In Case of Emergency: Smart Home Tech to Keep You Safe

All the wonderful technological toys in the world are worthless if everything else you own gets stolen or destroyed.

Today, we’re looking at clever contraptions that will both impress you with their automated intellect and aid in the protection of that which you hold dear—your family, your pets, your property and yourself.

More:Apple's HomePod Will Have to Be This Smart to Compete With Alexa and Echo

Home Videos

The smart camera—a streaming surveillance video device that is accessible over Wi-FI—is nothing new but Nest, as is their wont, has gone and brought an additional layer of intelligence to the smart home standard.

The recently announced Nest Cam IQ (available for pre-order; $299) not only streams high-quality video to your desired device, but can identify family, friends, and potential felons.

Out of the box, the Nest Cam IQ offers users quality and uniquely clever security. When the Nest Cam IQ notices movement, it will follow the action and zoom in on the participants before sending owners a curated close-up photo alert that sacrifices nothing in picture quality, thanks to a 4K image sensor, 12x digital zoom and enhance, and high dynamic range imaging.

But users who want a more complete home security system can pair their Nest Cam IQ with a Nest Aware subscription ($100/year or $300/year, depending on desired features) for two additional alert features—Familiar Face and Intelligent Audio.

Utilizing facial recognition software that learns over time, Nest Cam IQ will send Aware subscribers Familiar Face alerts letting them know exactly who has entered their home—be it Little Johnny playing hooky from baseball practice, or an unfamiliar someone with more sinister intentions.

And because the Nest Cam IQ is also an intelligent speaker (listening and speaking; Think Amazon’s Echo), Aware subscribers can receive alerts about unusual audio taking place outside of the camera’s 130-degree view, and thanks to an advanced three-microphone array you can expect to intelligibly hear any conversation than may be taking place off-camera.

Or you could just tell your kids to turn off the TV and go to sleep, safely from the comfort of your own bed.

Breathe Easy

Of course, cat burglars aren’t the only threat to your safety at home. Carcinogens and carbon monoxide can be much more harmful to your health—and the latter is significantly more difficult to detect.

Get yourself an alarm system than can do both with Birdi ($199).

The minimally designed alarm system may be the most intelligent object you ever hang on your wall. Birdi will conduct constant analysis of your home’s air quality and take a variety of actions depending upon what it detects. Burning your steak? Birdi will sound the alarm and allow you to silence the device directly from your smart phone. Set some dish towels aflame while burning your steak? Birdi will detect the difference, sound the alarm and automatically alert the fire department. Birdi can even alert you that your Airbnb guest is smoking a cigarette.

Everything that Birdi does for fire detection, it does for the silent killer, carbon monoxide, alerting you and the authorities expediently so you can move your family to safety and have the issue addressed immediately.

And while it it may not be as life-threatening as fire or carbon monoxide (although allergy sufferers will argue its plenty debilitating), Birdi will also read the air quality in and outside your home and give you a breakdown of the dust, humidity, staleness, pollution, pollen and particulates.

Perhaps best of all, Birdi eliminates the most annoying aspect of any air quality detectors—the endless low-battery alert chirps that always seem to occur at the most inopportune times. When Birdi detects a low battery, it will automatically order more and have them shipped to you.

Stylish Safety

Sometimes the threat to our homes or person is so immediate that safety depends on being able to quickly, and discreetly, alert the authorities.

Nimb ($249) is an elegantly designed wearable ring that will let you call for help with far more speed and secrecy than scrambling for your smart phone.

The intelligent accessory has an inset panic button that, when held for three seconds, will send an emergency alert (and provide vibration feedback to let you know the message has gone through), transmitting your profile information and location to whomever you designate—from police and emergency services to friends and family and people nearby.

Delivery for the Nimb, which is available in Black and White, is expected to start in July 2017.

Spray It, Don’t Say It

Many second homes may be in danger of destruction by fire, despite a top-of-the-line smoke detector, simply because their remote and oftentimes unique locations greatly inhibit response times from emergency services.

Here the Automist Smartscan can be essential.

This reimagining of the residential sprinkler system is wall-mounted and is activated when triggered by a heat alarm. Once activated, the Automist scans the room, identifies the location of the fire and shoots a high-pressured jet of water mist at the blaze—a technique that can combat dangerous fires more effectively than conventional sprinklers while using significantly less water, thus greatly reducing water damage to the home.

And, finally. the Birdi has some competition for the smartest device you can hang on the wall.

Visit plumis.com for more information on adding the Automist Smartscan to your home’s firefighting repertoire.