Home Automation For Dummies

The easy way to control your home appliances

Do you want to control common household appliances and amenities from your smartphone or tablet, wherever you happen to be? Home Automation For Dummies guides you through installing and setting up app-controlled devices in your home, such as heating and air conditioning, lighting, multimedia systems, game consoles, and security and monitoring devices—and even suggests popular products to consider.

The saturation of the mobile market with smart devices has led to an upsurge in domestic devices, such as thermostats, refrigerators, smoke detectors, security systems, among others, that can be controlled by those devices. Both Google and Apple offer fully-integrated solutions for connecting mobile devices to home theater and audio systems, and now Google has branched out into smart thermostats and smoke detectors. If you’ve caught the bug and want to get your feet wet in this cool new phenomenon, Home Automation For Dummies gives you plain-English, step-by-step instructions for tech-ifying your home without breaking a sweat.

• Provides clear instructions on remotely controlling your home appliances
• Shows you how to set preferences to automatically adjust lighting or temperature
• Explores digital “life hacks” that explain how non-app-ready appliances can be controlled via smart phones using third-party go-betweens
• Covers an emerging segment of the industry that was one of the primary focuses of this year’s Consumer Electronic Show

If you’re looking to find new ways to simplify and better control your home environment using app-driven devices, your phone, or tablet, Home Automation For Dummies makes it easier.

Table of Contents

Part I: Introducing Home Automation
Chapter 1: Home Automation 101
Chapter 2: What You Need to Get Started
Chapter 3: Determining Your Home Automation Needs (and Wants)

Part II: Automating Inside Your Home
Chapter 4: Keeping Your Cool or Turning Up the Heat
Chapter 5: Nice and Tidy Does It!
Chapter 6: I’m in the Mood for . . . Anything: Automated Lighting
Chapter 7: Safe, Sound, and Hunkered Down
Chapter 8: Home, Home on the Automatic Range: The Automated Kitchen
Chapter 9: Monitoring Water Use and Detecting Leaks
Chapter 10: Smart Home Entertainment

Part III: Automating Outside Your Home
Chapter 11: Checking the Weather
Chapter 12: Your Grandfather’s Dream, Your Reality: Automating Lawn Care

Part IV: Taking Command of Your Home Automation Systems
Chapter 13: Working with Mobile Devices and Computers
Chapter 14: Controlling Your Home from One Platform

Part V: The Part of Tens
Chapter 15: Ten Easy Ways to Begin Automating Your Home
Chapter 16: Ten Great Websites for Home Automation
Chapter 17: Ten Other Options for Automating Your Life