get in. Beyond these features, Nobi’s smoke detector will ensure your family can always avoid fires. Aging doesn’t have to mean a loss of independence. A Smart light like Nobi is a simple way to make a big difference for the safety of seniors at home.
Though no official release dates have been confirmed, Nobi is expected to be available by the end of 2021 for $2,499 USD.
Ambi Climate Mini Keeps You and Your Kids at the Right Temperature Year Round
Babies are fragile, and their health is always a priority. The first few months of parenthood come with sleepless nights. A baby’s ideal room temperature is 16 – 20°C; and 18.3 – 21.1 degrees, for toddlers. Don’t let awkward temperatures be the thing that wakes you and your baby. One major way to protect your loved ones is to look after their health. Temperature has a significant influence on one’s health, so much so that we call rhinoviruses “colds” and why we often attach the word “common” in front of it. It’s so pervasive that approximately one billion people in the U.S. suffer from it each year, reports WebMD — children have about six to 10 colds each year. Other temperature-related illnesses include heat stroke and hypothermia, to mention a few, reminding us that watching over the home’s temperature is a year-round responsibility.
Ambi Climate Mini can bear that responsibility for you by auto-adjusting temperatures through machine learning and automation. The smart device ensures your family is living in the best temperatures at all times by learning each family member’s favorite temperatures and adjusting your air conditioner or heat pump accordingly. Its sophisticated temperature control will ensure you’ll never have to endure harsh weather conditions, like frost and humidity. It even adjusts conditions to improve your quality of sleep, and it integrates easily with popular smart hubs like Amazon Echo (Alexa) and Google Home (Google Assistant). Let Ambi Climate Mini watch over your home’s temperature so you can be certain no one at home gets sick because of the weather.
Check out the full range of Ambi Climate Smart Aircon Controllers, starting at $129 USD.
Look After Your Family With Cync Indoor Smart Camera
While you can never be at two places at once, you can definitely keep an eye on your home while you’re away, which is almost the same thing. A smart indoor camera will do just the trick. But one might ask “why?” or “isn’t that a bit of an invasion of privacy?” The simple answer to the former would be that there’s always a chance for things to go wrong in a home. Perhaps your children left the gas stove on, or your dog decided that today would be a great day to go on a naughty rampage, maybe your grandparents left the front door wide open and forgot all about it, or maybe you simply just want to catch moments of your toddler making his/her first steps. Whatever it is, the scenarios are endless, so it’s not a bad idea to make sure you’ll be the first to know when things at home go a little south.
Cync, formerly C by GE, has unveiled its Indoor Smart Camera so you can make sure the kids and the rest of the family at home are safe and healthy at all times. It boasts full HD 1080p resolution so you can see the finer details of what you’re observing and it comes with night-vision settings. Like the Nobi, it packs advanced AI motion detectors so you’ll be alerted if a family member has fallen or is in some sort of physical danger. Cync’s Indoor Smart Camera also comes with a sliding shutter that covers the camera and mutes the mic for added privacy.
The device will always show an orange panel when the shutter is closed so you know for certain that you’re not being recorded. What’s more, this camera stores all content locally on the built-in SD drive, preventing footage from being hacked. If you want to take things a step further, you can also get Cync’s outdoor cameras as a package to enable 360 degrees of coverage around your home.
Cync’s Indoor Smart Camera is expected to debut in May — prices have yet to be disclosed.
Protecting our homes, families and loved ones is a noble responsibility that can often overwhelm us. Thanks to the latest AI and smart devices, however, we can ease our minds and fully enjoy time with family instead of letting anxiety burden us.
In case you missed it, be sure to check out our simplified guide on how to make your house a smarter home.
