5 Ways to Manage your Home Using Voice Commands

Remember all those neat commands that you saw characters bark out to appliances, devices, and robots in science fiction movies and space cartoons?

Brace yourself because those days are already here. It all depends on how quickly you start using them in your home.

Of course, we refer to the gradual progress of today’s smart homes. If you blink your eyes, you’re shocked at what tasks they can now perform.

Five Neat Things to Control in your House with Voice Commands

The thing is that most of us already have much of this smart home capability. It already exists on practically every smartphone, notebook, and laptop.

Since we know that it’s damn near impossible to operate old technology these days, you can be assured that your current devices are awaiting your commands in managing your home. And you might even recognize their names:  Alexa, Siri, and whatever Google will eventually name its digital voice assistant.

Now here’s the thing – you can access these digital voice assistants through all of your devices already. Every phone, PC, and smart device has apps that will utilize them.

Nowadays, when you buy appliances or various home devices, many are ready to be paired with whatever smart device is handy. In most cases, this will be your smartphone. Let’s check out five ways to control your house with voice commands.

Security cameras

One prevalent feature of smart homes is their ability to keep the home safe and secure. You are always safe with something like the Canary Flex HD Security System and Camera. You can visually check on your home from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection.

What is remarkable about this Canary security system is that it operates in wired or wireless mode. The security camera is rugged enough to remain outdoors, so you can put one anywhere you need another set of eyes. And your digital voice assistant integration will allow you to stream live video whenever you desire.

All you need to do is ask Alexa (or whomever) to show you the baby’s room or the backyard for a security check – and presto; you have a live image of that location. It depends on how many cameras you will need for peace of mind. The power will be in your hands.

Smart plugs and individual outlets

Let’s look at a basic level of control – where the power comes out of your wall. That’s right, your existing power outlets.

Today, you can buy smart plugs, which plug into any 110v wall receptacle. After you have paired your smart plug with your smart app, you can issue voice commands to control its operation. This means you can tell it precisely when to come on or turn off, and you can tell it to continue doing so across any period.

The Conico Smart Power Strip is an excellent example of a smart plug. It comes with four outlets that are Wi-Fi enabled and also four USB ports.

Thus, with this power strip, you can control up to four devices: the TV, the lights, and a coffee pot. In addition, it makes a suitable charging station with USB ports.

Talk to your Wi-Fi

While the Wi-Fi router is considered the brightest component in your entire Wi-Fi system, it is usually the most frustrating and confusing. You can now relax, as those hair-pulling days may be over.

Netgear has made communication with your router much more straightforward with its Orbi Voice device. This is a combination of a smart speaker along with a Wi-Fi extender. All of these components make up Netgear’s Orbi home Wi-Fi system.

This system will extend the range of your existing Wi-Fi signal and integrate the Orbi Voice component to make it easier to set up and communicate with.

This means you can remotely operate your Wi-FI router with voice commands. Imagine saying, “Alexa, get Netgear to reboot my router,” rather than kneeling under your desk and rebooting it the old way.

Or how about “Alexa, what’s my router password?” You’d have one less password to worry about.

Answering your door

Have you noticed how many consumers are becoming more private and obscure as technology gets more powerful and precise?

There’s a good reason for this we are constantly bombarded with ads and sales pitches in this information age. Our email boxes are full of spam, our physical mailboxes are full of spam, our voicemails are full of spam, and salespeople even knock on our doors – leaving spam on the front porch.

So here’s a way to rid yourself of one of these spamming sources. Whenever your doorbell rings, wouldn’t it be nice to look to see who it is, from right where you are? If it’s a pesky salesperson, you can ignore them without being bothered. And if it’s someone important, you can instantly speak to them through a speaker and provide any information and instruction.

These things are made possible using the Ring Video Doorbell Unit. You can be thousands of miles away from home and can still check your door and talk with visitors. This system brings you fantastic value – providing peace of mind for a very low cost.

And, of course, the system will also integrate with your digital voice assistant. Your assistant will deal with the system’s settings and overall functionality. You can tell to turn the motion alerts on or off, check the system’s health and much more through voice commands.

Control your microwave

For something that has been around since the 1970s, microwaves seem to have a steep learning curve. This is because there has never been a standard setup for the operation of microwaves. In addition, microwaves are like all other technologies; they keep evolving and offering new features to consumers.

One great way to simplify the operation of your microwave is to let your digital voice assistant operate it for you. Modern microwaves today already come with Wi-Fi capability. So when you first plug them into the wall, they are ready to pair up to your smart device.

So, instead of figuring out how to pop a bag of popcorn, bake a potato, or defrost a pot roast, why not let Alexa handle the details?

It’s your choice; either you can read through a tedious manual, or you could issue one of the following commands:

“Pop this bag of popcorn.”

“Please bake this potato.”

“Defrost this two-pound pot roast.”

You will no longer have to guess when it comes to cooking with your microwave. Your life will never be the same.