{"id":54325,"date":"2019-04-05T10:14:59","date_gmt":"2019-04-05T14:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/wildwire\/?p=54325"},"modified":"2019-07-11T09:53:36","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T13:53:36","slug":"what-makes-a-smart-device-so-smart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/all\/what-makes-a-smart-device-so-smart\/","title":{"rendered":"What makes a smart device so smart?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hey STEMologists! Have you accepted the Re-set the \u2018stat Mission<\/strong><\/a>? It\u2019s all about fighting climate change by adjusting the temperature of your home, and a great tool that can help you do this is a smart thermostat. \"\"It\u2019s just one of the many smart devices that make our lives easier, but have you ever wondered what makes them so smart? Keep reading and find out!<\/p>\n

The Internet of Things<\/b><\/h2>\n

You know how you use the internet to look stuff up and chat with your friends? Smart devices use the internet too! Things like appliances, cars, and yes, even thermostats, can use the Internet of Things (or IoT for short) to receive and exchange information.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how it works: <\/i><\/h3>\n

Each device that is connected to the internet makes up the IoT. They share information through something called the cloud \u2013 no, not the ones in the sky, but the technology cloud.<\/p>\n

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Photo Credit: IBM<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The technology cloud lets devices and computers that are really far away from each other connect and share information. It is a network of different systems that stores data like photos, videos and other information (cloud storage), allows you to make updates \"\"to that data (cloud services) and has really powerful computers that run apps and websites (cloud servers).<\/p>\n

Through the cloud, you can control your smart devices and access their data from anywhere just by opening an app on your tablet or phone.<\/p>\n

What can smart devices do?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Thanks to the IoT and the cloud, we can now access all sorts of new data from technology and devices that have been around forever. Now, we have…
\n\u2022 thermostats that know the current temperature of your home
\n\u2022 watches that can read a heart rate and\/or body temperature
\n\u2022 weather devices that read wind speeds and humidity
\n\u2022 tools used during surgery to guide surgeons
\n\u2022 sensors on a car that can detect potential collisions<\/p>\n

How does a smart thermostat help you save energy?<\/b><\/h2>\n

First, you need to know what a thermostat does: it lets you control the temperature of your home. If you\u2019re too cold or too warm, just adjust the thermostat and you\u2019ll be comfy in no time, but be careful about how much you adjust it because heating and cooling your home uses a lot of energy. \"\"<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where smart thermostats come in. Imagine you’re at school and your parents are at work. Your parents could adjust the thermostat from their phone so it wouldn’t have to work as hard to keep your house warm or cool from 8AM to 4PM, allowing you to save energy. Some smart thermostats can even ‘learn’ when you’re home or away and adjust the temperature on their own. If you\u2019ve shared your phone\u2019s location, your smart thermostat can even warm or cool the house as you get closer to home.<\/p>\n

We think the technology that makes these devices so smart deserves an A+!<\/b><\/h3>\n
<\/div>\n

Smart Device Fast Facts<\/i><\/h3>\n

\u2022 Smart devices are \u2018things\u2019 that are connected to other \u2018things\u2019 through the internet. Together, they make up the Internet of Things (or IoT for short).
\n\u2022 Smart devices share and store information (data) using the cloud (the technology cloud, not the white fluffy things in the sky).
\n\u2022 You can control your smart devices using apps on your tablet or cell phone (which are also smart devices)<\/p>\n

What smart devices you use? Let us know in the comments!<\/b><\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n

Series in collaboration with:<\/b><\/h3>\n
<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

IBM and the IBM logo are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp., registered in many jurisdictions worldwide.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Smart devices are all around us but have you ever wondered what makes them so smart? We break it down for you in this article! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1132,1153,931],"tags":[1170,1171,700,1169,1149],"class_list":{"0":"post-54325","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rss","8":"category-stem-education","9":"category-all","10":"tag-cloud-technology","11":"tag-internet-of-things","12":"tag-smart","13":"tag-smart-devices","14":"tag-stem"},"pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}