Help! My Smart Home Technology Camouflaged Itself Again

Smart homes are popping up everywhere. Nowadays everything can become automated thanks to digital assistants. And more gadgets are being released everyday with the intention of automating different household appliances, chores, and security systems. Pretty much any device can be synced up through Smart Sockets, which are plug-in devices that communicate via WiFi. But there’s some new home entertainment technology you just have to see, or not, because they’re camouflaged. Samsung has revealed a line of televisions which can “disappear” when turned off, hiding themselves into the background wall behind it. And there’s even more super cool entertainment technology to add to the future home device collection.

Entertainment System Tech

As time moves on, our technology is getting thinner and more compact. Brick phones and tube TV’s have been put out to pasture and since been replaced with smartphone devices and chameleon-like televisions. And now we have digital assistants and handy robots making our lives easier. Tired of vacuuming? The Roomba vacuum is the answer for you. Need to turn on the ceiling fan, but can’t get distracted from your flat screen television? Alexa, a digital assistant, can help you with that. Constant advancements in lifestyle technology has become a normal expectation, and these devices don’t disappoint.

Samsung’s QLED TV blending into the wall

Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak has met its match with Samsung’s QLED TV. Aside from the frame surrounding the television, there is a wide variety of features this chameleon can do. By crowdsourcing theme ideas through a design competition, Samsung has created various themes to look like clocks, art pieces, and weather/location displays. And of course, as a smart TV it can connect to WiFi and a digital assistant.

The Beosound Edge is probably the most futuristic speaker that will be hitting the market in 2018. And its name is incredibly ironic. Equipped with an accelerometer and gyroscope, the volume adjusts as you tilt the device back and forth. It’s pretty much a giant volume knob! It also has Bluetooth and Cloudshare capabilities to connect with different devices. Pretty neat. We just keep imagining someone rolling it down a hallway playing “Africa” by Toto and the volume just keeps getting louder and louder. That’ll wake you up in the morning for sure.

Security Issues

Unfortunately, with each new device added to open networks, the room for hackers to break in increases. Luckily, your thermostats and household appliances are probably not the target of cyberattacks because they don’t hold a lot of valuable information. But IoT devices are just an easy way to break into your home or office network and have carte blanche to the information on your other devices once they’re inside.

Good security practice for smart home devices is to buy them from reliable sellers. There’s no such thing as a bargain brand security system, so remember to do some research before purchasing specific devices. Plus, regularly changing device passwords is never a bad idea with IoT security systems using smart locks. And if you want to get really serious, there’s always the option of smart routers, which can isolate each device on separate networks and monitor for unusual activity. And if anything breaks, we’ve got just the IT guys for troubleshooting.

Convenience is King

Let’s be honest. It’s incredibly convenient to have technology capable of starting the dishwasher, mowing the lawn, turning on the lights, securing the house, etc. Despite the cybersecurity threats smart homes possess, the pros seem to out-way the cons. And there’s even more tech coming out to better secure our devices. So, why not get the invisible TV? You can prank anyone that comes over to your house by changing the photo whenever they aren’t looking!

 

Credit: Pixabay