Smart Homes: Exploring the basics & other smart products

This is an ongoing series of blog posts that will explore the world of smart home technology and home automation by explaining the variety of facets currently on the market, paired with our personal experience as we test the products out to further both your and our understanding. To read the other posts in this series, click the ‘Smart Home’ category on the main blog page.

In my first post regarding home automation I talked about the new mainstream leader on the market, which is the Amazon Echo. I went into some detail as to what the Echo itself is capable of, but it’s the numerous third-party app integrations that truly make it shine.

The Echo has an entire ‘Smart Home’ section coupled with the ‘Alexa Skills,’ which is the method in which you are able to connect your other various home automation and smart products. The Skills section can be accessed in the Alexa app main navigation as well as on Amazon’s website. While the Skills library is still somewhat small, it’s constantly being updated with new features and companies that have developed ways to enable their devices via the Echo.

Skills must be enabled for them to be used via voice recognition, but a majority of them also require connecting other accounts to the Alexa app. Commands like “Alexa, play Jeopardy” or “Alexa, play the Joe Rogan Experience” are examples of non-connected skills that only require you to click ‘enable skill’ and you’re able to enjoy immediately.

Personally, I have the Fandango skill that allows me to check movie times, the Yahoo Fantasy skill that allows me to hear my Fantasy Football scores, the TrackR skill that allows me to locate my phone if it’s lost in my apartment somewhere and even the Dog Facts skill that will tell me random information about dogs if asked.

Clearly some of these skills are very insignificant, but are entirely customizable for you, the consumer. I must express though that using TrackR to find your phone lost in a couch cushion is extremely handy, but none of these are truly smart home specific.

The minor skills that your Echo can learn seem endless and you can get lost scrolling through the skill library. Within minutes you’ll have your Echo customized and working way beyond its original software.

The more personal applications like connecting your smart thermostats, security cameras or light bulbs all require you to give permission through Alexa by logging into that account and allowing the two accounts to be joined. These are a few of the prominent examples of smart home integration that currently exist.

However, these are a small fraction of what’s available. A good amount of the smart home skills are extremely similar, just developer-specific dependent upon which company you’ve decided to use in your smart home.

In later posts I will delve into the specifics of each type of smart home facets and skills, specifically regarding ones that I’ve personally tested and used as well as a few honorable mentions of ones that have similar features. I named a few of the smart home skills earlier in the post, but the current full array of products that can be controlled is much more extensive.

A smart home can include lighting and switches, home climate and thermostat control, security cameras and alarms, electrical outlets, door locks and garage openers, television components, kitchen and laundry appliances, smoke detectors, sprinkler and garden watering systems and a multitude of sensors that monitor motion, water leaks, open doors and even when a family member returns home, all entirely wirelessly controlled.

Some of the main manufacturers in the smart home industry include Philips Hue, Cree, TP Link, Nest, Ecobee, Logitech, Belkin, Luma, Zigbee, WeMo, zWave and many more are popping up every week.

The above referenced smart home skills may seem complicated, but in reality the setup and connections couldn’t be any simpler. Many of them require a separate app and account through the specific company that is then routed either straight into the Alexa app or into a more generalized smart hub such as Samsung’s SmartThings.

The next post in this series will explore Samsung’s SmartThings Hub and its various add-ons that we use in the BlackRock office as well as in my apartment. The hub is a piece of equipment that has some equivalent counterparts made through other companies, but Samsung is the current leader when it comes to the smart home game, whether you’re shopping online or in-store. Just take a look at Home Depot’s main Home Automation Basics site.

We look forward to bringing you more smart home information and as always, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me.

Smart Homes: Introducing the Amazon Echo

Home automation used to be a thing of science fiction. It seemed like something that only high-tech companies and labs had installed to stop intruders, rather than encourage convenience and energy efficiency.

In recent years, home automation has been given another name: “Smart Homes.” While this can refer to a multitude of features ranging anywhere from solar panels to water conservation, the most prominent method is via voice-activated electronic systems. Over the holiday season you might have even seen a commercial or two for some of these systems, those being the Amazon Echo and the Google Home.

These were among some of the most popular Christmas gifts for 2016 and with good reason. Smart homes are no longer an expensive pipe dream, but a fairly reasonable reality that just about anyone with Wi-Fi and a smartphone can utilize.

My experience with smart home technology had been minimal at best for the past year or so. I knew the components involved and what features it could offer, but didn’t have anything of my own to truly play and learn about the technology further. That was until this past Christmas where I got to setup an Amazon Echo for my girlfriend’s father. Since I’m the resident tech expert around their house, it was my job to get it up-and-running so I could get a better understanding that I could relay into simpler terms for her parents to understand. 

And then my obsession began…

Upon booting up the Amazon Echo, it requires a quick syncing with the Alexa iOS/Android app before you can really do anything. For those unfamiliar with what the Echo does and looks like, it is essentially a cylindrical stationary speaker that you can talk to, almost like Siri, except the Echo actually understands you perfectly and replies with a much more human voice named ‘Alexa.’

At first glance, it may not seem like such a smart device, but talking to the Echo is just the beginning. Now that the Echo is synced with your home Internet, it’s time to explore its features and teach it a little bit about yourself.  An initial piece of information that’s good to know is that if you subscribe to Amazon Prime, you will have near unlimited access to Amazon Music. There is a separate ‘Unlimited’ pass, but the Prime selection has just about anything you could possibly want it to play.

Telling Alexa to play music is one the first ‘commands’ you tell it to get a feel for your voice and to showcase it’s sound quality to the customer. Commands begin with “Alexa…play Luther Vandross” or whatever musician of choice.

While it may take a few tries to get the correct cadence, Alexa is pretty self-sufficient in understanding what you meant even if it’s not accurate. You will find that some musicians refuse to put their music on streaming services, so you’re out of luck if you want to listen to Apple Music or Tidal-exclusive artists.

Numerous music providers can be linked to your Echo, including Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio and TuneIn accounts. Once connected, your Echo learns your preferences in artists and genres as well as specific playlists you’ve made in those accounts. So if you share a Pandora account with a parent, you might want them to set-up their own for their Echo so it doesn’t bleed over and affect your recommendations.

*It should be noted that while ‘Alexa’ is the device’s birth name of sorts, the name can be changed to ‘Echo’ or ‘Amazon’ in case your name happens to be Alexa or Alexis.*

The next step for setting up the Echo regards the command “What’s my flash briefing?” Your flash briefing is a customized news command that will tell you today’s top headlines through a variety of news sources that you can pick as well as selecting your favorite sports teams. In my girlfriend’s Dad’s case, in the D.C. region, it’s going to be the Washington Post’s news as well as every D.C. sports team.

One of the final setup steps is identifying your home location so your Echo can give you accurate readings for weather, traffic and other 3rd party connected apps. Once your address is entered, its location services allow you to call an Uber, get directions or traffic delays and even order items to be shipped to or from your home.

Now that the basics of the Echo were all in place, I started exploring the extra features available straight from the Alexa app. There are a few other direct-to-Alexa productivity apps that can be connected, including your to-do lists through Todoist and Any.do, your calendar via Google Calendar and even a ‘find my phone’ feature through Trackr. While these features aren’t that advanced, I knew these were all aspects that would never be used by my girlfriend’s father.

By the time I had finished setting the Echo, I was hooked enough that I knew I had to have one in my apartment.  This ongoing blog series will explore my expanding experience with smart home technology, specifically regarding the process as all directed through the Amazon Echo. With a seemingly endless amount of other features, I look forward to guiding you through everything the home automation jungle has to offer and if you have any questions, feel free to email me.