Get Smart! Appliances are Transforming Our Day-to-Day Life
Once you realise the potential of your humble home appliances, you’ll never look at your toaster in the same light.
In recent years, many have noticed a considerable increase in the adjective ’smart’ being used to describe everyday electronic objects. These devices are called ‘smart’ because of their ability to connect and interact with users, other devices and environments around them. The Internet of Things (IoT) – the network created by these devices connecting with one another over the internet – is growing by the day and has a range of implications that will shift how we live our daily lives around the house. We’ve compiled a list of key household locations that are set to benefit from ‘smart’ appliances.
1. The Kitchen
The days of taking note of what is in the fridge, pre planning a shopping list and considering how to cook the food could be numbered.
Thanks to Internet connectivity, we are beginning to see the humble refrigerator doing all of this for us. Food management systems are becoming increasingly integrated into ‘smart’ fridges, taking the headache out of the weekly shop. Once at the store, users can simply check on their smartphone what is remaining in the fridge and how long until it expires. In fact, we may not even have to go to the store in the first place, as many smart fridges allow us to order food to be delivered directly from their LCD screens. And forget about the cookbook – smart fridges can now recommend recipes based on what is remaining in the fridge and even take into account your BMI, age and gender to help us stay healthy!
2. The Living Room
Thanks to the availability of quick and reliable broadband, the ‘idiot box’ has become a whole lot smarter. Smart TVs are able to connect to the Internet and in doing so, have brought a whole new level of interactivity and entertainment to the living room. Many are compatible with online streaming services such as YouTube, Netflix and Pandora Radio, to ensure that users are never left to lament a lack of content. Smart TVs are so much more than just places to consume content, they also boast social media capabilities, with the ability to browse the web and apps such as Facebook and Skype available for use through these intelligent screens. If all of this is still not enough, users can even download games directly to their smart TV. Fast Internet also means high quality content, with 4k resolution streaming set to raise the bar from High Definition programming. With all of this considered, one thing is for sure; the smart TV has certainly dethroned the idiot box as king of the living room.
3. The Laundry
Smart washing machines are some of the most in-demand appliances for the modern home, and it’s not hard to see why. Washing machines have been ‘smart’ for a while, with the ability to detect load weight and select the most efficient amount of water per wash. However, thanks to Internet connectivity via Wi-Fi, users can monitor the status of a wash and even adjust pre-set cycles or levels of fabric softener. In addition, these machines can now self-diagnose problems, reducing the number of call-out visits from the supplier. With smart electricity grids planned for the future, smart washing machines will even allow users to shift consumption to off-peak times.
Once upon a time, the average person would need to actively pre-heat and monitor the oven when planning to cook a meal. Or even set time aside to trudge around the house with a vacuum cleaner if the floors were looking less than perfect. But thanks to smart appliances with broadband connectivity, these tedious tasks are being automatically delegated to the devices themselves. This not only frees up time for consumers, but also amounts to significant increases in efficiency and cuts in monthly power bills. How smart!
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