Tobias Mann: Live life in the future and make a dream come true, make my home smart for under $ 200 | Local



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The smart home has long been the elusive dream of sci-fi writers – Rosie, the robotic maid of the Jetsons, the mansion of Iron Man, the "Smart House" of Disney and countless others …

Smart bunker inhabited by Sheriff Jack Carter in the SyFy series of channels "Eureka."

With just a few words, Sarah could make the coffee, darken the lights, turn on the television and of course provide an endless supply of comedy and hijinks throughout the series.

For years I have dreamed of having a house just like Sheriff Carter. Today, owning a smart home is not a dream and, more importantly, it will not cost you a fortune.

For less than $ 200 of equipment, my girlfriend Niecie and I turned our apartment into a connected smart home, with just a few voice commands, you could do almost anything Sarah could do.

We started with a smart speaker. What a pleasure to have a smart home if you can not talk to him, is not it?

The Google Home Mini or Amazon Echo Dot both start at around $ 50, and in addition to being able to tell you when your favorite hamburger closes or how long your commute will be, lets you control a host of smart home gadgets on the market today.

Because we use a lot of Google services, we chose the Google Home, but for fans of Amazon, Echo could be a

Then we upgraded our lights with a set Smart light bulbs – these cost $ 15-30. We bought TP-Link's Kasa smart bulbs because they do not need a hub, but Philips Hue is another popular choice at about the same price.

Once we turn them on, turn on the lights "OK Google, turn on the lights in the living room."

Making our coffee maker smart turned out to be easier than I thought. We just plugged our old coffee machine into a smart socket – we took two of TP-Link for about $ 40 – and plugged that into the wall.

If I want a new cup of Joe in the morning, I can say "Hey Google starts coffee", and when I'm dressed, he's ready to go.

Now, if I could just find a way to get him to fill the coffee.

Controlling my television has turned out to be a little more challenging, but that has also become one of my favorite features.

Making my smart TV, is choosing a Google Chromecast. Amazon Echo users will want to choose a Kindle Fire Stick or TV instead.

Associated with Google Home, Chromecast can turn on the TV and even tune into my favorite shows on YouTube or Netflix.

I want to watch the latest episode of "Stranger Things" on Netflix, I just said "Hey Google, play" Stranger Things ", and presto, the TV is on and the show is going on to play.

One can enjoy it, but by 2018 they are far from perfect.

The Google badistant and Alexa of Amazon are still too confused, and they still can not bend my clothes or wash my dishes, at least not yet. ] For now, I'm just taking a small step closer to achieving my childhood dreams and screaming like crazy to turn on the TV and the coffee maker.

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