Technology is finally starting to deliver on the promise many people had for the future
back in the 1950s and 60s. In those days, people imagined self-driving cars and robots
doing the menial work that people don’t like to do. They were wrong in many aspects,
but some are finally coming to fruition.
These days, the Internet of Things has made a lot of advances possible due to devices
being able to communicate with each other through the cloud. This allows for a lot of
conveniences that allow us to fully enjoy our lives. Smart devices are everywhere these
days from coffee machines to security systems.
In this article, we will go over what several of these smart devices are that are improving
our quality of life every day.
1 – Hearing aids
Hearing aids are not on the radar of most people, but them being smart devices has
made a huge impact on those with hearing problems. It’s difficult to underestimate how
much quality of life is improved when people can hear properly that they weren’t able to
in the past.
Many current hearing aids can work alongside a smartphone for ease of operation and
a discrete way to change settings. They usually also use smart algorithms to also filter
out background noise and bring the conversation to the front so you can hear people
speak clearly even when it’s noisy.
A couple of other features that set these new generation hearing aids apart are fall
detection and finding them when lost from your smartphone. Your loved ones can be
alerted to a fall when they are linked to the app with your hearing aids. That feature
works much like a smartwatch or fitness tracker to detect movements.
Losing a hearing aid can set you back thousands so having the feature to find lost ones
is easy when you use your smartphone app.
2 – Sleep aids
Lack of sleep is something that affects millions of people and seriously wrecks your
quality of life. Not only does being tired all day make you cranky, but it affects your
health overall. It decreases our immune system’s ability to work against many common
ailments among other things.
There are now a lot of smart devices to use as sleep trackers to get your sleep cycle
back on track. They can make sure that you are in bed on time and then understand
what your sleep cycle is like when you fall asleep. Understanding how long it takes to
fall asleep plus how often you wake up at night is essential in getting back into a good
sleep pattern.
They also track your heart rate while you sleep and how often you move around. All of
this data is then put together in regular reports. When you see patterns then you can
make a plan on how to get better sleep.
3 – Security systems
Sleeping soundly at night is also possible when you have peace of mind that you’re
protected. With smart security systems, you can get an overall bubble around your
home that protects you and your loved ones. All at a very low cost and with incredible
convenience built-in.
Everything you use to protect your house will connect with an app so you can
understand what is happening in your home at all times. A doorbell camera will turn on
and show you what is happening at your door when it detects movement. You can also
see right away if anybody entered the perimeter of your house and yard.
There are even smart locks that allow you to open and close the door remotely. Do you
have a delivery that you would rather not sit on the front porch? All you need to do is
unlock the door so the delivery person can put the package in your house. Then you
lock the door when they leave.
4 – Smart thermostats
Heating and cooling the house costs a lot when you don’t have much control. There are thermostats that can be programmed for certain times, but that is still very limited. Smart thermostats can do a lot on their own so you have far more control. For instance, they can understand what rooms need to be warm and at what times based on when it detects you are usually in them. Also, you can set a geofence so when you are coming home, the thermostats will turn on the heat or air conditioner automatically so it is the ideal temperature as soon as you get home. This prevents the house from being heated or cooled all day if you aren’t home during the times you would normally have programmed the thermostat for.
They are even able to detect what the weather is outside and decide on their own when
you may need to heat the house based on actual conditions. This is ideal when you are
on vacation and may need to heat up the house to avoid frozen pipes if a sudden cold
front rolls in.
5 – Smart appliances
You’ll never run out of milk again when you have a smart refrigerator. It can be set to
understand everything that you have inside so you never wonder what you need to go
shopping. It can connect to an app on your phone and add items itself so when you go
shopping you already have the list ready. It can even detect when the expiration date is
for some foods and alert you that they need to be consumed soon.
Refrigerators aren’t the only smart appliances. Your coffee machine can be smart and
handle making coffee for you exactly how you like it and at what time you want it. With
geofencing, it can start making your favorite coffee when it knows you are on your way
home from work.
Even cooking is easier when you use a smart cooker so you never burn another meal. It
can let you know when to add ingredients at every step of the recipe when it is
connected to your app.