“In the next century, planet Earth will don an electronic skin. It will use the internet as a scaffold to support and transmit its sensations”.
Neil Gross, 1999
The Iron-Man movies have got my mouth watering on many occasions as the thought of having a house like Tony Stark’s mansion is beyond conception. With Jarvis (Tony’s Artificial intelligent voice-controlled supercomputer) running the home’s entire system and also with his smartphone; Tony controls the lightings, music, temperature, his Iron suit, name anything you will want in a Smart home, including Jarvis announcing the identity of who’s coming up in the elevator. Seeing this movie makes you wish you had the ability to control all your home gadgets at the touch of a button from anywhere (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, it is probably because you haven’t seen the Iron Man movie).
With the advent of Internet-of-Things (IOT), one must say we are gradually approaching the age of having a Tony Stark-like intelligent home and it is in only a matter of time that Siri and Cortana (Apple & Microsoft’s intelligent personal assistants) will be like Jarvis who can do anything for you, including being your butler.
There are many smart home technology gadgets to have in your home but ultimately the home protection technology ones appear to be the most sought after.
Protecting your home in Lagos from intrusion, amongst other dangers that it can encounter, with technology, and one being able to control devices with your mobile smart phones and tablets anywhere you are in the world has eventually become a reality and much more intelligent systems are daily being developed for this purpose.
As real estate developers in Lagos we have garnered considerable knowledge about technology to protect your home and give you peace of mind. Hence, here are our top picks of devices that are worth having to protect your home in Lagos with;
Internet-connected Camera
With an internet-connected camera, you have the opportunity to detect an intruder or break-in into your home while you are away. With motion and sound detection embedded into them, alerts are sent to the owners’ smartphone once either occurs.
One of the best of this device is the Samsung SmartCam. Apart from its motion detection capabilities and the ability to rotate 360 degrees, up and down from any position you place it in your home (it makes use of Wi-Fi connection, making positioning flexible), it also comes with a microphone and Speaker through which you can communicate with anyone in the house, all from the Camera’s Smart Phone App.
With the same App, you are able to watch an impressive 1080p video footage and infra-red night mode live feed of your home and you can begin recording onto the Camera’s 128GB storage or onto your smartphone or tablet when you are being alerted to something suspicious. With this Camera stashed somewhere in your home, you are already one step away from being able to catch on camera, any intrusion into your home while you are away.
Smart Door Bell
Protecting your home from intruders starts from not allowing them access into your home in the first place. It is for this purpose that the Smart Door-bell becomes essential. With most of them coming with built-in cameras and motion detectors that allows you to spot who’s at your door in real-time, you can check and know for sure who’s there before opening up.
Our pick for this home protection technology category is the Ring Smart Video Door-Bell. With a built-in motion sensor that sends notifications to your Smartphone when someone arrives at your doorstep, it also gives a 720p 180-degree field of view and infrared night vision as well as a two-way audio system, with which you can communicate with whoever is at your door.
The Ring Smart Door bell is Wi-Fi enabled, hence, you only need to have it connected to your wireless network to have access to real-time video of who’s at your door, interact with them over audio and have the video recorded if you desire.
Smart Lights and Smart Switches
When your light is on, an intruder believes you are home and is deterred from breaking into your home. With Smart lights, you can schedule your lights to turn on remotely while you are away and also with Smart Switches, the Belkin Wemo Switch being our pick, you can control appliances plugged into it (such as Table lamps etc.) by controlling the Switch from your smartphone remotely anywhere you are.
The Philips Hue is your personal wireless lighting (sold separately with a starter kit that enables it to connect wirelessly) that can also be used for this purpose. It offers more flexibility as you can set it to turn on with the sunset and off with sun rise.
Aesthetically, the Philips Hue can display different colors. You could set it to a bright white light that simulates the sun in the morning, to wake you up, and a warm, soft, almost reddish light for nighttime to help you fall asleep.
Smart Smoke Detectors
Protecting your house from a fire outbreak is as much as important as protecting it against intruders. With internet-connected smart smoke detectors, you are alerted immediately with notifications on your smartphone when they detect smoke. Smart home technology as its best!
Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide detector is a good and must buy for you if you need your home protected from fire. While it can be battery-powered, this device can also be connected to your Wi-Fi network so you can control it or check the status of the detector from your Smartphone.
With its Split Spectrum Sensor feature, it detects fast and slow burning fire and gives you warning and needed advice instantly on your smartphone and you can silence the alarm when it’s only a false alarm resulting from you burning your food or otherwise.
In the words of Rob Kelton of Intel Corporation, “Smart buildings are here, they are awesome and we’re going to ensure they keep getting smarter”. IT has become a big part of Real Estate and we would like to continually keep you informed of new things as they unfold.