Smart homes have come a long way since the first smart home device, the ECHO IV, was built by engineer James Sutherland in 1966. Though it was never sold it commercially, this system was a marvel at the time: it could create shopping lists, adjust his thermostat, turn appliances on and off, and even manage all the digital clocks in the house. Today our smart homes can do all of that and much, much more.

What is a Smart Home?

A smart home is more than just the software and hardware that make it up; it’s an idea—the idea of home automation, convenience, comfort, greener living, security, sustainability, and total control over your environment.

More technically, however, a smart home is any domicile where appliances and various devices are connected via a mobile or a networked device. Being connected through the internet allows an owner to control appliances, thermostats, lights, cameras, and other security systems through a physical medium such as a tablet or smartphone or via voice commands.

What Can a Smart Home Do For Me?

Smart home trends are all about convenience, allowing you to automate various tasks that you may not have time for in your busy life. Have you ever forgotten to water the lawn? A smart home can have your lawn sprinklers set to activate whenever you want. Do you have children in your house that forget to turn off the lights when they leave a room? You can set your lights to automatically shut themselves off when the sensors in the room detect it’s empty. Have you ever wished you could save on your energy bill by adjusting the thermostat higher and lower when you aren’t home? You can integrate your HVAC system, allowing your smart home to adjust the temperature throughout the day to save energy.

But enough about all the practical things a smart home can do; what’s the point of having all this tech if you can’t have a little fun with it? Through smart home systems like Josh.ai, you can integrate your entire home theater system to create the perfect viewing environment. In the case of your home theatre system, imagine this: you sit down in your plush theater seat and tell your smart system to “play a movie.” Suddenly your movie projector screen rolls down; your sound system powers up and automatically adjust to your preferred volume, and the lighting slowly dims and turns off as the movie begins. If you need to get up during the movie to use the bathroom or get a snack, you can tell your system “intermission,” it will pause your movie and activate soft, recessed in-wall lighting.  Finally, when the credits roll, you can tell your smart system to “shut down the theater” and let it power down all of your equipment, and turn the lights back on.

What Is It Like Living In a Smart Home?

But what would your day look like if you lived in a smart home? It’s one thing to talk about all the conveniences like they were list, but it’s another thing to imagine the seamless experience it could provide.

You wake up early on a chilly November morning. Your blinds slowly open to let the sunlight in as you wake up, and your system plays a gentle tune to set your mood. You notice that it’s colder than you thought it would be, so tell your house to raise the temperature by a couple of degrees. You enjoy the comfort of your covers for a few minutes while your bedroom heats up.

You stretch and get out of bed, heading to the bathroom. Upon entering the room, the lights turn on at 75% intensity because you don’t like them to be too bright this early in the morning. You say, “tell me the weather,” and your house tells you the temperature outside, as well the expected highs and lows for the day. You leave the bathroom, and the lights turn off behind you. You enter the kitchen and whiff the fragrant aroma of freshly brewed coffee; your coffee automatically brews a fresh pot in the morning about minutes before you wake up because you hate having to wait, especially on cold mornings.

You grab your tablet and decide to sit down and watch the news on your tv. You use your smart home app to turn on the tv, browse for content, and then adjust the volume as you relax in your recliner with your morning joe. As you watch, your show is paused as you get a notification that someone is at your front door. You bring up the doorbell app on your tablet just in time to see the UPS driver getting pack into his van, a new package sitting on your doorstep.

After your relaxing morning, you decide to take care of some errands. You ask your smart home, “what’s on my grocery list?” and it reads it out loud to you. You realize you don’t need one of the items on the list because you bought it earlier in the week. You ask your home to delete it, which it does. When you leave, your house automatically locks up and goes into a “power save” mode, turning off all the lights and either raising or lowering the thermostat based on your preferences.

Later that night, you have some friends over for company. You decide you’re going to entertain them in your outdoor living room. Even outside, your smart home gives you comfort and complete control. You tell your house to “entertain guests” while you’re outside, and it automatically turns on the hanging string lights, lights the fire pit, and plays music from your outdoor speakers.

As you can see, your smart home system can be designed to be just as unique as you are. Let our knowledgeable staff here at SCS Home Entertainment listen and help guide you every step of the way to help you create the smart home of your dreams. Come by our showroom or contact us to help us bring the future of home convenience and comfort to you and your family.