SiB wants to be your smart home trigger
Controlling smart home devices with you voice is great when you’re near a smart speaker. But when you’re elsewhere, the SiB programmable button works as a simple trigger.
- Do you need a smart speaker to control smart home devices? Not necessarily. You can use automation, apps and even a smart button to control your home.
- What is a smart button? It’s a physical switch that lets you remotely trigger a specific action of your choosing, such as switching on a device.
- What is the best programmable smart button? SiB is a pocket-sized button that lets you trigger a range of devices and useful functions.
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In the rush to fill our homes with smart devices, many brands have forgotten about usability. Tapping your phone is no improvement on flicking a switch, and timers are only useful when your schedule doesn’t change. In other words, smart doesn’t necessarily mean better.
SiB hopes to make smart home devices easier to use. This tiny button is about the size of a ring box, but it holds great power. You can set up SiB to trigger a variety of useful actions, such as checking the temperature in your home or switching on the ceiling fan. What’s more, it comes with a range of official extensions that make your home smarter.
How do you control devices with a smart button?
It’s pretty straightforward, to be honest. SiB works just like any other switch. The only difference is that this little device is completely wireless, meaning you can carry it wherever you go.
[tweet_box]This smart button lets you control devices around your home[/tweet_box]
But SiB isn’t only a switch. This device also acts as the brain for a range of useful add-ons. The range of official extensions includes AC and PCB adapters, numerous sensors and controllers, a voice control module, and more besides.
You can set up these accessories around your home and choose which of them should be triggered with the smart button in your pocket. The companion app provides a list of useful actions to pick from, while expert coders can program custom actions.
Smart home trigger
To understand the full potential of the system, it’s worth trying to imagine a day in the life of an SiB user.
When you wake up, you tap the smart button on your nightstand to boil the kettle downstairs. You double-tap the same button to switch on the lights. A notification on your phone, sent from an SiB with a Plant Health add-on, tells you that your favorite flowers need watering.
At work, you might receive an alert from the Temperature Sensor-equipped SiB in your freezer. Someone has left the door open again! Alternatively, the Motion Detector SiB in your hallway might alert you to the presence of a guest — expected or otherwise.
In the evening, you receive a message. Your grandma has tapped her SiB, as she does every day, to confirm she is okay.
“The SiB powers up and runs a program of your choice when the button is pressed. In addition, the SiB can run long-running, or scheduled tasks, such as checking a sensor regularly.” — TraiTel Technologies
What we like
At just $5, the SiB is a super affordable way to start feeling the benefits of smart home technology. What’s more, each button can run 4500 times between battery changes.
Future designs
The only limitation of SiB is connectivity. The smart button needs to be paired with your phone via Bluetooth, while receiving SiBs need Wi-Fi.
Availability
– Kickstarter: Until January 1st
– Pledge: $5 USD
– Delivery: March 2019