让家用电器智能化的5个妙招

    拥有智能家居的人可以像使用电视遥控器一样，通过手机控制所有的家用电器。只需要点击应用，就能开门、开灯、调整正在煮晚餐的炖锅温度。

    尽管目前很少有人真正生活在这种类似动画片《杰森一家》(Jetsons)描绘的情境中，但许多人都乐于一试。

    在家里安装智能设备代价不菲。比如说，谷歌（Google）的Nest智能烟雾探测器——当它的电量不足时，它会通过应用提醒你——就价值100美元。与此同时，能够联网的慢炖锅定价为129美元，而智能空调要将近300美元。

    不过你也可以选择改装，就是给原有的电器加上低廉的配件，让它们不再“聋哑”。实际上，它可以简单地就像在恒温器中装一块新电池一样。你不必将“聋哑”电器换成智能款，所以你完全可以继续使用你三年前买的那款你非常喜欢，也非常好用的烤箱。以下是一些可供选择的产品：

    People with smart homes can control all their appliances using a mobile phone like a TV remote control. All they have to do is tap an app to unlock their door, turn on the lights and adjust their crockpot’s temperature while dinner is simmering inside.

    Today, few people actually live in this Jetsons-like reality. But many are open to the convenience it promises.

    Equipping a home with smart devices is expensive. Google’s Nest smart smoke detector – it alerts you when its battery is running low via an app – costs $100, for instance. Meanwhile, a connected crock-pot is $129 and an intelligent air conditioner is almost $300.

    Enter retrofitting, which involves cheaply retooling appliances so that they’re no longer dumb. In fact, it can be as easy as installing a new sci-fi battery in your thermostat. You won’t have to replace your “dumb” appliances with smart ones, so you can hold onto that favorite (and perfectly good) toaster you bought three years ago. Here are some options:

    Garageio：149美元

    Garageio可以让你用手机开关车库门。在你的车库中装上Garageio的黑盒子，再把它与你的无线网络连接并下载相关应用，你就能远程打开车库门了，还能让你的朋友、家人和保姆临时获得这个权限。当车库门打开时，Garageio会给你的手机发送提示，并提供活动日志，让你知道是谁在什么时候开的门。这款设备能够与96%的车库开门器兼容。添上20美元，你就能控制两扇车库门；再添20美元，就能控制三扇。Garageio建立了网站来接受预定，由于需求量太大，他们没有库存，但每隔一天会发一次货。

    Garageio: $149

    Garageio lets you open and shut your garage door from your phone. Install Garageio’s black box in your garage, hook it up to your Wi-Fi network, and download the app. Presto, you can now open your garage door remotely and give temporary access to friends, family and babysitters. Garageio will also send an alert to your phone if your garage door is open and provide you with an activity log showing when your garage door was opened as well as who opened it. It's compatible with 96% of all garage door openers. For an additional $20, you can control two doors, and for another $20, you can connect three doors. Garageio’s site is set to pre-order because the demand is so great it can’t be kept in stock, but units ship every other day.