There are seemingly endless possibilities when it comes to making your home smarter. Apps on your device can control more than just smart locks, thermostats, and lights. Smart appliances are becoming more versatile in their usage, and can cater to household users in a variety of different ways. The following are some of the most useful smart home necessities on the market that you need right now.

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BeOn Smart Bulbs

With the recent drama related to Amazon’s crash, a different method of smart lighting is on the market. BeOn smart bulbs are a Bluetooth-compatible, interconnected lighting system that even operates when the power fails. The lights are battery-powered, and can work on a timer that functions based on your preferences. They are pegged as a more costly product, but for the advanced smart home user, BeOn is a premium choice to power the home.

Nest Protect

Smoke alarms can be pesky, but they are necessary. The smart smoke detector is a revolutionary device for a seasoned concept. Nest Protect has capitalized on a household nuisance that is receiving rave reviews. The Nest Protect second generation model is an upgraded version that has a smooth aesthetic and works well with Android devices. The app presents a “silence” option that allows the user to quiet the smoke alarm in case of a non-emergency, like a cooking mishap or an extra smoky candle.

Samsung App Fridge

This is arguably everyone’s favorite appliance already, and Samsung has revolutionized the refrigerator to make it even more enjoyable to use. It features a touch screen that takes inventory of the groceries in the fridge, orders new food when the stock is running low, and has temperature-control settings for different compartments that can be controlled by apps as well.

Of course, there are other useful and necessary appliances to add to a smart home on the market. The recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas showcased many examples of such tech, and almost everything is compatible with Android devices. Just ensure that, no matter the size or capabilities of the smart home features, you install and execute everything with security in mind.

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The initial problem was with Amazon Web Services, which provides services to thousands of online outlets for business, shopping, entertainment, and more. Customers began to notice that sites were running at a slower pace, which escalated into more widespread outages at a scale not often seen with Internet operations. The glitch caused many users to experience faulty operations on websites and downloading services, as well as basic electric failures such as light switches and power to neighboring devices.

Even Alexa, Amazon’s patented voice command service, had trouble remaining active during the crashes. Other applications and social network sites were unable to function in offline mode, and those with the smartphone apps noticed the slow pace with the most frequency. Instagram, Snapchat, and Groupme are just a few popular modes of communication that could not send or receive anything for a few hours during the crash.

Although few websites crashed completely, the inconvenience of slow Internet caused a ruckus in the eastern U.S. Other companies that use their Amazon cloud base around the world did not experience such delays, but the outage affected outbound actions based in certain areas of the United States. Conversations of more advanced data storage and more spread-out data locations were brought into question, but the issues only persisted for a limited duration.

The general consensus is that Amazon didn’t lose out on major clientele or inconvenience the masses, but this event is worth remembering when delegating control of appliances and services to cloud technology. Especially in homes, you should have a backup circuit breaker or manual power at the ready, in case instances like this happen again. Take heed of how smart homes and devices are operating and divulge problems to respective carriers when they occur.

What the Air Kit Includes

An Air Kit includes a sleek wall unit and switchboard modules. It’s worth noting that you may need several Air kits in order to make your entire home a smart home. The switchboard modules are placed behind existing switchboards in your home to allow appliances to communicate with Air. This will then allow you to control your appliances from the Air app on your Android phone.

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There are three different color options for Air, so that your automation device will blend with the aesthetic of whatever room it’s in. It’s meant to work with your home, not against it. The color options include black, maple, or rosewood.

How to Use Air

Control your home from wherever you are with the Air smartphone app. Through the app you can adjust the lighting of a particular room, change the temperature or humidity level of your home, receive updates on your home’s security, and use your phone as a remote control for your TV. You can also schedule your appliances to turn off or on at specific times. Like other smart home hubs on the market, Air strives to learn your habits and preferences to make your life even easier. It’ll even send you notifications on its tasks through the app.

Further, Air works with all of your current appliances — whether they are smart or not — and allows you to control them from your phone. This is a relatively unique feature that many smart home hubs don’t yet have. Air will even tell you how much energy each appliance uses, which is a great feature if you’re looking to cut back on energy usage. Another energy-saving Air feature is the “Away” mode: Air senses when someone has left a room for a period of time, and turns off all electronic items in that room until you’ve returned.

Google Assistant
By far one of Google Home’s best features is its intelligence. Unlike Amazon Echo, Google Home allows you to search Google, control your smart home, and manage your affairs through Google Assistant, the smartest assistant around. Google Assistant can learn your behaviors and preferences (like with Google Now), for a more pleasant and satisfying experience with the smart hub. Those are features that Amazon Echo simply can’t compete with.

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Google Assistant can manage your calendar’s events, online orders, travel itinerary, and all of your Google-related questions. Google Assistant understands what you want to know and can provide you with quick answers to your questions (from a Google search), in addition to information from any follow-up questions. It can even read you passages of text from a web page. Try asking it questions about monetary conversions, text translations, or even the schedule of a local movie theater.

Google Home As a Speaker
Google Home works as a Wi-Fi speaker for playing music. Connect your phone to play music from your phone, or ask Google Assistant to play music from services like Google Play Music, Spotify, or Pandora.

Google Home As a Smart Hub
Through Google Home, you can adjust the temperature of your home, change the lighting, and even manage other smart hubs in your home. Further, you can use Google Home to control your smart TV.

Enhanced Voice Recognition Software
Google Home will be able to understand your voice commands even when there’s background noise from music or a TV show.

Different Color Options
Google Home offers a variety of different colored speaker bases, in addition to different types of materials, to ensure that your device matches your tastes or home décor. Few smart hubs offer such customization options.