8 Gadgets That Might Make Your Home Smarter Than You (STA BREAKING NEWS and ARCHIVES)

by Theresa , Sunday, January 11, 2015, 09:02

New smart-home products, as part of the Internet of Things movement, aim to connect phones with just about everything.

In the near future, you may no longer need to remember to turn the oven off when the cake's done, switch on lights when you enter a room, or run the clothes dryer when electricity rates are cheapest. Your home will do it for you.

Dozens of home IQ-boosting gadgets debuted this week at the Consumer Electronics Show, which ended Friday. While some offer conveniences, such as waking you when your coffee is ready or remotely watering your plants, others have societal benefits such as helping to prevent power-grid blackouts.

These products are part of the "Internet of Things" concept, aimed at automating our lives by connecting mobile devices to appliances, lights, and just about everything-a shift that could improve efficiency if it works right, but compromise privacy if it doesn't.

They monitor behavior-via motion sensors, Bluetooth signals, or facial-recognition technology-to identify when we're home or away and make corresponding tweaks to room temperatures or lighting. They come from Kickstarter-funded startups as well as industry stalwarts such as Samsung.

"There's a lot of exciting potential out there," says Ben Artis, Whirlpool's senior category manager of smart homes. "For the first time, appliances can be better informed about when to run" so they avoid peak-hour pricing, he says. "We're in the early stages, but we're already seeing consumers seeking out these benefits."

The surge in innovation can be overwhelming, says Michael Wolf, chief analyst of Next Market Insights, a research firm that tracks emerging technologies. He says consumers are bombarded with so many choices that "it's kind of confusing, because you don't know which ones will work together."

At this year's CES in Las Vegas, an entire showcase was devoted to the "smart home" and exhibits featured at least 20 different kinds of connected light bulbs and ten kinds of door locks. In the next year or two, Wolf expects shakeouts in each category that will leave a few dominant players.

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