How to Prevent People from Hacking Smart Home Devices

If you’ve watched enough spy movies, you’ve probably seen both the good guys and the bad guys hack into computer systems, tap into cameras, deactivate security devices, and other means needed to accomplish their aim without getting caught. Their methods are dramatized for cinematic purposes, but real-life hackers can achieve similar results. Your home probably isn’t a fortified base holding an artifact critical to a mission. However, the real-life hackers may still see it as a target. As one cyber security expert put it, “If it’s digital, it’s hackable.” We surround ourselves with digital technology, and some hackers find ways to take advantage of this by hacking smart home devices.

What Hackers Do

It starts with finding something to hack. Many hackers will use network scanning tools to locate devices. They would then execute various strategies to gain access. Once they’ve accessed one device on the network, it’s easier to hack into others.

They might access the indoor cameras to watch what’s happening inside a home. Finding it empty, they could decide to investigate further. By accessing the smart thermostat, they’re able to see the temperature is set lower than the usual of previous weeks, suggesting that the residents could be out of town. The hacker keeps an eye on the home. When they conclude they’re right about the home being vacant, they decide to take advantage of it. First, they access the cameras, ring doorbell, and alarm system and disconnect them from the Wi-Fi to deactivate them. Then, they tap into the smart locks and let themselves in. When the residents come back from their vacation, they find they’ve been victims of a home robbery.

Now, before you smash your Ring Video Doorbell and swear off all technology, there are things you can do to prevent people from hacking smart home devices.

1. Be Smart with Your Devices

Preventing people from hacking smart home devices starts with the devices you choose. When you’re designing your smart home system, get devices that have built-in security features. Many major brands do, but some are safer than others. You will want to do your research and find devices that are less vulnerable. If you’ve already built your system and find out you chose less secure devices, it may be time to upgrade.

Whatever devices you end up using, you will regularly want to check for software and firmware updates. Often, hackers can attack outdated encryption algorithms to get into devices. If you keep yours updated, that’s one less thing hackers can use against you.

2. Be Smart with Your Logins

If you have weak logins, it will be easier for a hacker to get into your devices and the accounts associated with them. Use strong passwords, and don’t use the same password on multiple accounts. If you do, a hacker will only need to crack one password. Then, they can easily get into all your other accounts that use that password. Have you been reusing the same password because you know you won’t remember a bunch of different passwords? A password manager app is a great way of securely storing your passwords so you can look them up rather than going through the “forgot password” process whenever you need to log in.

To add another layer of security, use two-factor verification wherever possible. This way, a hacker might crack the password to one of your accounts, but they won’t get the text or email code they need to complete the login.

3. Be Smart with Wi-Fi

Sometimes, hackers will access smart devices and use this as a bridge into hacking laptops and other devices that may contain more personal information than your smart fridge does. To prevent this, you may want to set up a secondary network for guests and smart home devices that is separate from the network you use for your computers. When connecting devices to this smart home network, use PoE (Power over Ethernet) connections rather than Wi-Fi as much as possible. This adds an extra layer of security, making it so a hacker would need to go through the added step of figuring out how to get through your network’s firewall before they would be able to start trying to hack into the device. When you are away from home, never use public networks to remotely access your smart home devices. This makes a hacker’s job even easier. Instead, use your cellular data, a far safer method than the unsecured public networks.

In the case of your home security system, you can prevent aspects of it from being connected to your network altogether if you get a cellular monitoring system rather than one with a Wi-Fi connection. With cellular monitoring, a cellular module is built into the control panel, and it uses cellular and radio-based technology to communicate with the sensors rather than Wi-Fi. This makes it so hackers can’t affect your alarm system by hacking into your Wi-Fi network, and they can’t turn it off by cutting power or phone lines. Will cellular monitoring, you will know your home is always protected when you are away from home.

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Four Smart Home Devices You Need to Make Your Home Safe for Kids

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With the ability to change the color and texture of their skin, octopuses can expertly blend in with their surroundings. They are masters of evasion that can swim at speeds up to 25 mph in short bursts when they need to make a quick escape, and they can squeeze through spaces as small as an inch in diameter. They could be considered one of the most elusive creatures on Earth, though parents may argue that a small child bursting with energy is far more difficult to keep track of even when you devote your full attention to them.

It can be frustrating when we put so much into making sure our kids are well-cared for and safe, but it feels like they’re trying to be little masters of evasion so they can get into trouble. Luckily, there are technologies today that can help. If you have young children, here are four smart home devices you need to make your home safe for kids.

1. Door Sensors

After all that work you put into childproofing your house to make it safe for kids, you may find that your kids have figured out how to get past your cabinet locks. This probably won’t happen when they’re very young. However, they’re inevitably going to reach an age where they’re still young enough you don’t want them getting into the cleaning supplies, medicine cabinet, and other areas, but they’re old and clever enough that no child lock is going to be a hindrance.

When this time comes, you may want to install door sensors on the cabinets and doors to areas you’ve told your kids are a no-no. Then, when they get curious and go exploring while you’re not looking, you’ll get an alert that they’ve opened the cabinet or door, and you can intervene before they can cause any trouble.

2. Smart Locks

When your kids get old enough to come and go on their own, you may want to give them a way of getting in and out of the house on their own. That way, if you intended to return from the store before they get home from school but you’re stuck in traffic, they won’t be stuck out in the snow until you arrive to let them in. You could give them a house key, but chances are, they’ll forget to take it with them or they’ll lose it. As an easier, more reliable alternative, you could get a smart lock. Then, your kids don’t have to keep track of keys. you can simply give them a code that’s easy to remember, and they can use that.

Do you have a social butterfly who tends to be blabby? Chances are, you know they wouldn’t be able to keep code or secret no matter how much you emphasize the importance of not telling anyone, and you don’t want all their friends to have easy access to your house. In this case, you could get a smart lock with fingerprint recognition. These usually have a code option, too, but there’s no need to share the code with your kids. They can simply get in with their finger.

Another advantage of smart locks is that you don’t need to worry about if your kids remember to lock the door when they leave. Some smart locks have an auto-lock feature, and you can program the door to automatically lock after a set interval. If you don’t have a lock with an auto-lock feature, you may be able to manually check the app on your phone and lock the door remotely if you find the kids forgot.

3. Interior Cameras

Usually, we think of security cameras as a way of combating outside threats. They can also be a good way of making sure your family is safe while they’re inside the home. You can’t be in the same room as them all the time. Even if you could, you’d still need a break on occasion.

Maybe you get together with some friends for game night, and you send all the kids to play together in the playroom while the grownups play their tabletop RPG. While your party is fighting a dragon, you can check the cameras every now and then to make sure the kids aren’t fighting amongst themselves. On another occasion, you and your partner could be out for date night, and you’ve recently found a new babysitter. You could check the cameras here and there to make sure things are going okay at home.

4. Robotic Vacuum

Especially when kids are younger, they like putting things in their mouths. You don’t want them making a snack out of something bad they found on the ground before you can intervene. Instead, at the press of a button or a command to the voice assistant your robotic vacuum connects with, you can send your robotic vacuum to eliminate any small pebbles that got tracked into the house, those leaves your house plant dropped, and so forth before your kids find them.

You could vacuum manually, but a robotic vacuum saves you time when you’re already swamped. Plus, you won’t run into the dilemma of cleaning taking twice as long when your kids decide they want to help. Now, you’re not just vacuuming the floor. You’re dodging the kid who keeps running in front of the vacuum and minding the cord so your kids don’t trip on it. If you have a robotic vacuum, you can take your kids to a different part of the house and play with them while the vacuum does the work. Your kids are safe and out of the way of the vacuum, and you have one less chore to worry about.

The less you have to worry about, the more time you have to enjoy raising your family. They grow up fast, almost as fast as technology changes. For now, use the technology currently available to make your job as a parent easier and to keep your kids safer.

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Maximize Productivity with These Home Office Hacks

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Most of 2020 was a dumpster fire that we will not speak of, but it led to a notable trend in the workforce we will acknowledge, specifically the growing popularity of remote jobs and the increasing availability of remote positions. Recent studies have shown working from home to be more productive, especially if employees use strategies to maximize productivity. One of these is to ensure you have a good home office space. Perhaps you recently got a new remote position, or you have been remote for a while and are looking for ways of improving. Whatever the case, here are some life hacks on how to design a home office space that will maximize productivity.

1. Have a Separate Workspace

Our brains come to associate different places with different things, depending on what we use them for. When you’re working from home, blurring the lines can be tempting and problematic. You may find yourself thinking it would be more comfortable to work on your bed, but this area is associated with sleep rather than work, so you will be more inclined to get tired or have trouble concentrating. On the flip side, if you train yourself to work sitting on your bed, you may find yourself having a harder time sleeping at night since your brain will think it’s time to be awake and working.

What about curling up on the couch with your laptop, then? Well… That also might not be the best idea. Since couches are generally used for watching movies and other relaxing activities, your brain will think it’s time to relax and won’t want to focus on work. The kitchen table or counter? That could work, but you’ll likely find yourself wanting to snack throughout the day since you’re where you go when it’s time to eat.

So where can you work to maximize productivity? You will want to set up an area designated for work, but if you have limited space and don’t have an entire room to turn into a home office, you can use a room for multiple purposes. Just make sure there’s a separate space for each. Pick a corner in your bedroom, kitchen, or living room and set up a desk. If you’re very limited on space, folding tables are a great way of conserving space while still giving yourself a separate workspace.

2. Get Comfortable

You don’t have to be on a cozy couch to be comfortable during your workday. Invest in a good chair, and keep ergonomics in mind. You may even want to look into a standing desk if you see yourself doing better when you aren’t sitting as much. If needed, get a taller computer monitor or a stand for your existing one. Your neck will thank you if the screen is at eye level.

After you have your basic setup, consider lighting. You will want your space to be well-lit and to maximize natural lighting. Not only will this help you better stay alert throughout the day, but it will also help you sleep better at night.

You will also want to ensure you are working in a comfortable temperature. Most studies agree that temperature affects productivity, but few agree on what the ideal temperature for productivity should be, so determine what works best for you. If you find yourself needing to change the temperature during the day and you have a smart thermostat, you won’t need to step away from your work to adjust it. You can quickly do so from the app on your phone and then get back to what you were doing.

3. Minimize Distractions

Another smart home hack to maximize productivity would be to get a video doorbell as a way of minimizing distractions. Without a video doorbell, when you hear the door ring on a day you’re expecting a food delivery, you will be inclined to step away from your work to answer the door. Then, when you find out it’s not the DoorDash driver but a solicitor, you have to politely get them to go away before you can go back to your workspace and resume what you were doing. It’s a hassle and takes up time you could be using more productively. With a video doorbell, when the doorbell rings, you can quickly check to see if it’s something you need to take a brief break for or if you can ignore it and resume.

You may find yourself contending with other external distractions if you live in a loud area or aren’t the only person home during the day. Unwanted noise can make it difficult for you to concentrate on your work, but it can often be decreased or eliminated using sound-reducing panels or noise-canceling headphones.

You don’t have to work in a bland, quiet area to maximize productivity, though. Get some tunes going if you’ve found that helps you and it works for your job, and feel free to add some decorations to personalize your workspace. However, you will want to avoid clutter, which can draw your attention and distract you from your work. Consider getting a few plants. These are great decorations that will improve productivity in addition to air quality.

After you’ve designed a home office space to improve the quality of your workday, don’t be afraid to add or change things down the road. It’s your workspace, so make it yours.

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Things You Shouldn’t Use Smart Plugs For

Smart plugs are a great way of adding automation to your home. The possibilities of what you can do with them are limited only by the capabilities of the smart plug you’ve selected, the devices you use around your home, and your imagination. You can find hundreds of lists with suggestions on what you can do with your smart plugs. Some are more practical than others, some make a task less efficient for the sake of doing it in a “smart” way, and some are hazardous. Here are a few of the often-recommended suggestions that are things you shouldn’t use smart plugs for.

1. Slow Cookers

There has been a rise in the popularity of slow cookers and multi-cookers in society’s search for faster and easier ways of doing things. Because of this, companies developed and released cookers with delayed start settings. Then, you can put your food in the pot before you leave in the morning and come home to a cooked dinner. All multi-cookers come with a delayed start setting, but older slow cookers don’t. People have found that if their slow cooker doesn’t have delayed start capabilities, they can use smart plugs to achieve the same thing.

Rather than programming the cooker to start at a set time, they program the plug to turn on at that time. Then, if they have a recipe that only needs to cook for six hours but they will be gone nine, they can wait three hours before they have the plug turn on. By the time they get home, their food will be cooked and not three hours overcooked. This sounds like a good idea in theory, but if not executed properly, it’s a safety hazard.

The Danger Zone

One of the top rules of food safety is to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Anything between 40° and 140° F is what food safety experts have termed the danger zone. Bacteria grow the most rapidly in this zone, leaving food susceptible to contamination that could result in food born illnesses. You should never leave perishable foods unrefrigerated for more than two hours. If the temperature is 90° degrees or higher, you should not leave it unrefrigerated for more than one hour.

What does this mean for your slow cooker? All slow cooker recipes take a different amount of time to cook, generally ranging between four to eight hours. If it takes you a half-hour to get to work, you work for eight hours with a half-hour lunch, and it takes you another half-hour to get home, you’ll be gone a total of nine and a half hours. Even if you scratch all the shorter-length recipes from your cookbook, a delayed start still might put your food at risk. When it’s a hot summer day and you don’t leave your AC on when you’re not home since you’re trying to be energy efficient, if you delay-start an eight-hour recipe, that will put it in the danger zone too long.

Many find a way around this by saying they’ll put the food in the crockpot while it’s still frozen. This way, it will stay cold longer However, you should never leave frozen food out to dethaw. The outside will thaw faster, putting it in the danger zone before the inside has thawed. Often, this will put the outside in the danger zone too long.

A Safer Alternative

As a safer alternative, you could get a slow cooker with a keep warm setting. Then, you can cook it immediately to keep it out of the danger zone. When it’s done, it will switch to a temperature that will keep your food safe and warm without overcooking it. If you really want to use your smart plug to program an appliance, you can hook it to your kettle or coffee maker and schedule it to align with your morning routine.

2. Preheating Hair Styling Tools

Another common smart plug recommendation is to program it to preheat your curling or straightening iron so that it’s ready by the time you need it. Most styling tools heat up in a matter of minutes, so unless you’re using it the exact same time every day, you’re just wasting power. Even if you think your schedule is that consistent, things happen. Maybe your alarm didn’t go off, so you’re running late. Perhaps one of your kids requires your attention, and it pulls you off routine. It could be a holiday, so you’re sleeping in, but you forgot to change the timer on the smart plug.

Avoid Fire Hazards

Even if you are always as prompt as the Count of Monte Cristo—on time to the second with no deviations—you might not waste any power by preheating, but you are creating a fire hazard. What is on your bathroom counter in addition to your styling tool? Plastic makeup bottles? Hair products? Hairspray? These may not currently be touching your curling iron, but someone you live with might move something. If your curling iron turns on and it’s touching or close enough to something, it would melt it, possibly start a fire. A sure way to ruin your morning is to walk into the bathroom and find a fire with a melted hairspray bottle at the center of it.

Avoid Electrical Hazards

What if you’re a conscientious person and you use safe practices? You put your styling tool on a heat-resistant pad or stand whenever you’re not using it, and you always clean everything off your counter when you’re finished. The first step is to give yourself a gold medal for being way more organized than most people. Then, consider that heat isn’t the only thing that can start a fire. Various electrical problems could also lead to a fire. It may seem unlikely if you’ve never had problems before. However, the probability is high enough that experts say you should never leave your hair styling tools unattended. Ever.

Here’s where a smart plug really can be helpful with styling tools. Are you often not sure if you remembered to unplug your styling tool? You can put a smart plug in the outlet you use for it. Then, when you’re questioning if you remembered to unplug it, you can remotely turn off the smart plug. Then, you will have peace of mind knowing that your styling tool will be safe until you get home.

3. Everything

Techies get excited about their tech, and many have suggested that smart plugs are so useful that people should use them for everything. There may come a day when smart plugs are the industry standard installed into all home. Right now, it’s not practical to use them for everything. The average US home has 75 electrical outlets. Smart plugs start around $10 each but get more expensive with better quality and more features. If you use smart plugs for everything in your house, it’s going to add up. If you can and want to spend $750+ to put in smart plugs for all of them, go for it. Otherwise, you will want to prioritize. What do you do the most, and what do you find the most inconvenient?

If you’re tired of forgetting to make sure your kid turned off their night light in the morning and finding out it’s been on all day when night comes again, you might be more inclined to use one of your smart plugs for scheduling when it’s on. If you don’t have a problem with over-charging devices, a smart plug you can set to turn off after so many hours of charging might not be at the top of your list. It could be nice having a smart plug on the Wi-Fi router so you can remotely reset it, but you don’t have to do this often enough for an occasional trip downstairs to be worth it. If you were still enforcing an internet curfew like you were before all the kids have moved out, then you’d be using a router smart plug every day. And so forth.

Determine your budget and how many smart plugs you need and go from there. It’s your home. You can customize it to whatever works best for you, your family, your budget, and your safety.

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The Mites of Electric Lightbulbs

Davy. Swan. Woodward. Evans. Edison. You’ve probably heard one or more of these names used in reference to the inventing of the lightbulb and the various debates about who the real inventor was and who stole ideas to get the credit. Even before electric lights became the standard means of lighting, Mark Twain settled the debate when he said, “It takes a thousand men to invent a telegraph, or a steam engine, or a phonograph, or a photograph, or a telephone or any other important thing—and the last man gets the credit and we forget the others. He added his little mite—that is all he did.”

Though this was not specifically about the lightbulb, the same applies.

Early Days

In ancient times, people contributed the first mites when they discovered fire as a means of light. As centuries passed and technology evolved, people turned to torches, various oil lamps, candles, and other means. Perhaps it was the growing interest scientists had in electricity in the late 1700s and 1800s and the gas lighting of the day that inspired so many to look for a way of creating electric lights.

Gas lighting was a means of lighting homes with gas. It started with a pipe system that connected to the lamps in a home. The pipes connected to various light fixtures as a means of delivering the gas. To turn on the light, one needed to open the valve on the fixture to release a small stream of gas, which one would then light with a flame. The flame in the fixture, fed by the gas, would remain active until one shut the valve on the fixture. This became a common means of lighting homes, and many cities were quick to get onboard and install gas-lit streetlamps, but many remained wary of gas lighting due to safety concerns. If used improperly, gas could be toxic and explosive.

Early Experiments

Whatever the motive behind the scientists’ electrical pursuits, many scientists became involved in the early experiments. One such experiment was Humphrey Davy’s arc lamp. He connected two wires to a battery and placed charcoal strips between the wires. Upon introducing electricity to the contraption, the electric current from the wires created an arch of light across the strips. This lamp improved on similar lamps made by other inventors, but the battery was too large and depleted too quickly for Davy’s arc lamp to be practical.

Another notable mite was Joseph Swan’s incandescent lightbulb. Between the choice of filament and the poor vacuum quality, the bulb only glowed for thirteen and a half hours, but Thomas Edison would later improve upon the design to create a 1200-hour bulb—and get sued by Swan for patent infringement (Edison had to make Swan a partner of his electrical company as restitution).

Now

The incandescent lightbulb saw many more improvements over the years, and florescent lightbulb eventually joined them as an electrical option. Though both are still available for purchase, LED lights have become what many recognize as the superior light source. Still, engineers continue adding their mites to technological development, and smart lightbulbs are making a name for themselves in the electrical industry.

Not only do many smart lightbulbs use less power to create a brighter light, reducing the cost of energy bills, they also offer additional features to give users more control over their homes. With the ability to control your lights from your phone, you can make sure the lights got turned off when you left the house and do so if you find you forgot. You can also use the app at home to turn off the lights upstairs without needing to step away from your family movie night. If you’re having a candle-lit dinner at home for date night, many smart lightbulbs offer an option of changing the brightness of the bulb, so you can dim the lights to create the perfect mood lighting. While you’re on vacation, you can set your lights on a schedule so people will think there is activity in the home.

Many currently regard smart lightbulbs as the future of lighting, and these lights would certainly blow away the historic inventors whose accomplishments led to making them possible. Perhaps as others add their mites, we will see smart lightbulbs become even smarter, but don’t let waiting for the next best thing hold you back from switching out your lights for the improved ones available now.

If you would like more information on how smart light bulbs can benefit you and how to upgrade, contact us at 844-904-9473 or request info online.

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Expecting Holiday Packages? You Need a Video Doorbell!

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Even with the holiday rush, delivery companies have processes in place to keep packages safe from the moment the shipping label is created to when they drop the packages on a porch, but after that, things are out of their hands. If you are expecting any holiday packages, you will want to make sure the package stays safe between when the driver leaves it on your porch and when you bring it inside. Using a video doorbell is a simple but effective way of doing this. If you don’t already have a video doorbell, here are five reasons why you need to add one to your shopping cart today.

1. Porch Pirate Prevention

Package theft is on the rise. In one survey, 43 % of respondents reported a stolen package in 2020, a 7% increase from 2019. Most porch pirates look for quick, easy targets. If they see you have a video doorbell—a way of getting filmed and caught—they are more likely to walk past and look for an easier target.

If seeing that your home has a video doorbell doesn’t deter them, you can take matters into your own hands. Upon receiving a notification that your video doorbell has detected someone at the door and you see someone stealing your package, you can try scaring them with the video doorbell’s two-way audio feature like the Ring Doorbell users featured here. If that fails, having video footage will increase the chances of identifying the culprit and getting your package back.

2. Be in the Know

Better yet, a video doorbell can help you prevent porch pirates from having a chance to consider your holiday packages as targets.

Not all delivery companies require their drivers to knock or ring the doorbell. Some even discourage it based on a history of customers complaining or even yelling at drivers for disturbing dogs or waking babies. (Calm down, Karen. Yelling at the driver isn’t helping your baby get back to sleep.) Without a knock or ring, you won’t know if the package has been delivered until you check outside or refresh the tracking web page after delivery. Some delivery services offer text updates, but these sometimes come well after the delivery already happened, making them not the most reliable source. They also can’t help you if the package is a surprise gift you don’t have any tracking information for.

A video doorbell, on the other hand, doesn’t require any page refreshing, and notifications are always real-time. You’ll receive a notification to your phone when the delivery driver comes to your door, and if you have a video doorbell that can detect packages, you can specifically get a notification that a package was delivered. This enables you to bring the package inside faster. Plus, if it’s an early delivery from the North Pole, you can get it inside and tucked away without the kids finding it first on their way home from a friend’s house or school.

3. Be in the Game

If you’re not home when you receive a notification that there’s someone at the door and you find it’s the delivery driver, you won’t be able to quickly bring the package inside, but there are still things you can do to protect it. Using the two-way audio feature, you could ask the driver to hide the package behind one of your yard decorations to help keep it safe until you get back. If you have smart locks with remote locking capabilities, you could even unlock your door from your phone, ask the driver to put it directly inside your house, and lock the door again when they’re done.

4. Food Deliveries

Video doorbells aren’t just useful for package deliveries. If you use food delivery services, you can have all the same benefits as with package deliveries with the added peace of mind that no one will be able to sneak a few fries without you knowing.

5. Help Your Neighbors

If your neighbor across the street is out of town, you can watch for when their holiday packages are delivered. Their porch won’t be in range for you to get notifications, but you might be able to see packages lying on the steps with your video doorbell’s live stream. Then, if you’ve made arrangements with your neighbor, you can bring the packages into the safety of your home and give them to your neighbor upon their return.

Bonus: Make Someone’s Day

Even with the recent push for contactless delivery and the rise of drivers not knocking upon delivery, it’s not a line of work with no customer contact. Sometimes, the driver will need to wait for a signature, or they could cross paths with someone leaving home, coming home, or working in the yard. Where there is customer service, there will inevitably be rude customers, but you can use your video doorbell to give your delivery driver a good customer interaction. When they are delivering the package, you could chime in over the two-way audio and give them a simple thank you. It doesn’t seem like much, but a few kind words can go a long way, especially this holiday season when they are under more pressure than any other time of year.

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How to Safely Clean Your Outdoor Security Cameras

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If you have outdoor cameras, they can expose crimes, but in the process, they are exposed to nature. Installing your cameras under the eaves of your home can help protect them from birds, but they will still be subject to spiders, rain, snow, mud, that polluted precipitation that is a cocktail of rain or snow and smog, and more. Because of this, you’re going to encounter times when the cameras are dirty enough that it affects the image quality of the footage. When this happens, you’ll need to clean your cameras. Some recommend a consistent cleaning schedule as a better way of ensuring a long lifespan for your cameras rather than just occasional spot cleaning. Recommendations typically range from once a month to twice a year with spot cleaning as needed. Whatever you decide is the best schedule for you, you will want to clean your cameras in a safe manner that won’t damage them.

1. Don’t Add to the Statistics

Each year, there are more than 160,000 injuries from ladder falls in the US. Of the 300 ladder-related deaths, the majority are from falls of ten feet or fewer. Since most security cameras are positioned high enough that you’ll likely need to pull out a ladder to clean them, use proper ladder safely when cleaning your cameras so you don’t add to the statistics.

2. Check the Manual or Manufacturer’s Website for Special Instructions

For most cameras, you will be safe to proceed with the rest of the instructions in this guide, but some cameras require special care to prevent damage during cleaning. Tracking down a manual or sifting through a website may add a few extra minutes to the process, but it will be minutes well-spent, especially if you find your cameras have special care instructions.

3. Evict Spiders

If you have dome cameras, spiders are less likely to be an issue. These don’t have good supports for web building. If you have bullet cameras, spiders will love your cameras. They give spiders a sturdy base to build a home and a good tool for their hunt. Most outdoor cameras emit infrared light, which bugs are drawn to. As a result, many spiders have learned to build their webs in front of security cameras. Drawn to the infrared light, the bugs will fly right into the spider’s trap.

It’s a great survival strategy for the spiders, but it’s less convenient for you. Webs can block the view of the cameras and can trigger false alerts with motion-activated cameras. By regularly cleaning your cameras, you teach spiders that it’s not a safe place to build their webs, and chances are, you’ll see fewer webs going forward.
When you need to clean off webs, you probably don’t want to come in contact with them. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t care about getting dirty, you can take care of all the webs from up close, but if you’d rather not, you can start by using a broom to sweep the webs off the base of the camera. Do not sweep over the lenses. If there are any webs on the lenses, you’ll have to get up close and wipe these off with a microfiber cloth.

4. Disassemble as Needed

If you have dome cameras, you will need to remove the dome before you will be able to clean the camera. Each brand will be different, so you’ll again want to turn to the manual or manufacturer’s website to find how to do this. If you have bullet cameras, these do not require any disassembly.

5. Blow off Loose Dust and Dirt

To most effectively blow off loose dust and dirt, use compressed air or a rubber air blower pump. Don’t blow on it yourself since there’s a high probability you’ll make it even dirtier in the process.

6. Exterior

To clean the exterior of your cameras, wipe them down with water. Then, dry them thoroughly. Do not use an excessive amount of water. Your cameras may be water-resistant, but too much water will damage them.

7. Remove Spots

If there is hard water or other buildup, you will want to clean this using a microfiber cloth and a lens cleaning solution. Do not use paper towels or any other material that could scratch the lenses. If you don’t have a microfiber cloth, get one. They’re usually inexpensive. If you don’t have a lens cleaning solution, you can substitute water for this. Spray the solution onto the lenses and wipe with the microfiber cloth. Make sure to completely dry the lenses so they don’t smudge while air drying.

8. Finishing Up

If needed, reassemble your camera. After that, you’re done, and you can now enjoy the optimal image quality that your cameras can provide again.

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Why You Should Make Your Rental Property a Smart Home

If you own a rental property and you want to maximize the return on your investment, you will need to be competitive, especially as we head into the winter months. As the market slows down, renters are more particular about the home they are going to live in. To attract good tenants and get a higher rental income, you will want to make sure your property is up-to-date and in good condition, and if you want your property to stand out even more, you can add smart home features. One study showed that 57% of the tenants they surveyed would be willing to pay more for rent if the property has smart home features. Here are some of the reasons why renters want smart home features and how installing them will also benefit you.

Savings

A smart thermostat is one of the most popular smart home features you will want to consider installing. The majority of the average household’s energy bill goes toward heating and cooling, but using a smart thermostat can reduce the bills by 10% to 15%. If you have a smart thermostat, this makes your rental more desirable since the tenants know they’ll be spending less on utilities. It will benefit you by reducing the amount you pay for the billing periods when the property is vacant, and since you’re working to create a more desirable property, you can anticipate a shorter vacancy period.

You can give yourself another benefit for the transitions between tenants by installing smart locks. The cost of rekeying varies by vendor, but it tends to get expensive. Some owners don’t rekey when tenants move out because of the cost, but this is a liability issue that you should avoided at all costs. Do yourself a favor and pay the cost of rekeying or, better yet, install smart locks. This way, there are no keys involved and you can simply change the code between tenants. After enough property turns, the smart look will pay for itself.

Convenience

Smart locks aren’t just good to have between tenants. They can also be advantageous during the lease term. You would be surprised how easily people can lock themselves out of their homes and how often it happens. With smart locks, you never have to worry about getting the call that your tenants locked themselves out of the house and they need your help getting back in. There won’t be any keys involved since they’ll be able to get in simply by inputting a code.

Keys can especially be a pain where maintenance is concerned. There will be times when urgent maintenance needs to be completed on the home and you’ve given appropriate legal notice of entry for the vendor to come by the property and complete the work, but the tenant has let you know they won’t be home at that time to let the vendor in. With traditional locks, this becomes a case of key juggling where either the vendor has to make a trip to pick up the key from you or you have to make time to drop the key off to the vendor. With smart locks, you can simply give the code or a temporary code to the vendor so they can access the property.

Safety

Given the choice between two comparable properties, many tenants would choose the one they feel most safe in, so if you have home security features, this could increase the desirability of your property. Cameras are one of the most common features used in home security, but if your property has a video doorbell or cameras, you will need to manage these in a way that stays clear of privacy concerns. An easy way to do this is to fully disconnect any accounts you have set up and to have the tenant create their own accounts.

Alternately, you could forego installing cameras and use motion detecting lights as a subtler way of steering shady folk away from the property, and you could give your tenant the option of installing their own cameras if they would like, under the condition they restore the home to the condition they got it in when they vacate so they don’t leave behind holes in the walls from the cameras, for though you want happy tenants, you also want to protect your investment so you can keep your property’s market value up and continue to maximize your rental income.

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Turkey in Trouble? Tech to the Rescue!

Hosting a party is always stressful, yet in many families, someone always ends up doing it so the whole family can get together at Thanksgiving. For some, it’s an enjoyable celebration of giving thanks. Others wish that one relative would stop asking personal questions that are none of their business or for that other relative to stop being so loud about their controversial opinions, which always start a fight. Then, there are the younger kids who get restless long before the pie comes out. Whoever is hosting generally gets caught in the middle of it all. If you’re hosting and you have home security and automation features, you can use these to make at least some elements of the gathering run more smoothly.

Say the guests will be arriving any minute, and you’re running late. Several dishes have taken longer to cook than the estimated cook times. The gravy still won’t thicken, and your kids still haven’t set the table despite their promising to help earlier in the day and your numerous reminders. Sound familiar? If you’ve ever been in a similar position, then you know what happens next according to Murphy’s law.

The doorbell rings.

Given how today has been going, if you step away from your gravy now, it will probably burn or otherwise get ruined. But, for once, something is in your favor. Still stirring the gravy with one hand, you pull out your phone and open the app for your Ring video doorbell with the other. Utilizing the two-way audio, you invite the first guests to come inside. You also unlock your smart lock from your phone so they can get inside. With your gravy safe and your guests out of the cold, you make conversation as you finish up and invite other guests in as they arrive until it’s time to gather around the table for the Thanksgiving feast.

When groups of people gather in one room, it tends to make a room warm. This dinner is no exception. The conversation is currently enjoyable, so you’re glad you don’t have to leave the table to change the thermostat. Instead, you can adjust your Nest learning thermostat from the app.

As the evening goes on, the conversation grows less interesting, and those at the kid table—even some of the adult children who haven’t graduated to the big table yet—look painfully bored. Knowing kids, it’s only a matter of time before one of them invents a rowdy way of getting attention. At this point, you invite them into a different area of the house for some Thanksgiving games. They’ll be entertained, and you check on them occasionally with your indoor security cameras to make sure they don’t get into too much trouble. When it’s time for pie, you again open your Ring app and use the indoor camera’s two-way talk to invite them to join, which they eagerly do.

There’s no such thing as a perfect Thanksgiving, but by the time everyone goes home, you declare this one a success, and you’re glad you had your technology to make things easier.

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Keeping It New While Keeping the Charm

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New. New technology. New styles. Mainstream society is all about new. In many cases, this is beneficial. With advances in technology, things are becoming faster, easier, and more efficient, but sometimes aesthetic is lost in the process. If you’re the person in your neighborhood who is known for having the gorgeous vintage or otherwise old-fashioned home and you want to add some modern updates, here are some tips on how to accomplish this without losing the historic charm.

Preserve

Go through your home and decide what you want to keep and what you want to update. You might decide it would be a crime to touch the cabinets and hand-carved molding even though everyone is telling you dark wood is out of date and you should paint it a different color. This isn’t about what friends and designers say. This is about you and the unique piece of history you call home. But you do think it’s time to install a new bathroom sink that will give you some counter space.

In addition to design updates, you may want to add some of this new technology you’ve heard about, but don’t sacrifice the features of your home you love in the name of technology. If while performing your home assessment you determined you cannot part with your beautiful antique doorbell, then installing a video doorbell probably isn’t the right thing for you. Instead, you could achieve a similar result by installing an exterior camera that monitors your porch. Some outdoor cameras will even allow for the two-way communication many video doorbells are capable of. If you are interested in getting smart locks but can’t give up your ornate doorknob, you may want to look into a deadbolt smart lock. Unlike lever smart locks, you don’t have to remove the original doorknob to install one.

Keep It Inconspicuous

It you want up-to-date technology but you don’t want it to show and ruin your look, there are things you can do to make it less noticeable. If you’re looking to get door and window sensors, you could look at the option of installing recessed sensors, more inconspicuous than the standard version and just as effective.

Changing out a light fixture would cause a drastic change in the design of your home, but changing the lightbulbs would be a far smaller and less noticeable change. Whether you’re looking to install more energy efficient bulbs or even smart lights, the most important thing to be aware of is the wattage of your light fixture. The wattage of the bulb has to be equal to or less than the maximum wattage of your fixture. Otherwise, you could possibly cause permanent damage to your light fixture, which would ruin your efforts of preserving your home’s historic charm. More urgently, having non-compatible lightbulbs is a fire hazard and should be avoided. If you are unsure how many watts your light fixture is, you will most likely be able to find it printed inside or on the socket of the fixture. If your fixture doesn’t have this or it’s so old that the text has faded and become illegible over time, you may need to manually determine the wattage with a multimeter or find someone who has one and would be willing to do it for you.

Add Style

As you are installing updates, you can incorporate more of your home’s charm by adding your style to the updates. While you’re choosing your dead bolt  smart lock, you can look for one that is close to the color of your doorknob. It you want to go a step further, you could look for ways to make your new tech part of the interior design. If your smart speaker is on a shelf, you could pair it with a candle and your favorite vintage vase to add aesthetic, and you could get a decorative wall plate for your Nest thermostat that matches the style of your home. Those are just a few ideas, but there are as many options available to you as there are possible Google searches.

Once everything is to your liking—you’ve added your updates while keeping your home’s charm—not only will you be known for having the gorgeous house, you’ll be known for having the tech house, too, but at the end of it all, the opinions of others don’t matter. This is your home. What are you going to do with it?

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