Tech Upgrades for Your Home

Home technology may not have reached the level of the old 1960s cartoon, and flying cars certainly seem increasingly unlikely in any future, but there is absolutely some exciting tech out there than can greatly increase your quality of life when you’re lounging around at home. Whether comfort, luxury, convenience, or practicality are your priorities, there’s more exciting home tech being developed every day, including what’s below.

Lifting Off

If you associate home lifts with mansions, you may not realize that these are items that can be installed in most multi-storied houses. Thanks to technology, high-tech home lifts just keep improving in leaps and bounds. They have several different uses, whether you like to entertain and want to make it easy to move large quantities of food and drink between floors, or you’re simply looking for greater accessibility. If you hope to age in place in your home, a home lift can help ensure that it’s possible even when there are stairs.

Let There Be Light

Anyone who’s ever walked into a dark house laden with packages or children and stumbled over toys or the cat while fumbling for the light can appreciate the usefulness of smart lights, but they have other uses as well. You can adjust all the lighting throughout the house with just the touch of a button or even a voice command, and you can also opt for different colors. Smart lighting is also helpful for those who may have arthritis or other issues that create dexterity problems. If some of your household isn’t entirely comfortable with these high-tech enhancements or you’d just like the option of a manual override sometimes, you can also install switches that look just like the old dimmer knobs as an option to using your phone or voice sometimes.

Staying Safe

Home security systems can be about as simple or as intricate as you want, but there are advantages to a smart system, including the ability to view video and control things from your phone. You can also set up various types of protocols, such as unlocking windows and doors when the smoke alarm goes off. Some worry about hacks to smart locks, and while this is technically possible, good smart locks are generally still more secure than traditional ones. You can also get locks that are smart, but which still must be physically opened with a key.

Preparing for the Downtime

What happens if the power or the internet goes out and you have many smart devices? You might be imagining a kind of science fiction horror in which you’re trapped in a house with virtually no power or even no way to override your smart locks and escape. While this is unlikely to be the full-fledged disaster you might imagine, it’s good to find out ahead of time what you need to do to keep basic functions running, such as a battery backup. You may also want to make sure that you have manual devices, such as keys to smart locks.