3 Awesome Things Your Home Can Now Do On Its Own

Home automation is a fast-growing trend with explosive implications. Thanks to the convenience and flexibility of the Internet, anyone with access to a smartphone or tablet can take full advantage of improved security measures, energy savings, all-around convenience and unheard-of entertainment features. Simply put—spending time at home has never been so sweet.

Lowered Energy Costs

Recently, a startup company called "Nest" developed an internet-based home thermostat. The idea was to conserve energy and save homeowners money on their utilities—and it works. Having the ability to gradually heat or cool your home remotely can save you up to 20 percent in energy costs. And who doesn't like the thought of returning home to the perfect ambient temperature, or being able to shut off a running A/C from work, the gym, or on the road? Nest’s concept is so brilliant that it eventually caught the attention of Google, which decided to purchase the company for a whopping $3.2 billion.

Kitchen Convenience

Are you out of eggs? LG's new SmartFridge has built-in cameras that will take and send photos to your smartphone so you know for sure. This is a Heaven-sent when it comes to grocery shopping. The SmartFridge can even send updated photos each and every time its doors are opened and closed, so you know what’s being polished-off while you’re away.

The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence has developed an entire automated kitchen called "Kochbot". It’s operated by a central computer with voice-activated displays. Just tell it what you'd like to cook and the system pulls from some 30,000 stored recipes to choose from. It will then guide you through each step, tell the faucet to dispense the exact amount water needed for the recipe, or set the range to the right temperature. It also turns everything off for you when you're finished. Now, if Kochbot could only clean up the mess…

Total Entertainment

Impress your guests with superb entertainment capabilities. You can now use your Smart phone or iPad to direct your favorite music to any part of the house, or outside to the pool or spa—which, of course, can be adjusted automatically to the perfect temperature, using a simple app. You can also dim the lights, draw the shades, and stream movies to any room… all at the touch of a button.

This kind of technology does more than just make your life easier (and a little more fun), it can make you the king or queen of hosts. The life of every party. And it will certainly fuel the envy of friends, family and neighbors.

Science-fiction writers and die-hard techies aside, who could have seen this kind of amazing technology coming? And what will they think of next?