54 MEN’S FITNESS AUGUST 2016
Burn It!
Morning to night, simplify, streamline and soup up Nick Ferrari
your daily life with these revolutionary new home
products from “the Internet of Things”.In a world of self-driving
cars and smartphones
with thumbprint scans, it
shouldn’tcomeasashockto
see marketers selling things
like backyard “telegardens” tended to by
green-thumbed robots, dog collars that
alert you when your Labrador’s running
a fever and toothbrushes that collect
“hygiene data”. But welcome to “the
Internet of Things,” or “IoT”— which,
as silly and brazenlyJetsons-esque as it
sounds, is the catch-all term for all the
new, internet-enabled products that
early adopters promise will populate
our homes and ultimately make our lives
easier. It’s a movement that sprang to life
with the 2011 arrival of Nest, the smart
thermostat gobbled up by Google.
“This is what happens when computers
get so cheap you can literally put a chip
in just about anything,” saysinluential
IoT designer Alexandra Deschamps-
Sonsino. But, ever the sceptic with my
wallet — especially when it comes to new
tech—IdecidedtodivedeepintotheIoT
wormhole, talking to experts and trying
out new products, to see which futuristic
items actually live up to the hype. What
I discovered is that you don’t strike gold
with every gizmo — but if you sift through
enough of these (sometimes gimmicky)
products, you do ind a few nuggets.I
Wake up to a
brighter future
ENTRY-LEVEL IoT
Lock (and unlock) your house,
even when you’re goneCountless IoT products purport to improve
home security — chiely remote cameras and
alarms. Frankly, I’m no fan of any of them,
because they seem to fuel paranoia more
than anything else. (Sure, you can see your
apartment’s being robbed, but what good is
that unless the camera alerts the authorities
immediately?) So, instead of buying into
one of the many CCTV systems out there,
I’d suggest shelling out for theAugust
SmartLock(august.com). The SmartLock
replaces your conventional deadbolt with a
device that lets you lock or unlock your door
using a smartphone, whether you’re on the
doorstep or 10 kays away. This is especially
useful if you’re renting your apartment out
on Airbnb and want a temporary digital
key for a guest, or need to unlock the door
so your friendly FedEx guy can deliver a
package when you’re not home. Best of all,