Awesome Smarthome

Feit Electric’s unique smart light bulb can produce the warm amber glow of an old-fashioned Edison-style filament lamp, or one of millions of colors from its RGB LED strips. Works in any standard E26 base, and can be controlled remotely via Alexa, Google Assistant, or the Feit Electric app. Amazon sells a discounted 4-pack.

It seems far-fetched that back in the 1980s, you could accurately predict what technology we might have in our homes 30 years later. But this BBC broadcast from December 1989 offered nearly spot-on predictions of home automation, flat-screen TVs, wireless charging, voice assistants, smart thermostats, and more.

This larger version of the Amazon Echo hangs on the wall like a picture frame. Its 15.6″ FHD display lets you choose from widgets for news, weather, notes, recipes, and more. It works as a smart home control panel and music controller too. It can be mounted horizontally or vertically, or on an optional tabletop stand.

This control system helps improve the quality and consistency of indoor and greenhouse gardens. Its sensors track critical environmental data like temperature, humidity, PH, and more. It can use that data to trigger grow lights, pumps, valves, and other components, for a fully-automated grow operation.

This innovative smart light switch snaps over standard light switches, attaching magnetically to the screws in the wall plate. It works with a companion smartphone app, so you remotely control it with Amazon Alexa or Google Home, all without any wiring or tools. Save 33% in The Awesomer Shop.

The Smart Cuckoo Clock is one of the Day1 Editions Amazon will build if it garners enough pre-orders. The stylish wall clock has an analog face, a swinging pendulum, and a mechanical cuckoo, along with digital chimes and alarms. It also has an LED timer that can be controlled with a nearby Amazon Echo device.

This sleek, modern table light offers the voice capabilities of a standalone Amazon Alexa device. Its efficient LED lighting source can be programmed to change color temperature from cool to warm, and scheduled using a smartphone app. Save 55% in The Awesomer Shop.

Amazon’s Alexa-powered speaker is now an orb, which not only looks cooler, but improves audio quality. The room-filling speaker can stream music from Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, SiriusXM, and more, and can control smarthome devices via voice commands. There’s also a spherical Echo Dot and a Echo Dot for kids.

Remotely control appliances, lamps, and other plug-in items with Kasa Smart’s WiFi enabled power strip. It has three independently-controllable outlets, two always-on USB ports, and surge protection. Its app lets you remotely control and schedule outlets, and it works with Alexa and Google Assistant for voice control.

The Fingerbot is a tiny machine you can install over existing switches for lights, appliances, and other devices, bestowing them with remote-control capability. Its modular design works with a variety of button and toggle switch styles. Grab the Adaprox Bridge to add Alexa, Google Home, Siri, and other cloud-based control.

Amazon’s value-priced, compact Echo device plugs into any outlet, adding Alexa voice assistant capability unobtrusively to any room. It provides smart home control, weather, traffic, and other information, and has a built-in USB port for powering other devices or attaching a 3rd-party motion sensor or smart nightlight.

Take a trip back to the 1950s, when appliance company Westinghouse shared their vision for the “all electric” house of the future. While some of the user interfaces are incredibly dated, there are some ideas here that would find their way to homes in the 21st century – and yet others we’d still love to see.

Among the many countless TVs, smartphones, and accessories at CES 2019, Japan’s mui turned up with something different. Their smarthome interface appears to be a simple piece of wood, but it conceals LEDs and a touch panel to display useful information and control devices.

There are plenty of gadgets out there that automate electronics in your home or office. But David Neevel devised a roomful of truly practical smart home gizmos, which can open and close doors, feed him candy, toss him a beer, and even treat his hangover.