8 of the Smartest Smart Home Products

That's right, we're talking about your home. And what better way to turn the leaf to a new year than by raising the collective IQ of your home with the best smart-home technology on the market today? So whether you're looking for a way to connect your home security to your phone, an alarm clock to help sleep-train your child, or a robotic vacuum for your messy younger brother, AD rounds up the nine best smart home products of the year. Make sure 2018 is the year you finally are able to connect your clocks, speakers, lights, cameras, windows, window blinds, hot water heaters, appliances, and so on. After all, we're not living in a science fiction movie. We're almost living in 2018.

Let's say your family is away on vacation. Nest Cam IQ allows you to receive real-time alerts letting you know if someone has entered your home. Then, from the touch of an app, you can not only watch a live feed of your home, but one with a crystal-clear picture. The IQ camera is smart enough to follow movement through a room, and will also realise that your dog or cat is not an intruder—and therefore will not send you alerts if house animals are roaming around. If an intruder does come into your home, you can speak to them through the Nest Cam in real time as well. 

Imagine a device that can manage all of your music in one place, enable you to play various songs in various rooms of your home, and provide you with voice-activated news alerts, weather updates, and more. Look no further than the Sonos One, which comes with Amazon Alexa built-in.

The future is now with this LG-designed robotic vacuum cleaner. The product includes a camera which maps your home's floor, understanding each square inch that it needs to sweep in order to keep your home tidy. Best of all, you can order the robot to clean the house remotely by way of a smartphone application.

Notion Sensor might look like it's too small to do much, but its looks are deceiving. The product constantly monitors your home, providing updates and alerts if someone breaks in, water suddenly leaks from a pipe, or the temperature in your home suddenly changes, among other things. Each sensor has a range as to what it can detect.

The third generation of the iKettle is one to consider for any tea or French-press coffee drinkers. Through the smartphone app, users can begin boiling the water from anywhere, or set specific times when the water should be at a desired temperature (Monday through Friday at 6:15 A.M., for example). 

Attention to all the parents out there who are unable to get a good night's sleep because their toddler is waking them up in the middle of the night or early in the morning: Your savior has arrived. The Mella Children’s Alarm Clock & Sleep Trainer uses different colors and faces to not only act as a nightlight, but train your child when it is appropriate to go to sleep and get out of bed in the morning. 

The LG PuriCare Air Purifier Tower can easily go unnoticed in any room of the house while it thoroughly cleans the air. The technology does this by automatically detecting airborne contaminants while also reducing smoke, pollen and other air pollutants. In total, the sleek tower can capture 99.97 percent of particles in the air. 

Nearly everyone agrees that sitting at a desk all day is not good for your body, which is what makes the easy-to-set-up DeskView such an attractive new product. The lightweight yet sturdy design allows you to stand and work anywhere in the office or at home. An added bonus is that the suction-cup design allows you to take in sweeping views if you live or work in a high-rise. The standing desk can hold up to 70 pounds of weight, and costs anywhere from $235 to $265.

What better way to use smart home technology than by allowing it to help you lose or maintain weight? For tracking fat, body mass index (BMI), water, muscle mass, bone composition, and even pregnancy, the QardioBase Smart Scale is the product for you. The scale also shares the information through an application on your smartphone. Best of all, perhaps, is that it looks better than just about every other scale on the market.