A few years ago, no one could have predicted being able to use our voice to do mundane tasks, such as turning our lights on and off. Today’s smart home systems can do a lot more than adjust your home’s temperature and keep track of your security system. Thanks to the internet of things (IOT), your smart home system can control nearly every aspect of your home.

Given the current COVID-19 outbreak, you may be stuck at home for an indefinite amount of time. If you’re bored, consider taking on a few personal projects, such as upgrading your home to a smart one. 

Learn how to make your regular home into a smart one.

How Do I Transform My Home Into a Smart Home?

If you’re new to the smart home game, you may feel intimidated because there are so many devices to research. We recommend you invest in multiple components, such as smart bulbs, sensors, speakers, security cameras, and more. You can connect every component to a central hub that helps them communicate with each other, and you can control each device with your smartphone. 

Removing strangers from your Wi-Fi network is easy, but detecting them is hard. You may not even notice unauthorized users, such as your neighbor’s kid, who uses your internet to watch viral videos. Although you want to be nice and allow others to use your network, strangers who mooch off of it usually don’t have your best interests at heart. 

Discover why it’s important to only allow trusted users to connect to your Wi-Fi.

Removing strangers from your Wi-Fi network is easy, but detecting them is hard. You may not even notice unauthorized users, such as your neighbor’s kid, who uses your internet to watch viral videos. Although you want to be nice and allow others to use your network, strangers who mooch off of it usually don’t have your best interests at heart. 

Discover why it’s important to only allow trusted users to connect to your Wi-Fi.

Is It Dangerous to Allow Strangers to Connect to My Wi-Fi?

The only people who should be on your network are your family. If your Wi-Fi connection is set to public, then your neighbors or passerby can connect to it. If they misuse your network, they can slow down your connection’s speed, introduce malware to your devices, or access illegal websites. 

Being nice to strangers and allowing them to connect to your internet isn’t worth the risks. Follow these best-practice security guidelines to minimize the risk of unauthorized network intrusion.

Sharing Your Wi-Fi Is All About Trust

Let’s start by breaking down what it means to share your internet connection. One of the primary reasons why every household with Wi-Fi needs a router is because it provides a firewall between an untrusted network, such as the internet, and a safe network, such as the local network you use for all your devices. 

Smart home devices should provide your family with a sense of security and comfort. By the end of this year, there will be approximately 44.7 million smart households in the U.S. alone; chances are, you probably own a couple of these devices. Cyberspace has converged with our realities, and many people can’t envision their lives without a digital personal assistant, robot vacuum cleaner, or talking thermostat. As our homes become smarter, their security becomes more vulnerable.

Keep on reading to find out if hackers can break into your smart home.

Are you no longer looking forward to going to work? If you’re feeling demotivated, it probably has more to do with your office’s atmosphere than your responsibilities. According to the American Society of Interior Designers, 68% of employees are dissatisfied with their office’s lighting. Lighting is one of the most important factors in ergonomics, but this part of an office’s design is usually overlooked and rushed. 

Dim lighting can strain your employees’ eyes and leave them with headaches, which results in fatigue; this causes low productivity and will hurt your company’s bottom line. Harsh lighting is just as bad as dim lighting, as it also causes eye strain and can trigger migraines. 

Is there a perfect lighting balance? Keep on reading to learn how your office can benefit from better lighting. 

How Poor Lighting Impacts Mental Health

As more companies are taking an interest in their employees’ mental health, the primary focus is usually on fostering a casual environment by incorporating team-building activities and allowing employees to work from home once a week. However, most companies overlook poor lighting, even though it’s associated with a range of ill-health effects. 

Are you no longer looking forward to going to work? If you’re feeling demotivated, it probably has more to do with your office’s atmosphere than your responsibilities. According to the American Society of Interior Designers, 68% of employees are dissatisfied with their office’s lighting. Lighting is one of the most important factors in ergonomics, but this part of an office’s design is usually overlooked and rushed.