Simply secured with magnets, then controlled by a smartphone or tablet app, a battery-powered, Bluetooth-enabled Switchmate invites a user to remotely flip the connected light switch from your phone, say, before you walk in the door or when you’re half asleep and can’t even muster a proper hand clap. (Yes, we all remember “the Clapper.”)
As many as 12 Switchmates can be associated with one app and programmed to turn lights on/off when you’re away as a security precaution. Lights will also blink the semi-old-fashioned way, by pressing on the Switchmate’s own push-button-endowed faceplate. No, the first-gen version doesn’t have a dimmer function. Drat. $39.99 at MySwitchmate.com.
—Lock and roll. Spoiled by smart front door locks that open with an app instead of a key? Student dorm and apartment managers don’t take kindly to residents adding their own lock. But there ain’t no stopping you now from securing valuable stuff in a latched locker, closet, or steamer trunk with Locksmart ($89.95) and Locksmart Mini ($69.95) padlocks.
These property protectors trade in ye old combination numbers and keys for a secure (128-bit encrypted) pass code that’s beamed by Bluetooth from a smartphone. The lock opens by tapping on the phone’s screen or working its fingerprint sensor. Users can share lock access with others for use on a onetime or “until further notice” basis, and can easily reprogram a lock if its associated phone goes missing. More info at dogandbonecases.com.
—Sniffing out trouble. Smartening up a wall-mounted smoke or carbon-monoxide detector with a Roost smart battery could save your favorite student’s life, as it beams the warning alert directly to his/her omnipresent phone.
Replacing a conventional smoke/CO2 detector’s standard-issue 9-volt battery, the Roost is identically sized but has a detachable bottom section hosting a microphone (to listen for the local alarm) and a Wi-Fi transmitter that relays an alert.
The warning also can be sent to associated “friends and family” phones and/or 911. While not as feature-laden as a Nest smart smoke detector, a Roost is two-thirds cheaper at $34.95 (at Home Depot and shop.getroost.com). And when its five-year-life battery element runs down, that component can be swapped out for $15.
—Post-It notes, 2016 style. Does your family communicate a lot through Post-It notes left on the refrigerator door? Keep the flow going, long distance, with a Triby, a refrigerator door mountable (thanks to built-in magnets) smart communications system with lots of nifty Wi-Fi and cloud-enabled features.
Actually, the first non-Amazon smart speaker that can also hear and respond to voiced “Alexa” commands, a $199 Triby will likewise summon internet radio channels, Spotify, and news/weather reports on request, beamed with decent sound quality (bass shy but clear).
Now, the differences. This slim thing boasts a small e-ink screen rarin’ to show text messages and “Doodle” drawings sent by far-away friends and family on a companion Triby app.
Whenever a new message comes in, a yellow tab pops out of the Triby. When it’s pushed back in, the sender gets a message the doodle has been duly seen.
Sweeter still, parents, you can make a free, VOIP (voice over internet protocol) phone call directly to the Triby from that same app or another Triby.
One caveat: It’s best to keep a Triby plugged into an AC wall outlet. The gizmo can run on rechargeable battery power, as well, but only for a couple of days if you’ve left Alexa in “always listening” mode.
—No breaches. Hardly cheap (about $600) but very cool, the just-out Samsung Note 7 smartphone stands above the pack with a gorgeous, edge-wrapped 5.7-inch screen squeezed into a grippable case. Also gotta shout out for its faster processing, enhanced drawing skills with a new-gen smart stylus, water resistance, high storage capacity, fast recharging, Samsung Pay skills, amazing VR thrills, and maybe smartest of all, retina-security ID checking that guarantees the wrong eyes can’t peer at your privates.
—One for my baby. While most profs are happy to get student papers delivered as email, there's a lot to be said for keeping a multi-function printer in the dorm room, for clear-eyed proofreading, poster making, wireless photocopying, document scanning, and emailing. An Epson Expression ET-2500 EcoTank All-in-One Printer might initially look costly at $279.99 from Epson.com.
But its unique, high-capacity bottle-loading system makes this sweetie far less expensive (and more eco friendly) over the long run than ink jet printers using dinky little cartridges. An EcoTank arrives with enough color/black ink stock to print at least 4,000 pages. That’s likely to keep the entire dorm suite going for months and make its owner a hero. Or rich in beer money, charging classmates 10 cents a copy. A set of replacement bottles costs $60. Do the math.
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