Smart Home and IOT News
It’s Easier to Get a New iPhone than a New Home: The Double Edged Sword of Staying Up to Date
• 5 minutes read
Our iPhones are obsolete the second we buy them. A newer faster cooler one is always already in the pipeline. This is the pain of staying up to date in our rapidly advancing tech-scene. But what about keeping your smart-home gadgets up to date? If you get too caught up trying to outfit your home with all the modern conveniences, it will be quickly outdated. For tech savvy people setting out to build a new home or entirely remodel a fixer-upper, there is an urge to get all of the smart home bells and whistles on the market. This is a logical and forward thinking decision, much like splurging on a new iPone, but it may not be the wisest decision in the long run.
When touch-screens first hit the market, smart home and home theater companies were some of the first to jump on the bandwagon. They embedded these screens into wall which were hardwired to a main computer somewhere in the house (since WiFi wasn’t popular yet), and using painfully slow and poorly designed software, you could play some music from your MP3 player that you had to keep plugged-in to the main computer. It wasn’t but a couple years before these homes looked way out of date. Sitting on your couch with your iPad controlling your Sonos is a far more enjoyable experience than standing in front of that weird, low-resolution screen in your hallway which now has a painting hanging over it.
So, to celebrate your new and already obsolete iPhone, here are some more affordable decisions you can make which will allow you to keep up with smart-home technology without ripping down the walls every time a new gadget is released:
_Wall outlets with USB Plugs _
Sure, USB might be outdated in a decade or so, but for the foreseeable future, it’s the standard. Even Apple computer, king of the proprietary plugs, sticks to USB for their computers and their phones. Installing these kinds of outlets wherever you install plugs will make implementing the newest smart home devices that much and non-intrusive. This way, you won’t need to worry about mismatching and branded power supplies sticking out of the wall and taking up plugs. And, if USB is replaced with a new standard digital power supply, replacing your plugs will always be a lot cheaper and easier than replacing your hardwired devices.
Modular and Wireless Alarm Systems
Using Scout Alarm is a great way to safeguard your high-tech future. Whether you are painting the walls and need new sensors to match, want to update to the newest technology, or need to easily add a door sensor to the liquor cabinet when your kid hits 15 years old, highly mobile alarm systems like Scout’s can secure your home without hurting your wallet or your walls. Furthermore, Scout can receive over-the-air updates through the internet, these often include new functionalities without the need for a hardware upgrade.
Install an Energy Monitor
Energy conservation and alternative energy are all the rage. Whether you plan on using solar one day or just would like to monitor your power usage, installing an energy monitor like the TED is a great way to prepare your home for the future. It features a USB data connection in case you’d like to connect it to any monitoring service down the line. This way, while the walls and fuse boxes are still wide open, you can connect the affordable hardware and be more prepared down the line.
Splurge on Internet
Because internet is required for almost every new smart home device, having fast internet is vital. The simple addition of a cloud-based security camera system can really put a strain on a standard internet connection. You should implement whatever is the best service available in your area. Be it fiber-optic connections or some technology that isn’t even all that common yet, prepare your home to use a lot of bandwidth and adapt to new technologies
These are just a few ways to make sure your home doesn’t become outdated. Have you used any similar tactics to keep your house up-to-date? Let us know on Facebook!
