Smart Home companies like TP-Link make products that you can use to control and manage your home, including the TP-Link Kasa Smart line of Wi-Fi plugs, light bulbs, light switches, and smart camera -- plus the networking routers and Wi-Fi extenders to use to communicate with these devices.
These smart devices can be controlled and scheduled from the Kasa app, or by voice from digital assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. (See Holiday 2017 for more on Smart Home devices.)
While this year's crop of smart home devices does not feature exotic new technology, it is another striking example of how technology continues to advance with better, smaller, and cheaper products.
For example, the TP-Link Kasa Smart Plugs allow you to remotely control anything that you plug into them, for example to turn the holiday decorations on and off.
The new TP-Link Kasa Smart Plug Mini (HS105) has also dropped in price, now at around $26 compared to $34 last year.
But the real fun is the new TP-Link Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Power Strip (HS300), which crams 6 smart outlets plus 3 USB charging ports onto a power strip -- for only around $79.
Yes, the power strip is a tad long at 14.17 x 2.49 x 1.48 inches and 1.55 pounds, but you get full control of the outlets -- you can power them on and off independently, or all together as a group.
The Kasa Smart Power Strip also monitors the energy usage of the connected devices, and provides surge protection.
Similarly, this year's TP-Link Kasa Smart Light Bulb line includes new dimmable (adjust brightness), Tunable (soft to bright light), and Multicolor bulbs that have improved in all three of these ways.
The new TP-Link Kasa Multicolor Smart Light Bulb (KL130) is dimmable, tunable, and can adjust the color (2500K - 9000K). The big difference is the further compaction of the Wi-Fi and color tuning electronics, thinning the shape so that it's even closer to the volume of a traditional light bulb.
Kasa Multicolor Smart Light Bulb is available for around $39, compared to $42 for the previous model last year.
And it's smaller -- 4.65 x 2.36 inches vs 5.14 x 2.56 inches (118 x 60 mm vs 130.5 x 65 mm) -- and lighter -- 0.3 pounds vs 0.4 pounds (139 g vs 180 g).
So it's fun to see the improvement in these products in just a year, and to control devices in your home to make them smart. For example, think about what you can do with holiday decorations -- displaying colors and controlling other decorations directly, or by setting up a daily schedule of changes over time.
- See full Holiday Tech 2018 presentation for my local talks in the Princeton area
- See companion article in U.S. 1 Newspaper, Nov. 14, 2018
Find the TP-Link Smart Power Strip and
and TP-Link Smart Light Bulb on Amazon.com