Make your dumb home smart on a budget
One day you'll wake up to a perfectly temperature-controlled room, with lights that match your mood in real-time, a refrigerator that can order your groceries for you and a stove that shuts off as soon as your food is done, even if you forget to set a timer.
Until that day comes, you and I will have to do our best to piece together a smart home with the stuff that's already out there. And we'll do it without breaking the bank, even though devices tend to start in the $200-$300 range and up.
If you want a home that just gets you for less, here's how to make your dumb home smart on a budget.
The newest kid on the block is the Leeo Smart Alert Nightlight ($99), which will monitor any room in your house. I've been an early beta-tester of this device and I love how simple it is to set up and connect. All you do is plug it in and sync it with an app on your smartphone, which takes all of two minutes or so. Once synced, the Leeo can tell you the temperature, humidity, and even acts as your virtual ears as it listens for a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm and then sends alerts automatically to anyone you want, even when you're nowhere near your house.
On its own, it doesn't seem all that special, save for the fact it can glow in 16 million colors. But the folks behind it have created such hits as Guitar Hero and Beats headphones, so I expect big things to come from this little plug and play device. This is one to watch, as smart-home devices become more mainstream and more affordable.
While we're on the topic of watching, if you need a live-streaming window into your home, you'll need to go the Simplicam ($150) route. It's a super-simple Wi-Fi home surveillance system, that streams video and audio, and you can talk to someone inside your house through the mic on your smartphone. It's similar to another favorite of mine, Dropcam.
But Simplicam has a heckuva one-up: facial recognition. Yep, this tiny camera system can actually recognize faces you've added to its memory thanks to software called Closeli, so you'll know exactly who's walking through your door. It'll text you whenever someone arrives home, if you wish, and set-up takes just a few minutes. I have a teenage daughter. This is brilliant.
When you get right down to it, a smart home should be able to take care of itself, right? Protecting your valuables is what a Skylink alarm system (starting at $149.99) does best, without a complicated contract or monthly plan that's required by many home security systems. Its easy-to-follow installation kit helps you have your home or office wired for protection in less than an hour, and there's no wiring required. Your smartphone acts like your personal security monitor, notifying you whenever an alarm is triggered.
Now that your home is watching its own back, let's make sure you can get in and out without so much as the twist of a key. Kwikset's Kevo smart lock ($219) is like your own butler, unlocking the door whenever you arrive home with just a touch of the lock. Kevo senses your smartphone — with the Kevo app installed, of course — and knows who you are. You can even assign and revoke guest keys whenever you want, right from the app. I know, this goes over our $200 budget, but only by the cost of one meal eaten out (or where I live, one cocktail…). If this is the "smart" feature you've been waiting for, it's well worth it.
Now then, walking through the door of your super smart, super secure abode should be an enlightening experience, so banish the dark with a few uber-intelligent GE Link bulbs (starting at $14.99), which can be activated from anywhere with just a tap of the Wink app. When it works, it's pretty darn cool, but in our testing, the sync between the bulbs and the app took a lot of work, and even after we got it set up it was a bit hit-or-miss. The good news is that the bulbs are designed to last over 20 years and use 80% less energy.
You won't have to fear vampires in your bright, new bungalow, but power vampires are another story. Find out which of your appliances has been sucking your wallet dry with Belkin's WeMo Insight Switch ($59.99). This little beauty monitors every watt and helps you keep costs in check. And the tiny gadget doesn't just keep an eye on your power usage, it's also a handy off-switch for anything that's plugged into it, and you can control it with your smartphone.
The most we spent on any one gadget was $219, and the cheapest of our smart-home add-ons was an affordable $15. It took no more than 15 minutes to install anything we tested, and no handy men were hired! Just like that, your old house is smarter than ever before.
Now then, what solutions have you found, hacked, or created to make your own dumb home smarter on a shoestring budget? I would love to hear from you, and your comments could be featured in a follow-up story.
Jennifer Jolly is an Emmy Award-winning consumer tech contributor and host of Paste BN's digital video show TECH NOW. E-mail her at techcomments@usatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter @JenniferJolly.