What is one gadget that all smart homes should have?

[Lucian Hodoboc]

What is one gadget that no smart home can do without, in your opinion? What should be indispensable for any smart home?

 

[lvt]

Your smartphone obviously

 

[mikedt]

A laptop.

 

[Jfalls63]

Shotgun

 

[lvt]

Shotgun

Hand grenade works best, with free smoke.

 

[mikedt]

Hand grenade works best, with free smoke.

Too messy IMO, unless you've got Al-qaeda, ISIL or the Taliban raiding your smart-home.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

Adjustable Lights if they can do colors even better.

 

[Dannydet]

Lighting for the home would be my pick

 

[dontpanicbobby]

On/off switch.
It's binary.

 

[Hadron]

Firewall?

(I don't have any smart home equipment, but if I had then blocking it from phoning home would be my first requirement).

 

[mikedt]

Do you know there are many areas still people live there without electricity? I don't know how they live pardon to their condition. However, electricity plays a vital role in a smart home.

The Amish, the Exclusive Brethren, and probably there are other extreme religious sects as well who shun electricity, and basically still live in the 17th or 18th century, and seem quite happy.

 

[charniw]

I have a variety of devices, some of my favorites:
1) Garage Door opener/monitor
2) Smart outlet tied to my heated buckets in the barn and controlled via IFTTT using local weather.
3) Motion sensing lighting in hallways and closets.
4) Smart lights in the living area tied into Google Home
5) Google Home in general as an interface device.

 

[bcrichster]

A Panic button (of some sort) that disables the WiFi and links to all interconnected devices

 

[Hadron]

I think that's the power switch on your router ...

 

[rockhopperkk]

home lighting for sure - so tired of walking around and turning off lights my kiddos leave on... lol

 

[Underworld]

I think the best thing with all the Smartphones will a inbult RDP so we can easily access our Virtual Desktop

 

[mikedt]

home lighting for sure - so tired of walking around and turning off lights my kiddos leave on... lol

Easy, fit the lights with PIR movement sensor switches. No Internet required, no cloud required, no Google and whatever other third-partys spying on you.

 

[dan330]

internet service...

 

[dan330]

but i would guess.. the most important thing..
is a good fast reliable wifi router / modem

then.. i would want a power management ...
solar.. with battery power for house.

 

[svim]

Most definitely a hardware firewall appliance. IoT devices and Smart Hubs are already documented as user privacy and LAN security weak points. Today's Smart Home is yesterday's Win98 -- connect it to the Internet at great risk.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

Anybody use those doorbell/video thingys?
Can you open the door from your phone?

 

[Jupit3r]

A smart speaker, I would say.

 

[DavidWooderson]

I started small by putting a lot of smart bulbs in lamps (CREE brand), so I could get rid of the old school timers. The bulbs are connected to a SmartThings hub. It was initially pretty inexpensive since I was switching to LED anyway, and now I can control them from my device(s), motion sensors, timers, events, and a smart speaker. The schedules are a lot smarter than the legacy timers too (i.e., ON AT SUNSET -:30), and they don't need to be adjusted after time changes and power outages.

I've since gone a little overboard with smart switches, smart garage door, smart door locks, a ring doorbell, some outdoor switches, two thermostats, etc.

 

[Maximilian Walton]

Smart home 100% can not do without an automatic security system

 

[dontpanicbobby]

So nobody opened the door with their phone? k