Home tech trends have come a long way since labor saving devices like dishwashers and washing machines revolutionized the way we do housework. These days, trends are all about making homes more accessible and responding to the way we live now.
Home Lifts
Your mental image of home lifts might be that they are something that only palatial manors would install. However, home lift technology has come a long way, and high-tech domestic lifts for any home are now a reality. These are not just for convenience either. Home lifts can make a house more accessible for people as they age, allowing them to stay in the place that they love even when there are stairs that could otherwise be a barrier to that. They are also useful for people of any age who have mobility issues.
Conferencing
How much time in the last couple of years did you spend trying to configure the camera on your computer so that you look like a reasonable facsimile of yourself in all those work conferences and long-distance happy hours? Home video conferencing for work and leisure is here to stay, and the tech industry has responded by creating cameras and monitors that make the whole thing more pleasant and help you look better on camera. Examples are cameras that calibrate better based on how far you are from the screen and that are built into TVs so that you aren’t crouched in front of a monitor as well as tech that adjusts based on the lighting in your room and speakers that reduce that annoying echo effect.
More Integration
One frustration that some smart home early adopters have faced is a lack of integration between systems. This might be because of upgrades that were purchased piecemeal or because the potential for integration simply didn’t exist to the degree it does today. Smart home technology increasingly allows for communication between devices, and systems are getting much easier for novices to set up as well.
Home Gyms
If you’re the kind of person who can’t seem to stay motivated to go to the gym, signs up every January and then spends the rest of the year forgetting to cancel the membership for a service you don’t use, the rise of options for home gyms will be welcome. You’re no longer restricted a treadmill, home rowing machine or exercise bike or even video games with a physical component. Today’s home gyms offer smart tech that can link to apps or other devices to track your progress and help you connect with others. There are also exciting new innovations, such as a climbing machine that offers workouts via apps and devices that provide resistance training so that you don’t have to litter your place with clunky weights.
More Sustainability
High-tech doesn’t have to mean waste. In fact, a growing number of devices help you reduce energy use. Some do that by showing you exactly how much you are using, allowing you to be more conscious and take steps to turn off anything you aren’t currently working with. Other can-do things such as cut down on standby power usage, even shutting off the refrigerator for short periods of time without affecting food safety.