Harness the Power of the Internet to Conserve Water in Your 'Smart' Garden - for MOTHER EARTH NEWS

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How many times have you seen someone’s sprinklers on during a rain storm? Or even worse, arrived home to find yours going while it’s pouring? I think you’ll agree that it’s a truly painful-to-watch waste of Mother Earth’s most precious natural resource. With today’s climate issues, where some parts of the country are living through significant droughts, it’s even more imperative that we be mindful of our water use.

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The Best Smart Thermostat | The Wirecutter

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We spent more than a month trying five popular smart thermostats—testing the hardware, their accompanying mobile apps, and their integrations with various smart-home systems—and the third-generation Nest remains our pick. Five years after the Nest’s debut, a handful of bona fide competitors approach it in style and functionality, but the Nest Learning Thermostat is still the leader, despite the company’s recent upheavals. 

Read the full review here.

Smoke Alarms: The Smartest Smart Home Product You Can Buy - For TechZulu

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Ask any firefighter to name the most important thing a person can do to prevent their house from burning to the ground, and he or she will tell you, “Install smoke alarms.”

As the wife of a firefighter and a former volunteer firefighter, I strongly concur. However, as a mother and somewhat erratic chef, I know how annoying those little plastic boxes can be. From false alarms caused by burning the toast to annoying low-battery chirps that wake up sleeping babies, I can empathize with homeowners who leave a smoke alarm dangling from the ceiling after a run-in with a broom....

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5 Ways Smart Home Tech Can Keep Your Kids Safe | Parenting Squad

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Home security once felt like a boring, expensive concept — call up a legacy security company, hand over a pile of cash, and then forget about it until disaster strikes (or your daughter sneaks in through the back window and sets it off at 2 a.m.).

Before you had kids, home security was probably one of those things you thought you should have, but never got around setting up. But once you have a family, that parental urge to fiercely protect your young finally drives you to open your wallet.

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Everything You Need to Know About Buying a New Garage Door - Coldwell Banker Blue Matter

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Buying a new garage door is a once- or twice-in-a-lifetime project for most homeowners. If the time has come to replace yours, either as part of a remodel or because the old one has outlived its useful life, you are likely in unfamiliar territory. In this article, we’ll help you understand the many aspects of buying a garage door so you can choose the perfect one for your home with confidence.

Read the whole article here.

A Home Automation Guide for Apartment Living - HotPads Blog

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Smart Apartment Living

If you live in an apartment, perhaps you’ve heard the terms smart home and home automation and shrugged them off as the realm of suburban homeowners. Today’s smart home devices, however, are being designed with portability in mind, making them perfect for renters. If you want to lower your utility bills, increase your safety and make your apartment more comfortable, it’s time to tune in to the smart home revolution... Read more here.

Vacation Rental Security: Important Tips to Protect Your Property from Afar | Tripping.com

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Here in part 1 of our "Smart Solutions for Your Vacation Home" series, you'll learn about useful tips and devices you can use to secure your property as best as possible.

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Seven Ways a Smart Home Can Help a New Mom | ShannonMiller.com

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Despite the copious amount of reading you will do and advice you will receive, there is little a new mom can do to truly prepare for those first few months of motherhood. It is a time that will surprise, delight, terrify and change you in so many ways. Once that precious little bundle of joy arrives in your home, your whole world will turn upside down. However, thanks to modern technology, there are some systems you can put in place in your home to make that initial transition into motherhood a little bit smoother.

Today’s houses are increasingly becoming “smart homes,” where appliances, lighting, electronics and security systems are all connected to each other and the Internet. This allows you to control them remotely, and, in some cases, even allows them to control each other.

Read the rest of this post here, on ShannonMiller.com