Back in 2001, well before smart homes started going mainstream, The Simpsons, as it is wont to do, did a little bit of fortunetelling in their annual ‘Treehouse of Horror” Halloween episode. Tired of having to the drudgery of everyday tasks and chores, the Simpson family buys an automated upgrade for their home called “Ultrahouse.” It's an upgrade that today would be considered smart home technology.
Unlike today, however, the Simpsons only needed to purchase one all- encompassing product to transform their house into a self-cleaning, self-securing (and, unfortunately, self-aware) smart home, as opposed to purchasing a myriad of products and devices from different companies. But this, too, looks like another prediction from The Simpsons that is about to come true.
Instead of having to buy each individual smart home product separately and ending up with a complicated web of apps and devices that all speak different languages, one company, known as Vivint, is looking to provide a comprehensive smart home package without the hassle, Forbes reports.
Vivint is a smart hub provider that provides a whole-home package of carefully sourced and internally produced smart home products, according to its chief marketing officer, Jeff Lyman.
The system is controlled by a seven-inch ‘SkyControl’ touchscreen panel than controls everything in the home, from the front door’s locks and doorbell to automatic lights to the security system. In addition to the SkyControl panel, everything can be controlled by the Vivint app, which is designed to look and behave just like the panel.
The Vivint hub can communicate with third party devices such as the Amazon Echo and Nest smoke and CO2 detectors. The Echo can be used to control the Vivint system with voice commands and, while the commands are currently a bit obtuse, Vivint is currently working with Amazon to make these commands more streamlined.
For $60 a month (for the top tier monitoring package) Vivint offers an integrated home, where all of the devices will be able to communicate with each other and can be controlled via one app or control panel.
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