This week’s Smart Living roundup features an IoT kit to retrofit your home, a customer engagement project to help homeowners save on energy bills, and a connected home system that keeps you in the know.

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littleBits’ Smart Home Kit

If you’re looking to get on the Internet of Things bandwagon but do not want to replace all your existing devices with smart ones, littleBits Electronics, Inc. launched a new kit for retrofitting upgrades with minimal hassle.

Called the Smart Home Kit, the new lineup from littleBits costs $249 and comes with 14 modules including a temperature sensor, 11 accessories including an AC switch, and the cloudBit hub acting as the brains of the operation by enabling just about any device to connect to the Internet. littleBit’s Smart Home Kit connects your gadgets so you can remotely control them using your mobile device or computer. Centrally manage your thermostat, electronic window shades, the coffee maker and lights, all without having to purchase pricey new devices.

“The major players in smart home right now are major companies like Apple or GE or Google that are prescribing and designing these devices they think you need and they think you should put in your home,” said Krystal Persaud, product design lead for the Smart Home Kit. “The reason why we developed the Smart Home Kit is because we think you should have another option. All of these companies are putting out, for example, a smart coffee maker. What’s wrong with your coffee maker? What’s wrong with that vintage lamp you found or the things that you love inside your home?”

Project helps homes save on electricity

Bidgely, Inc., provider of a cloud-based customer empowerment and business intelligence platform for utilities, announced a project in partnership with London Hydro, in Ontario, Canada, that could reach more than 150,000 homes.

The project will integrate Bidgely’s solutions into the My London Hydro energy portal, adding appliance-level monitoring and personalized energy savings recommendations. This project aims to improve customer satisfaction and engagement levels, and is expected to go live in early 2015.

FYI Devices keeps you in the loop

FYI Devices launched a project on Indiegogo, Inc. of the same name which aims to make it easy for people to monitor everything about their home. Be alerted if items are moved, get wet, too hot or too cold. The FYI sensor looks like and is about the size of a regular button pin, and sticks to just about anything.

You can put the sensor on doors or windows and you’ll be notified when they’re opened; put it on a box that contains valuables and you’ll be notified if the box gets moved. Another use for the FYI Device is to monitor for leaks in pipes. You can place it under the sink or where you think it is possible for leaks to occur. The sensor can also monitor for temperature changes so you can place it in your wine cellar, greenhouse or pantry.

photo credit: Rusty Russ via photopin cc