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17 its occupant who can then easily access the system from a device, take a look at all the data provided by the house and amend anything as necessary. A whole new world of living comfort When it comes to security, the smart home can offer a new experience of living comfort. Whilst away from home, you’ll often be worried about whether your worldly possessions are sufficiently protected at home. A smart home can offer clever and rather comforting solutions in this respect: Setting the blinds to open on a timer or switching lights on and off depending on the time of day can make it seem to any potential burglars that occupants are still at home as normal. However, in the event that a burglar does make it into the four intelligent walls of your home, the smart home has a solution ready for this too. It won’t just notify the owner, it will also automatically turn on the lights in every single room. That will be enough to terrify any thief! Alongside the major topic of security, living comfort is also considered an essential concern in smart homes. This doesn’t necessarily always have to mean having an all-encompassing solution where all your devices are networked together. Sometimes it’s enough to just have a vacuum cleaner which automatically cleans your apartment, or perhaps a coffee machine which wakes you up with freshly brewed coffee. For newcomers to this subject who want to find out more about the topic of smart living, there are plenty of solutions which are simple to operate and which will make them want to discover even more! Less than EUR 50 will buy you a smart plug socket which will allow you to control your washing machine from your smartphone and regulate your energy consumption, for example. You could even network your household goods with an Amazon Dash Button which will enable you to reorder specific goods at the press of a button when they have run out. Be smart too and research There are smart home solutions for every aspect of your life within the four walls of your humble abode. The trend has picked up speed and isn’t stopping for anyone, not even German manufacturers. An increasing number of smart home systems with ever more sophisticated functions are conquering the market and offering solutions which are making smart living a reality in the simplest ways possible. However, it’s exactly this level of variety which is currently causing some problems, particularly for some manufacturers. Whilst manufactures such as Deutsche Telekom are delivering open smart home solutions, i.e. solutions which are com- patible with a whole array of smart home systems, some service providers are offering what are known as proprietary systems. These are closed systems that are tied to the respective manufacturer. In terms of smart living, this places great restrictions on the possible solutions and creativity. It is therefore advisable to do your research and to consider from the outset what you want your own smart home to look like. You can only find the right smart solutions for you if you know exactly what you need. This will act as the initial building block upon which you can add further layers to create your very own smart home. And don’t bother calling your pizza delivery service on Friday evenings in future – simply call your fridge instead. The smart home is fully networked. Perfectly clear: Control your blinds with an app or set them to operate automatically with a programmed schedule. TRENDS & TECHNOLOGY

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