Why are smart devices important to me?
At Aussie Smart Homes, we are extremely passionate about smart products and think once you really understand what these devices can do for you, you will be too.
There are thousands of smart devices on the market right now and there will be thousands more to come as the technology and our imaginations collide. Its very easy to get lost in the sea of devices, brands, protocols etc, so we have decided to narrow our vision to what we think are the more essential and helpful devices that can really change your day to day life in a big way.
The areas we have decided to tackle first are
- Lighting
- Power Points
- Garage Access and Security
- Door Access and Security
Although this list may seem small, the amount of applications to enhance these areas of your life are immense. Not only that, Aussie Smart Homes is constantly working hard to add new domains to this list constantly and has a few new additions very close to being available to you. So please make sure to subscribe to our mailing list to be kept up to date with the new technology on offer to further enhance your experience with you homes and offices.
I am going to list my personal uses for my smart products in my home and office in order to shed some light on the potential uses that may suit you or to inspire you to create a new use for yourself.
Morning routine: My google homes alarm will ring at 5:00am, the lamp will come on to 5% brightness of a warm yellow colour to not pierce my eyes after just waking, but still give me the necessary light I need to dress without waking my partner. After leaving the bedroom my lights in the kitchen, hallway and garage are already on, the blinds have come up letting in the warm natural orange dawn light of the sun, the kettle has automatically boiled and I cook my breakfast. The bathroom lights come on for 5:50 and as I brush my teeth, my Amazon Alexa will remind me of any appointments I may have that day. The garage door opens automatically for 6am and I drive out to being the commute for the office. Once I leave an assigned, invisible, 150 meter geofenced zone (still in beta mode and not commercially available to clients as of yet due to lack of reliability), my garage door will automatically close and my Google home assistant will switch off the lights that I had previously assigned.
Office arrival and work day: I arrive at the office at 6:30am to the lights already on and the air conditioning set to the temp that I like. I place my thumb on the finger print reader of the front door lock and the door opens, sending a notification to my phone that the office has been accessed through the front door. The blinds have come up half way to block the morning sun from hitting my computer and will eventually move to fully opened at 10:30am as the sun moves past my window and no longer causes glare on my screen. At 6:45am the garage door to the work shop will open and the power outlets to all the tools will turn on automatically to allow the employees to access the workshop and begin their day. Once the day is done, I instruct my google voice assistant to "lock up" which then closes the blinds and the garage door, shuts off the power outlets and turns off the air conditioning. I drive away and once google no longer senses my presence after the set time I have assigned, the voice assistant will do a final check to make sure the lights, power points and air conditioning are off, blinds and garage door are down, the front door is locked and the out door security lighting is on.
Arriving back home: Once I enter the 150 meter geo fenced area I have set for my home (an invisible perimeter that I set up around my home), my garage door will automatically open (still in beta test mode and is not ready for commercial use as it is not yet reliable). My google home assistant will automatically switch on the lighting in my garage, hall way, and kitchen, the air conditioning is already on to bring the home to my preset temperature and Google will begin playing a selected playlist throughout the homes Google speakers. I go to my smart door lock and place my thumb on the fingerprint reader to unlock the door, I walk in and the door automatically locks behind me ensuring no un expected visitors can enter behind me. The kettle has been boiled and my home office lighting is switched on to a warm, yellow colour at 70% brightness to not expose my eyes to bright lights in the evening, which has been proven to be harmful to humans sleep habits. My ceiling fan is automatically switched on after 5:30pm if the temperature inside my office is above 26 degrees, helping me to keep cool whilst I work. At sunset the blinds on my windows will automatically close and after showering, I say to my Google assistant, "Hey Google, movie time" which then turns off all the lights, dims my lamp to 2% in a warm yellow and turns off the soft music that was playing in the background.
Bed time: After brushing my teeth and telling Google to "remind me of what I have on tomorrow" for work and after, I get into bed and say to my Google Assistant, "Hey Google, goodnight". Google will then ask me to set a time for an alarm for the next day, once set, Google will turn off all the lights and power outlets in the house, will make sure all the blinds are lowered, will check the front door is closed and locked and begin playing soft nature noises to aid me to sleep for 45 minutes. As I get quite warm when I sleep, I have set the air conditioning to maintain a cool 22 degree temperature in the bedroom to ensure I get the best sleep possible. A small button sits on my partners and my bedside table which with one press will illuminate a soft warm yellow strip light under our bed for those annoying nights we need to get up and go to the bathroom. This is just enough light to see any obstacles between our bed and the toilet but not enough to disturb the other partners sleep. Once back in bed a single press of the same button will turn the strip lighting back off, 2 presses of this button will turn on the kitchen lights and 3 presses will turn on the lights in my bedroom and the kitchen.
Although the above is a general day to day break down of my smart device automations and uses, there is so much more the smart tech does for me in my home and office. There are may times Im in bed, on the couch or even in the shower that I will call out to my voice assistnat whether it be Google or Alexa and request that they turn on or off a light, lower the air conditioning temperature, change the lighting colour, dim the lights, open the garage and so on. There really is no end to what these devices can do for you and they are only getting better and better with over the air software updates.
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