When you put love and work into your home, you want to feel confident that it’s safe and secure when you're away from it. That’s why we partnered with GE Lighting, a Savant company, to bring Cync smart home technologyto the 2021House BeautifulWhole Home. Our goal for this Fredericksburg, Texas, house is to not only showcase innovative ideas in interior design, but also to demo the best and latest in home technology—all to inform you and inspire you to elevate your every day.
Check out the video above and read on for some easy ways to enhance your home's security.
There’s a lot to love about smart home technology: convenience, improved energy efficiency, and the all-important fun factor. But talk to people who have gone all-in on the connected home experience, and many will tell you that peace of mind is the best benefit of all.
“The ability to check in on your home when you’re away is incredibly reassuring,” says Ian Bryant, senior director of strategic partnerships atCEDIA, the trade group for the home automation industry. And even when you are at home (and let’s face it, there’s been a lot of that recently), connected technology can bring peace of mind, alerting you to potential problems, like a disturbance in the backyard or a package being delivered to your doorstep when you’re not home.
We asked Bryant, along with the experts atGE Lighting, manufacturer of Cync smart home products, to share the best ways to safeguard your space using connected technology.
GE
Keep An Eye Out
Wi-Fi-enabled cameras let you check the status of your home—indoors and out—from anywhere by pulling up a live video feed on your phone, laptop, or tablet. It’s a great way to, say, ensure that your home wasn’t damaged during an extreme weather event when you’re on vacation or on a work trip. If you have a pet, you’ll appreciate being able to check in on your furry friend, even if you’re only out for a few hours.
To start your home-monitoring system, install a camera such asthe CyncIndoor Smart Cameraon a shelf, to a wall, or in any place with a good view of the room in question. Plug it in, download the app, and set your preferences to start monitoring. TheCync appis particularly useful in that it allows you receive notifications based on motion, noise, or people.
Craig Brown/GEGet Smart About Bulbs
To make it look like someone was home in the old days, homeowners had to plug lamps into mechanical timers that would turn the fixtures on and off at certain times. You can achieve the same effect by simply screwing in a smart light bulb, thanks to connected technology. Even better, the apps that control these bulbs allow users to choose varying schedules, an improvement over the old analog approach, which had lights turning on and off at the same times every day.
Pick up a few smart light bulbs, like Cync’sSoft WhiteorFull ColorSmart Light Bulbs, and screw them into highly visible light fixtures around the house. Once you download the app, sync the bulbs and create a schedule for them. You can also use a CyncSmart Plugto have other devices, like a space heater, turn on and off while you’re away.
Light Your Way
More than 8 million people ended up in the emergency room in 2019 year with fall-related injuries, according to the National Safety Council. And poor lighting—for example, walking down a dark hallway or staircase in the middle of the night—is a common culprit. That hazard is easy to avoid with a combination of a motion sensor and a smart bulb.
To set this up, just place a CyncMotion Sensorin an area or room where you're likely to have your hands full, like a mudroom or laundry room. Go into the Cync app and pair the sensor with a Cync smart light bulb, light strip, switch, or plug. You can then customize the settings according to your needs; for example, choosing a low light setting if you just need a little illumination to find your way to the bathroom at night. And what about the times when you don't want responsive lighting, like during the day? Just use the Cync app to deactivate the sensor during those hours.
