If you’re still looking for the perfect gift to give to someone on your gifting list this Christmas, then come with me today as I take a look at several great gifts in the realm of Smart Home convenience. We’re talking about gifts that will make the lives of your recipients easier and better going forward, so read on to discover how to have a positive impact on the lives of those you love.
Smart Lighting, Plugs, & Switches
There are so many great options when it comes to Smart Lighting, Plugs, & Switches that’s it’s nearly impossible to pick just one example to show. After all, these products can all be controlled by your smart phone, and in the case of smart plugs, they even allow you to control other, non-smart, devices.
However, I think I’ll go with smart lighting in this case, and the example I’m choosing is the Philips Hue A19 Smart LED Light Bulb Starter Kit with Dimmer Switch.
What makes these lights incredibly convenient is that you can easily turn them on or off, you can set a timer for them to work from, and you can easily change their tone, colour, or contrast at the simple touch of a smart phone icon.
In fact, these lights offer over 16 million different colour options for you to choose from, meaning you can create specific lighting themes (i.e., red and green for Christmas) and always have your lighting reflect your current mood or a specific desired atmosphere.
What’s more, you can even pair your smart lights with other smart home products to enjoy a greater level of control, such as setting up voice control via a smart speaker/smart voice assistant. How’s that for convenience?
Smart Locks & Smart Door Bells
Combining convenience with security is the smart home category of Smart Locks & Smart Door Bells.
One example of a smart lock that I personally think is just amazing is the Nest x Yale Bluetooth/Wi-Fi Smart Lock. The one I’m showing here is the beautiful Oil Rubbed Bronze version, which I think just looks great.
But where things really get interesting is with its features. This lock is a keyless deadbolt system, meaning you can enter your home either by opening the lock via the Nest App and your smart phone, or by keying your combination directly into the integrated keypad.
And thanks to its Wi-Fi connectivity, you can lock or unlock this product from anywhere on the planet where you can access a Wi-Fi connection, meaning you can allow your visiting in-laws entry into your home before you even get home from work.
Of course, that’s just one of the many ways you could take advantage of this lock. Imagine letting a delivery person into your home just long enough to drop off a parcel and then locking up behind them again so that your package doesn’t get stolen from the front porch, or creating multiple passcodes for friends, family members, housekeepers, or guests.
It’s all possible with today’s smart locks, and I’m only just scratching the surface in this brief writeup. You should really check out a few smart locks on Best Buy’s product pages to get even more ideas of how useful and convenient these things can be—not to mention all of their great security benefits!
Smart Thermostats
One gifting idea that likely eludes most is that of Smart Thermostats, but a smart thermostat could make a great gift for just the right person. For instance, if your parents are just getting ready to upgrade their existing thermostat anyway, they could be prime candidates to enter the world of the smart thermostat.
And when it comes to smart thermostats, none is smarter than the Nest Wi-Fi Smart Learning Thermostat – 3rd Generation. This thing is so convenient that it actually does your temperature adjustments for you, so you never have to remember a thing! And that’s because it actually learns your heating and cooling habits over time, and learns to set the temperature just as you like it.
It also has the ability to talk to your other smart home devices and work together with them to bring you even more convenience. This is thanks to the Works with Nest Initiative, which allows, for instance, you to set another smart device (such as your smart lights or a smart plug) to its Away Mode.
In this mode, your devices will alter their behaviour, as in turning certain lights off and others on (for security) whenever you leave the house. But what the Works with Nest Initiative can do is alert all of your other smart home devices that you are away so that they too can alter their behaviour.
Thus, if you set your smart lights to their Away Mode and your lights are part of your Works with Nest smart home ecosystem, the lights will effectively tell your thermostat that nobody is at home, and it can then turn down the temperature so as not to waste heat when nobody is there.
Of course, this all leads to tremendous energy savings as well, which is not specifically considered a convenience, but is nonetheless super convenient!
Sleep Tech
I have yet to meet the person that doesn’t absolutely love sleep. Sleep is, after all, simply amazing… except when it’s not. If the person on your gift giving list this year has trouble getting a good night’s sleep, perhaps something from the realm of Sleep Tech could help?
Consider, for instance, the ZEEQ Smart Pillow. This incredible pillow has a ton of innovative features that allow it to help you (or your lucky recipient this year) to sleep considerably better than you might otherwise do.
For example, the ZEEQ Pillow has a built-in snore alarm that vibrates to alert you when your snoring crescendos to a predetermined level, thus allowing you to change your sleeping position to one that is more conducive to an effective night’s sleep.
It also has sensors to track the quality of your sleep each night, including your movements during sleep. It will later send this data to a special app on your phone to help you analyze your sleep cycles and determine if changes are needed.
And it even features an onboard sound system (for sleep music, audio books, etc.) that only you can hear (so as not to disturb anyone else) as well as making use of special memory foam to make you as comfortable as possible, just to mention a few of its great benefits. Yup, this is sure no ordinary pillow!
Smart Speakers & Voice Assistants
Possibly the most impressive of all smart home conveniences is Smart Speakers, of which there are many to choose from (including those from both Amazon and Google).
One such example is the Google Home Mini. I’ve linked here to the coral model (because it’s the funkiest, and, in my opinion, coolest one there is), though there are certainly more muted colours available as well.
When it comes to this and other smart voice assistant speakers on the market, what you can expect to receive is a boatload of conveniences.
These include the ability to ask questions on virtually any subject and receive an immediate (audible) answer, the ability to control numerous other smart home devices with your voice, and even the ability to hear your favourite music on demand.
What’s more, some smart voice assistants today even come with their own built-in viewing screens…
The Lenovo Smart Display 8″ with Google Assistant, for instance, has a built-in 8 inch screen that allows you not only to receive audible feedback, but also to watch videos, see a visual representation of your local weather forecast, follow step by step recipe instructions in point form, and so much more.
As you can see, many of today’s smart home devices have taken convenience to a whole new level—one that only a few short years ago was virtually unimaginable for all!
For these and all of your other smart home gifting needs, visit Best Buy Canada today. Merry Christmas!
very good
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