How To Start Your Smart Home: #001
How to start your smart home: www.onehoursmarthome.com
How To Start Your Smart Home: #001
One Hour Smart Home Podcast Episode #001: Hosted by-James Both
"Where do you start with a smart home? With the easiest steps first?"-James Both
Are you lost on where to start with on a smart home? There are thousands of smart home devices all calling for your attention, it can be overwhelming and tough to know where to start with creating a smart home for yourself. We break down the 4 best devices to start your smart home with that won't break the bank and will give you the maximum benefit to your life.
If you don’t know where to start with a smart home this episode is for you, or if you have a few smart home devices already and want to add more smart devices to your home we review the 4 best devices to start with. In this episode we share the four pillars of designing your smart home system and the four most useful devices when starting out your smart home system. We want to to empower you to start your smart home journey. All of the devices we discuss in this episode are devices we have personally installed, tested and use in our home on a daily basis to make life easier. It’s easy to get caught in the home automation trap thinking that you have to pay thousands to automate your home when in reality you can start automating your smart home for under $60. Subscribe to our podcast for future smart home episodes or join our email list by Click Here
This Episode Features:
How to start your smart home to get the maximum benefit with without breaking the bank.
4 best devices to start with in your smart home
4 things to consider when making a smart home device purchase
Four Pillars of a smart home automation: Convenience, Controllability, Energy management and Security
Active and passive smart home safety measures
Why voice assistants are helpful
Functionality and convenience of smart thermostats
Why you should choose failsafe method for smart locks
Why you should choose a smart doorbell over a smart camera when getting started with a home automation system
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Want to hear another Podcast related to getting started with smart home voice control?-Listen to our podcast about controlling your smart home with voice assistants by clicking here.
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BUY OUR SMART HOME PRODUCTS ON Amazon.com. I personally design, test and install all of the products we manufacture in my home, so you can trust they work and are the best on the market. On Amazon we offer hassle free returns, but know you won't need this. We also offer an industry leading 1 year warranty for free on all devices we sell on amazon. Just contact sales@onehoursmarthome for a no hassle replacement.
Our Products: Smart WiFi Controlled Plugs-They work with wifi, Amazon Alexa & Google Home to give you seamless voice control of your home.
QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What devices do you already have in your home from the Episode? More importantly, how do they make your life better?-Please let me know in the comments below.
Scroll below for links, show notes & full transcripts...
Links from the episode
#1 Recommended Smart Home Device To Start With: Smart Voice Assistants
#2 Device To Start Your Smart Home With: Smart Thermostats
#3 Device To Start Your Smart Home With: Smart Locks
#4 Device To Start Your Smart Home With: Smart Doorbell
Links to other items discussed
Show Notes (Time Stamped)
1:28-Four pillars of a smart home convenience, controllability, energy management and security
1:40-Convenience is the most important pillar for a smart home.
2:00-Controllability of a smart home, how does it work?
2:20-Control your home with your voice like Tony Stark it’s the most convenient way to control your home.
3:00-You want to pick smart home devices that integrate with voice control
3:15-Energy management of a smart home
3:30-Smart Thermostats will save you energy
4:30-Grid Level Energy Efficiency Rebates for smart energy efficient devices such as smart thermostats, Comed $100 rebate on smart thermostats.
5:03-Demand response with smart thermostat devices.
6:15-Fourth pillar of a smart home-Security
6:20-Active smart home security measures vs Passive Smart home measures.
7:20-How are you going to use a smart home to prevent crime.
7:40-Using A smart home to make your home safer
8:00-#1 Smart home device to start your home with, Amazon Alexa - Amazon Echo.
8:30-Amazon has a large app store of apps that incorporate voice control.
9:32-Amazon Echo dot has a headphone jack.
9:45-Amazon Alexa Flash briefings to tailor content to your interests
10:00-Games on Amazon Alexa, and it will read out loud Kindle Books that you already have.
10:30-Using Alexa as a kitchen timer will make you a better cook because you will cook foods the right amount of time.
11:00-Amazon Echo Dot
11:15-Amazon Echo Show-Video Screen
11:24-Amazon Echo Spot-Video Screen Small Format, Great Form Factor, you can use for video calling.
11:53-Getting an echo with video functionality will give you the most features in the future such as the Amazon Echo Spot.
12:00-Amazon Echo Plus-Smart Home Hub functionality, communicates with phillips hue light bulbs.
12:28-I recommend starting with the Echo Dot smart home device.
12:49-For video functionality I recommend the Amazon Echo Spot.
13:20-#2 Smart Home Device-Smart Thermostat-Nest Thermostat or Ecobee Thermostat
13:40-Smart thermostats allow smart home control with your phone. They also can be used with Amazon Alexa & Google Home to control smart thermostats via voice.
14:20-Smart Thermostat Analytics
14:58-Smart Thermostat have smart features that automatically turn up or down your heating system.
15:24-Smart thermostats can use room temperature sensors to give you more precise control of your home.
15:50-Telling Amazon Alexa to turn up or down the heating or cooling is a great feature. Can help your sleep quality.
16:30-Smart Thermostats are great if you live in a multi-floor house, prevents getting up at night.
16:45-Smart Thermostat safety, they integrate with smart smoke detectors to turn off HVAC if fires or carbon Monoxide is detected.
17:30-#3 Smart Home Device-Smart Lock, simplicity, easy to control, will make you safer.
18:10-Prevents you needing to get a locksmith if you lose your keys, and you don’t need keys when you have a smart lock.
18:30-Smart Locks must have fail safe method for getting in home.
20:00-Smart Lock brands recommended, Schlage & Yale. Both good locks.
20:45-You can give users such as dog walkers, babysitters or children their own codes, and send you notifications when the locks are used in your house.
21:30-Smart Lock dog party?
21:55-Smart lock auto lock feature is important when selecting a smart lock. Autolock is the best way to prevent crime.
22:45-You can give your kids or relatives their own code for your front door.
23:00-No more worrying about if you locked your front door when you go on vacation.
23:45-Make sure your door is compatible with a smart lock.
24:11-Make sure you properly adjust your door to align with the smart lock.
24:20-#4 Smart Device-Smart Doorbell
24:45-Smart doorbells provide dual functionality, works as a doorbell and a smart camera.
25:00-Smart doorbells have a great view of people's faces which is great for identification.
26:00-Smart doorbells prevent packages from being stolen.
27:00-Smart doorbells can prevent Amazon packages from being stolen, large, small, expensive or inexpensive
28:00-Smart doorbells have a light ring that people look at and helps identify people's faces because they look at it. It provides an active security measure and a passive security measure because people know they are recorded.
28:45-Nest Hello & Ring Doorbell are the two smart home leaders in the smart home doorbell space.
29:45-Smart doorbells have 2 way communication, so you can talk to people at your front doorbell.
30:00-Smart doorbells have a cloud recording service.
30:30-You can get 5 days of recording for 5 dollars per month typically.
31:00: Smart Device Recap
31:00: #1 Voice Assistant: Amazon Alexa & Google Home
31:14 #2 Smart Thermostat: Nest & Ecobee
31:20 #3 Smart Lock-Yale & Schlage
31:30-#4-Ring & Nest
31:40-Visit www.onehoursmarthome.com
32:00-Thanks
32:30-Get smart with a smart home.
32:40-Send us smart home topics you would like to hear about.
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Full Transcript: Learn How To Start Your Smart Home, Podcast Episode #001
July 7th, 2018
Hosted With: James Both
FOR FULL TRANSCRIPT Click Here partial transcript included below.
You want to learn how to start a smart home? You’re in the right place. This is episode number one. Welcome to the one hour smart home podcast. Helping you make your life better using automation and technology with your host James Both.
Hello and welcome this is your host James Both with the onehoursmarthome.com, bringing you everything you need to know to automate your home, your life as well as smart home product reviews, the latest smart home industry news, in-exclusive interviews with smart home industry experts and smart home company founders. This is episode number one and today we're going to go through the four best devices to start your smart home with and the four things that you should consider when making a smart home device purchase. But before that I have one ask for you. If you like this podcast subscribe so you can be notified of new episodes and visit www.onehoursmarthome.com to subscribe to our email list.
All right now let's get started with our episode. so we're going to cover the four pillars of a smart home and what is important for you as well as the four devices that we that you implement when starting out a smart home. So the four pillars of a smart home we've boiled down to convenience, controllability, energy management and security. When you're deciding what device to implement in your smart home, it needs to be all about convenience. Because if you have to go into an app, go through three different screens and then you can't control your lights to your front door or your thermostat, that's not a smart home. That’s a dumb home. Smart homes are supposed to make your life easier and more convenient. So that's the number one thing that you want to think about when you're implementing a device. Now the next part of this controllability ties into the convenience factor. so as time goes on Smart Homes originally required a hub, they're required an app and then all the sudden Amazon Alexa, Google Play came onto the scene and now you can control your home like Tony Stark with your voice. So controllability and convenience kind of tied together. Being able to control your home with your voice is the most convenient way to be able to interface with your home. Because we're on our phones enough anymore. There’s no reason that you need to go through an app when you can just say, "Alexa turn off the lights, Alexa set my thermostat to 72 degrees." so when you look at controllability in your device, you really want something that will integrate with voice in the long term. A lot of devices come out and they may not initially integrate with voice. But as long as that manufacturer has a roadmap or a path to integrate with voice in the future, that's really really important and the third pillar is energy management. Which encompasses both energy efficiency and energy savings. So here you want to look at it both at the device level as well as the grid level. So on a device level, you want to look how a device is going to help you save energy. so for a smart thermostat, that might be turning your heating or cooling down while you are at work and the smart thermostat will do that usually from a motion sensor built into the thermostat or by using your GPS location on your phone to know that you're at work and it can turn up or down the heating or cooling to help you save energy while no one is there at the house. The other thing that you're going to find with the smart thermostat devices is that you're going to adjust your temperature to a more accurate or a more comfortable level all the time. So before when you might have left your Heat go to 75 degrees or 73 degrees, when really it should have been at 70 degrees; but you just didn't want to get out from the couch. Now you're going to be able to turn it down from your phone or tell Alexa or Google home to do it. So you're going to help save yourself some energy there........continued full transcript is available Click Here
FOR FULL TRANSCRIPT Click Here
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