Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX – Free Report) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,019 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $269,000. Several other hedge funds and other institutional ...

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Phillips 66 operates as an energy manufacturing and logistics company. It operates through four segments: Midstream, Chemicals, Refining, and Marketing and Specialties (M&S). The Midstream segment transports crude oil and other feedstocks; delivers refined products to market; provides terminaling and storage services for crude oil and petroleum products; transports, stores, fractionates, exports, and markets natural gas liquids; provides other fee-based processing services; and gathers, processes, transports, and markets natural gas. The Chemicals segment manufactures and markets ethylene and other olefin products; aromatics and styrenics products, such as benzene, cyclohexane, styrene, and polystyrene; and various specialty chemical products, including organosulfur chemicals, solvents, catalysts, and chemicals used in drilling and mining. The Refining segment refines crude oil and other feedstocks into petroleum products comprising gasolines, distillates, and aviation fuels at 13 refineries in the United States and Europe. The M&S segment purchases for resale and markets refined petroleum products consisting of gasolines, distillates, and aviation fuels primarily in the United States and Europe. It also manufactures and markets specialty products, such as petroleum coke products, waxes, solvents, and polypropylene. Phillips 66 was founded in 1875 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

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The Importance of Responsive Web Design for Optimal User Experience Recently, responsive design trends . With each year of innovation, it is becoming a far more accessible, visually diverse, and vibrant source of entertainment and information. More websites are accessible on a wider range of devices than ever before. have been changing the face of the internet Is your website a part of this revolution in design — or are you risking leaving your business in the dust by sticking to design principles that are over a decade old? Let’s take a look at the benefits of responsive web design (RWD), as well as what you can do to optimize your site’s user experience: The Benefits of Responsive Web Design There are many reasons for businesses and web developers . Content creators have an obligation to meet consumers where they are, and an increasing number of users are regularly accessing the internet on a wide range mobile devices, often with more frequency than on traditional desktop computers. RWD ensures that your content will display correctly for all users, providing a stronger user experience and ultimately more conversions. to use RWD principles Note that . While the latter focuses on the creation of several distinct layouts to suit multiple screen sizes, truly responsive design is “fluid”; it uses CSS media to change styles and resize to match the needs of any device. As a result, it is far more flexible, and future-proof — considering the introduction of new devices, such as wearables and IoT tech. It can even automatically adjust content to suit screens when users switch from landscape to portrait mode, and vice versa. While it’s not possible to create a design that will accommodate every screen that exists (or will exist in the future), smart RWD improves accessibility so that the widest possible range of users can easily access your content. RWD is distinct from adaptive web design While switching to RWD may come with some initial work, there are other benefits that definitely make these efforts with it. Instead of creating various layouts for different devices, one responsive design will suit any screen. While the HTML and CSS code for a responsive design is more complex, it is the same code and the same URL regardless of device. This makes it much easier for developers and content managers to administer. Your First Steps Towards a Better User Experience So, how can get you get started on offering an optimal user experience? If you lack website design skills, you may be tempted to use a DIY website builder, or a template, to complete your work; they are inexpensive and accessible enough for nearly any small business to use. However, — such templates often fail to follow digital marketing and search engine optimization best practices. resist that urge Your approach to RWD will vary, depending on the needs of your audience and your specific niche/industry. What are the demographics of your target audience? What does the consumer journey look like? The design of your site should facilitate a smooth experience. For instance, , keep in mind that most users (77 percent) use a search engine in regards to their health-related questions prior to booking an appointment. With that in mind, web designers should have content specialists create resources that will attract users by answering their questions and establish your site as an authoritative source. These sites should also seek to make booking an appointment as easy as possible. if you operate a healthcare website Eager to get started with the nitty gritty of RWD? Here are some basics to keep in mind: Controlling the Viewport With the introduction of HTML5, web designers gained the ability to take control of the viewport, or the visible area of a page. You need to include the in each page on your site, which looks like this: viewport <meta> tag <head> … <meta name=”viewport” content=”width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> … </head> The “width=device-width” adjusts the content attribute to suit the width of the device being used. The “initial-scale=1” sets the initial zoom level when the page is loaded, with 1 being the standard zoom level. Because users are not able to scroll horizontally, you may need to adjust the scale to fit all of your content on the screen — however, it is much wiser to adjust your content to fit the width of the viewport. In general, you should avoid using set CSS widths for page elements; if you do so, you risk making content too large for smaller screens. Use relative width values, such as: “width: 100%” instead of set values. The same general rule applies to setting the widths of columns in your grid-view. Designing Your Layout in Grid-View Next, you’ll want to use a grid-view to design the layout for your site. A “grid-view” is divided into columns, with many responsive sites having around 12 columns. Using relative width values, this means each column should consist of 8.33 percent of the screen, for a total of 100 percent. Here is an example of a 12-column design : created by W3Schools.com .col-1 {width: 8.33%;} .col-2 {width: 16.66%;} .col-3 {width: 25%;} .col-4 {width: 33.33%;} .col-5 {width: 41.66%;} .col-6 {width: 50%;} .col-7 {width: 58.33%;} .col-8 {width: 66.66%;} .col-9 {width: 75%;} .col-10 {width: 83.33%;} .col-11 {width: 91.66%;} .col-12 {width: 100%;} In the example above, the designer makes each column float to the left, with a padding of 15 pixels and a border of 1 pixel: [class*=”col-”] { float: left; padding: 15px; border: 1px solid red; } Because each column is floating to the left, other elements will be placed on the page as though the columns are not present. To fix this, you’ll need to clear the flow for each element. This is fairly simple: .row::after { content: “ “; clear: both; display: table; } Setting Breakpoints Responsive pages adjust when specific criteria are met. When designing pages to look good on a wide variety of devices, it is essential to create breakpoints — these are the specified widths at which a page resizes. By setting media queries (the “@media”) at common screen sizes, you ensure that your site responsive to a wide array of devices. Here is an example of how this would look in the 12-column grid-view design listed above by W3Schools: /* For mobile phones: */ [class*=”col-”] { width: 100%; } @media only screen and (min-width: 600px) { /* For tablets: */ .col-s-1 {width: 8.33%;} .col-s-2 {width: 16.66%;} .col-s-3 {width: 25%;} .col-s-4 {width: 33.33%;} .col-s-5 {width: 41.66%;} .col-s-6 {width: 50%;} .col-s-7 {width: 58.33%;} .col-s-8 {width: 66.66%;} .col-s-9 {width: 75%;} .col-s-10 {width: 83.33%;} .col-s-11 {width: 91.66%;} .col-s-12 {width: 100%;} } @media only screen and (min-width: 768px) { /* For desktop: */ .col-1 {width: 8.33%;} .col-2 {width: 16.66%;} .col-3 {width: 25%;} .col-4 {width: 33.33%;} .col-5 {width: 41.66%;} .col-6 {width: 50%;} .col-7 {width: 58.33%;} .col-8 {width: 66.66%;} .col-9 {width: 75%;} .col-10 {width: 83.33%;} .col-11 {width: 91.66%;} .col-12 {width: 100%;} For more information on the specifics of responsive design, check out and . W3Schools Google’s Tools for Web Developers Looking to the Future of Responsive Design As the years pass, consumers will grow to expect RWD of nearly every site they frequent. Web designers will need to find new ways to innovate, draw interest, and improve site accessibility. It is important to stay abreast of current design trends and continually update your site to improve the user experience. What is ? As we move forward, constantly ask: “How will consumers be interacting with my site?” Wearable technology is rapidly growing in popularity. In the not-so-distant future, users with a great variety of devices, with various screen sizes and limitations, will attempt to visit your site. Audio input will continue to play a major role in how people access information on your site. New modes of input, such as virtual and augmented reality, will fundamentally change how people navigate the web. It’s your job to make sure they don’t leave disappointed. the future of responsive web design

The Importance of Responsive Web Design for Optimal User Experience

Authors: (1) Sha-Bo Lin, Center for Intelligent Decision-Making and Machine Learning, School of Management, Xi’an Jiaotong University; (2) Xingping Sun, Department of Mathematics, Missouri State University; (3) Di Wang, §Center for Intelligent Decision-Making and Machine Learning, School of Management, Xi’an Jiaotong University. Content Overview Abstract & Introduction Uncertainty Relation of Kernel Interpolation on Spheres Distributed Kernel Interpolation Operator Differences via Quadrature Rules Proofs Numerical Verifications References Abstract For radial basis function (RBF) kernel interpolation of scattered data, Schaback [30] in 1995 proved that the attainable approximation error and the condition number of the underlying interpolation matrix cannot be made small simultaneously. He referred to this finding as an “uncertainty relation”, an undesirable consequence of which is that RBF kernel interpolation is susceptible to noisy data. In this paper, we propose and study a distributed interpolation method to manage and quantify the uncertainty brought on by interpolating noisy spherical data of non-negligible magnitude. We also present numerical simulation results showing that our method is practical and robust in terms of handling noisy data from challenging computing environments. Kernel interpolation, distributed uncertainty mitigation, scattered spherical data Key words. Uncertainty Relation of Kernel Interpolation on Spheres 3. Distributed Kernel Interpolation. Corollary 2.2 shows that kernel interpolation performs poorly while confronting noisy data of non-negligible magnitude. To overcome this major drawback, we propose and study in this section a distributed kernel interpolation (DKI) method, which is motivated by the “distributed learning” in the literature [37, 19]. Figuratively speaking, this is a divide-and-conquer strategy for uncertainty quantification. To elaborate, we describe the method in three steps. 4. Operator Differences via Quadrature Rules. In this section, we first briefly exposit an integral-operator approach initiated in [8] and then derive tight upper bounds for differences of operators of our interest, obtaining a certain type of Sobolev sampling inequalities [12] as a byproduct. Highlights of the section include Proposition 4.5) and Lemma 4.8. 6. Numerical Verifications Four simulations are carried out in this section to verify the excellent performance of DKI. The first one shows that DKI succeeds in circumventing the uncertainty of kernel interpolation. The second one exhibits the role of m in DKI. The third one focuses on the role of the division strategy in DKI. The last one compares DKI with several popular spherical data fitting schemes including the distributed filtered hyperinterpolation (DFH) [21], sketching with s ∗ -designs [20], and distributed kernel ridge regression (DKRR) [8]. In this simulation, we show the role of the parameter m in DKI. We generate 10014 training samples (with 141-designs as inputs). The number of divisions, m, ranges from {5, 10, · · · , 200}. Figure 6.2 shows the relation between RMSE of DKI and the number of local machines under different levels of Gaussian noise, provided that the total number of training samples is given. From Figure 6.2, we can conclude the following assertions: 1) For training samples with higher levels of noise, the testing RMSE generally decreases at first and then increases slowly as the number of local machines increases. Moderate values of m are more conductive to good approximation property for DKI. The reason is that too small m does not successfully address the uncertainty issue in kernel interpolation; too large m increases the fitting error, resulting in slightly worse generalization performance. 2) The optimal number m with the lowest RMSE grows with increasing Gaussian noise. This verifies the equation (3.3) of Theorem 3.2, in which the approximation error is primarily concerned with the sample error for large noise (i.e., large M) and can be reduced using a large m. Simulation 2: REFERENCES [1] R. Bhatia, Matrix Analysis, vol. 169, Springer Science & Business Media, 2013. [2] J. S. Brauchart and K. Hesse, Numerical integration over spheres of arbitrary dimension, Constructive Approximation, 25 (2007), pp. 41–71. [3] G. Brown and F. Dai, Approximation of smooth functions on compact two-point homogeneous spaces, Journal of Functional Analysis, 220 (2005), pp. 401–423. [4] A. Chernih, I. H. Sloan, and R. S. Womersley, Wendland functions with increasing smoothness converge to a gaussian, Advances in Computational Mathematics, 40 (2014), pp. 185– 200. [5] F. Dai, Multivariate polynomial inequalities with respect to doubling weights and a∞ weights, Journal of Functional Analysis, 235 (2006), pp. 137–170. [6] F. Dai, On generalized hyperinterpolation on the sphere, Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, 134 (2006), pp. 2931–2941. [7] H. W. Engl, M. Hanke, and A. Neubauer, Regularization of Inverse Problems, vol. 375, Springer Science & Business Media, 1996. [8] H. Feng, S.-B. Lin, and D.-X. Zhou, Radial basis function approximation with distributively stored data on spheres, arXiv:2112.02499, (2021). [9] T. Hangelbroek, F. J. Narcowich, X. Sun, and J. D. Ward, Kernel approximation on manifolds ii: The l∞ norm of the l2 projector, SIAM Journal on Mathematical Analysis, 43 (2011), pp. 662–684. [10] T. Hangelbroek, F. J. Narcowich, and J. D. Ward, Kernel approximation on manifolds i: bounding the lebesgue constant, SIAM Journal on Mathematical Analysis, 42 (2010), pp. 1732–1760. [11] K. Hesse, I. H. Sloan, and R. S. Womersley, Radial basis function approximation of noisy scattered data on the sphere, Numerische Mathematik, 137 (2017), pp. 579–605. [12] K. Hesse, I. H. Sloan, and R. S. Womersley, Local rbf-based penalized least-squares approximation on the sphere with noisy scattered data, Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, 382 (2021), p. 113061. [13] S. Hubbert, Q. T. Le Gia, and T. M. Morton ˆ , Spherical radial basis functions, theory and applications, Springer, 2015. [14] M. A. King, R. J. Bingham, P. Moore, P. L. Whitehouse, M. J. Bentley, and G. A. Milne, Lower satellite-gravimetry estimates of antarctic sea-level contribution, Nature, 491 (2012), pp. 586–589. [15] Q. T. Le Gia, F. J. Narcowich, J. D. Ward, and H. Wendland, Continuous and discrete least-squares approximation by radial basis functions on spheres, Journal of Approximation Theory, 143 (2006), pp. 124–133. [16] P. Leopardi, A partition of the unit sphere into regions of equal area and small diameter, Electronic Transactions on Numerical Analysis, 25 (2006), pp. 309–327. [17] J. Levesley, Z. Luo, and X. Sun, Norm estimates of interpolation matrices and their inverses associated with strictly positive definite functions, Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, (1999), pp. 2127–2134. [18] S.-B. Lin, X. Chang, and X. Sun, Kernel interpolation of high dimensional scattered data, arXiv preprint arXiv:2009.01514, (2020). [19] S.-B. Lin, X. Guo, and D.-X. Zhou, Distributed learning with regularized least squares, The Journal of Machine Learning Research, 18 (2017), pp. 3202–3232. [20] S.-B. Lin, D. Wang, and D.-X. Zhou, Sketching with spherical designs on spheres, SIAM Journal on Scientific Computation, in press (2023). [21] S.-B. Lin, Y. G. Wang, and D.-X. Zhou, Distributed filtered hyperinterpolation for noisy data on the sphere, SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis, 59 (2021), pp. 634–659. [22] J. D. McEwen and Y. Wiaux, A novel sampling theorem on the sphere, IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, 59 (2011), pp. 5876–5887. [23] H. Mhaskar, F. Narcowich, and J. Ward, Spherical marcinkiewicz-zygmund inequalities and positive quadrature, Mathematics of Computation, 70 (2001), pp. 1113–1130. [24] H. N. Mhaskar, Weighted quadrature formulas and approximation by zonal function networks on the sphere, Journal of Complexity, 22 (2006), pp. 348–370. [25] C. Muller ¨ , Spherical Harmonics, vol. 17, Springer, 1966. [26] F. J. Narcowich, N. Sivakumar, and J. D. Ward, Stability results for scattered-data interpolation on euclidean spheres, Advances in Computational Mathematics, 8 (1998), pp. 137– 163. [27] F. J. Narcowich, X. Sun, J. D. Ward, and H. Wendland, Direct and inverse sobolev error estimates for scattered data interpolation via spherical basis functions, Foundations of Computational Mathematics, 7 (2007), pp. 369–390. [28] F. J. Narcowich and J. D. Ward, Scattered data interpolation on spheres: error estimates and locally supported basis functions, SIAM Journal on Mathematical Analysis, 33 (2002), pp. 1393–1410. [29] A. Rudi, R. Camoriano, and L. Rosasco, Less is more: Nystr¨om computational regularization., in NIPS, 2015, pp. 1657–1665. [30] R. Schaback, Error estimates and condition numbers for radial basis function interpolation, Advances in Computational Mathematics, 3 (1995), pp. 251–264. [31] S. Smale and D.-X. Zhou, Shannon sampling and function reconstruction from point values, Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, 41 (2004), pp. 279–305. [32] S. Smale and D.-X. Zhou, Shannon sampling ii: Connections to learning theory, Applied and Computational Harmonic Analysis, 19 (2005), pp. 285–302. [33] Y.-T. Tsai and Z.-C. Shih, All-frequency precomputed radiance transfer using spherical radial basis functions and clustered tensor approximation, ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG), 25 (2006), pp. 967–976. [34] H. Wendland, Scattered data approximation, vol. 17, Cambridge university press, 2004. [35] M. A. Wieczorek and R. J. Phillips, Potential anomalies on a sphere: Applications to the thickness of the lunar crust, Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 103 (1998), pp. 1715–1724. [36] R. S. Womersley, Efficient spherical designs with good geometric properties, in Contemporary computational mathematics-A celebration of the 80th birthday of Ian Sloan, Springer, 2018, pp. 1243–1285. [37] Y. Zhang, J. Duchi, and M. Wainwright, Divide and conquer kernel ridge regression: A distributed algorithm with minimax optimal rates, The Journal of Machine Learning Research, 16 (2015), pp. 3299–3340. In this Appendix, we present the detailed implementation of the select-and-judge (SAJ) strategy. Our aim is to derive a series of subsets of similar Cardinality with separation radius not smaller than a given tolerance c0. There are two stages for SAJ. SM1. Appendix A: Select-and-Judge Strategy for Data Division. This paper is under CC0 1.0 DEED license. available on arxiv

Distributed Uncertainty Quantification of Kernel Interpolation on Spheres

গোলকের উপর কার্নেল ইন্টারপোলেশনের বিতরণ করা অনিশ্চয়তার পরিমাণ

Verteilte Unsicherheitsquantifizierung der Kernelinterpolation auf Kugeln

Cuantificación de la incertidumbre distribuida de la interpolación del kernel en esferas

Quantification distribuée de l'incertitude de l'interpolation du noyau sur les sphères

क्षेत्रों पर कर्नेल इंटरपोलेशन की वितरित अनिश्चितता मात्रा

球上のカーネル補間の分散不確実性の定量化

구에 대한 커널 보간법의 분산 불확실성 정량화

Quantificação de incerteza distribuída de interpolação de kernel em esferas

Количественная оценка распределенной неопределенности ядра интерполяции на сферах

Küreler Üzerindeki Çekirdek Enterpolasyonunun Dağıtılmış Belirsizliği Ölçümü

Định lượng độ không đảm bảo phân phối của phép nội suy hạt nhân trên hình cầu

球体核插值的分布式不确定性量化

The year 2017 will probably go down as the year home automation finally went mainstream. Each time I walk into our local Best Buy, numerous people are standing around the home automation section, and it keeps getting bigger and bigger. The first thing you will learn about home automation is there is a lot to learn, but, you can still have much fun upgrading your home. This past year I spent much time researching and updating our house to make our life easier. I started small, and every month I added something. If you are looking to get started in home automation, or maybe just a gift for that geeky family member this holiday season, this article will help you get started and give you some ideas. Start With Your Network Home automation does not work without having a vast home network. It all starts from there. Think of your home network as the foundation for home automation. You need one that will: cover your entire home allow for many devices to be connected will enable you to grow and expand for the future The best upgrade I did for my house this year is replaced my aging Asus WiFI router with a new type of wireless network called a “ .” A mesh network auto configures and routes traffic as needed and can even select the best protocol for each device. Also, they are easily extendable. Need more space upstairs? Add a new mesh point. mesh network I went with the pictured above. It comes with the router (the white box) and two mesh points. The mesh points plug directly into the wall, and so they can be located throughout the home to give you the best coverage. Need more coverage? Buy more mesh points. Unless you have a substantial home, this out-of-the-box system will provide you excellent coverage. I even have full WiFI signal strength out to our mailbox. Here is a sample setup. Amplifi HD (High Density) mesh router Sample home setup While I highly recommend Amplifi’s system for ease of use and simple setup, there are others you might want to consider the or . These would be the top three choices I would recommend. However, I love Amplifi’s built-in LED screen directly on the router. Their phone app puts the power of your network right in your hands and allows you to monitor usage, turn devices off (go to bed kids!), port forward, and even schedule times devices can use the Internet. Google Wifi Netgear Orbi Pick a Hub Now that we have a good foundation to get started with home automation we need to learn about hubs. These devices control the components you have installed (door locks, garage door opener, etc.). My suggestion is to start with a hub first, then buy one or two add-ons and gradually grow over time. Here is the downside to home automation: there isn’t a standard. Everyone is using different protocols. Let’s say you want to start simple with a light switch or replace your front door lock. The hub you choose needs to know how to control each component. This is where the hub comes in. To confuse matters even more, various manufacturers products only work with their hub like Phillip Hues, Lutron Caseta, etc. NOTE: You can choose Apple’s HomeKit as the protocol you are going to use. You can just use your phone to control your devices, and there is no hub required. However, if you want to automate things really (turn the lights outside on at 7:00 PM) then you still need an Apple TV or iPad to configure and control everything, There are three significant players today in the home automation space when it comes to hubs: , , and . At some point, you are probably going to want to own two out of the three of these. Samsung’s SmartThings and WINK are essentially direct competitors to each other. Each supports different protocols and will control various components. Each has an app that runs on your phone that allows you to setup and controls your devices. The constant need to check if your hub even endorses a device is where home automation starts to get a little tricky. Ultimately, the hub you select determines the various accessories you can acquire. Today, there is no getting around that. Samsung SmartThings WINK Logitech’s Harmony Hub That leaves us with Logitech’s Harmony Hub. Bear with me as this may get a little confusing. A lot of the things that SmartThings and WINK can control, so can Harmony Hub. However, primarily the strength of the Harmony Hub is its ties to multimedia devices, which SmartThings nor WINK can control. If you have many multimedia devices, chances are over the years you might have owned a or seen them in the stores. Now your iPhone (as pictured below) can control your multimedia components as well as additional items. Logitech Harmony remote iPhone Harmony Hub App As you can see from above, my setup gives me one app to control lots of devices. It can even read the devices from SmartThings or WINK and offer them up in one interface as well. If you are starting out with home automation, my recommendation is to get the Logitech Harmony Hub. Logitech also offers an extender hub that supports ZigBee®, Z-Wave™, and Z-Wave Plus compatible devices with your existing Harmony Hub. This will open up more items. However, the extender hub is expensive. For the same money or even less you can get a SmartThings hub and open a whole new world of devices you can acquire. When it comes to actual home automation though, SmartThings and WINK offer a lot more in regards to customizing events. Thus, why I said earlier, you will probably want to own two out of the three hubs eventually. Here is a screenshot of the types of things you can do with SmartThings automation. Of the two, it is the most robust. SmartThings App offers lots of customization to automate your home Of course, you can leverage (if this then that) with all three hubs. Things get cool when you start to leverage IFTTT. Imagine , and your lights come on at home because you are leaving work late for example. The possibilities begin to become endless. IFTTT sending a text message Confused yet? I know, this stuff can be when starting out. Let’s keep it simple though, get the Harmony Hub first because it can control more than just locks and sensors. It can control your home theater system as well. While not as robust at automating things as SmartThings or WINK, it is still a must-have in my book. Door Locks, Switches, and Sensors Once you have a hub picked out, it is time to purchase a few items for your home. I started with door locks and garage door opener. Mainly so I could let some friends in the house while I was out of town. Maybe you want to turn the lights on while you are away for security purposes. No matter the case, pick something easy you can install yourself that will add some immediate value. Door Locks Kwikset 910 For door locks, I chose the that was compatible with my SmartThings hub. It supports “Smart Key” technology which allows one to quickly re-key the lock with any Kwikset key. No need to call a locksmith ever again if you want to change the locks on your home. There are others available by and . All of them are easy to install and configure, and even integrate with devices like which we will cover later. Kwikset 910 Z-Wave Schlage Yale Amazon Echo Switches or Light Bulbs Lutron Switches Before you go out and buy the Phillip Hues light bulbs, please allow me to stop you before you head out the door. The absolute quickest and easiest thing to do is buy the Phillips light bulbs. However, don’t, unless you live in an apartment. They are a hack in my opinion and here’s why. If you put a Phillips Hue light bulb in your house and someone turns the switch off at the wall, guess what? You cannot turn the light back on. It defeats the whole purpose. Instead, replace your switches on the wall. Then you can control any light bulb or device connected to the switch and use any light bulbs you find on sale. The leader in switches, which also comes in a variety of colors to match your home, is . Lutron also sells blinds that will raise and lower. As we start to add things on, our automation can begin to get a little more sophisticated. Automation can be created like “Movie Night” which automatically lock all the doors and turn off the lights. Lutron Caseta Sensors There are multiple sensors to consider. Motion is probably one of the first ones most people think of when it comes to security. However, there are lots more these days. They include: motion sensors water sensors (great for water heaters) power sensors multipurpose sensors (doors, windows) weather stations soil moisture sensors (know when to water your flowers or get an alert) Of all the components, these are probably the cheapest if you are getting started on a budget. However, they are also some of the most useful when combined with automation in SmartThings or IFTTT. For example, have you ever done laundry and left the clothes in the washer or dryer? A power sensor can remind you the clothes in the machine are done and now need to go to the dryer. Alternatively, imagine you put a motion sensor in your bedroom. If you get up between the hours of midnight and 6:00 AM you can set your lights to automatically raise up 10% to light the way to the bathroom and then automatically turn off after you leave. Voice Control Amazon Echo I have mentioned “Alexa” earlier. The Echo is a device that has a speaker and gets its commands through voice interaction. I cannot even begin to cover all the things an Echo can do, but, when added to your home network, it can interact and control your smart home devices. It can also put things on your calendar, remember grocery items, and even set timers and alarms. Amazon’s Echo Some people are worried about privacy but I for one love the convenience factor the Echo provides. “Alexa, watch TV,” “Alexa, play XBox,” “Alexa, turn off Xbox” are just a few examples that are within your reach with a Logitech Harmony Hub and an Amazon Echo. Of course, there are other manufacturers like who are investing in the same technology. There are differences in the things each can do. In my experience, Google’s devices are smarter at random questions, but Amazon’s is more connected. Meaning I find the Echo to work with just about everything. Even Apple has entered the market with their . Echo’s start as low as $49 and there are always deals on them (buy three get one free) so it makes it easy to get started. Google HomePod Cameras (Indoor and Outdoor) and Security Security is a big concern with many, and we see many options in 2017. Wireless and cloud-based cameras are all the rage and to be honest none of them are perfect. They either cost too much to start with, cost too much monthly, or just don’t have all the features everyone wants. Here are a few options: (indoor/outdoor) Nest (indoor) Amazon’s CloudCam Logitech just released the new (indoor/outdoor) Circle 2.0 (indoor/outdoor) Arlo If you thought hubs were confusing, they are nothing compared to the endless options when it comes to cameras. Not only do you have to buy the hardware but then you have to figure out the cost of all the different plans. If you are serious about security, call a professional and have them install a fully monitored security system. There is no replacement today that I’d thoroughly trust other than a professionally installed system. If you are a do-it-yourselfer, then I would recommend the Arlo system. It is entirely wireless but offers a base station where a hard drive can store data locally. Their cameras are fully wireless and can be mounted anywhere. Just be aware there have been issues with the motion sensors on the Arlo’s capturing video at crucial times. Again, nothing beats a professionally installed outdoor system. Amazon Show makes a great baby monitor However, for indoor uses, these cameras add much value to your home. Have a newborn? Then look into getting an and combine it with either the Logitech Circle 2.0 or Amazon’s cloud-based camera mentioned earlier. You will have an instant baby monitor and can drop in anytime to listen in, or just watch from the living room while the baby sleeps. Alternatively, maybe your newborn is that new puppy. Either way, you will be covered. Amazon Show Other Items But wait, there’s more. We have not even talked about thermostats, sprinklers and garage door openers. I saved these to last because there are fewer choices in each category. Here are some recommendations. Thermostats Honey Lyric Thermostat If you have ever gotten up out of bed during the middle of the night to adjust the thermostat due to the weather changing, you may want to put this item higher up on your list. They have gotten pretty smart with geo-fence location (that means they know when you are at home or away) and can ultimately save you money in the long run. Also, they support auto temperatures where you can set it and forget about it. As of right now, there are two I would recommend: the and the . Both look great on the wall and have similar features. I chose the Lyric because of the SmartThings hub and Harmony hub integration. There are plenty of YouTube videos comparing the two. Just remember it needs to integrate and play nicely with other things. Nest Lyric by Honeywell Sprinklers Rachio Sprinkler iPhone App I will be honest; sprinklers scare me. They just pop out of the ground at random and squirt water and then disappear. It is like they never existed. So weird. This past summer, after much research, I installed . Of all the upgrades I have done, this one has saved me the most money. Rachio has some pretty impressive algorithms that automatically calculate when to water your yard based on the type of soil, incline, and the nearby weather station you have entered. Of course, if you have a personal weather station things get even more accurate. Rachio’s eight-zone sprinkler controller Remember the days of having to turn off the sprinkler when it rained? Gone. Worried about over watering your yard? Gone. Within the first few months of owning Rachio’s controller it paid for itself in all the water, it did not use due to all of the rain we had. It took about 20 minutes to install on the wall and then another hour of measuring the zones in the yard and testing everything out. Recently I was out of town and had a sprinkler head replaced. My yard guy texted me and asked me to turn the sprinklers on so he could find it (see, I told you they were scary) and replace it. I was over 2,000 miles away and opened the app and turned on the front yard. A few minutes later he texted back all set. Garage Door Opener There is nothing magical about garage door openers, and there aren’t that many choices. However, when you are away and need to get someone into your garage, they are a must-have. I have a . You will have to look up your unit and then investigate which one it supports based on the hub you have chosen. Linear GoControl Most of them work by attaching a sensor to the door that has a gyroscope in it. As the garage door moves, one way it is closed, the other way it is open. You can combine a sensor from SmartThings (if that is the hub you have chosen) and place it in your car. When the vehicle shows up the garage door opens, when it leaves, the garage door closes. Personally, I find this a new level of lazy, I mean, how hard is it to push a button in your car? But hey, let’s automate all the things. Wireless Speakers Sonos Play:5 Wireless Speaker Last, but not least are a new breed of speakers called wireless speakers. Of everything in automating your home, these high fidelity creatures are the most expensive by far. One speaker can cost as much as $700. However, just like everything else, start small. Buy one, then another, then another. and are the two top manufacturers in this space today led primarily by Sonos. The way they work is you buy a speaker and put it into a room. Then buy another speaker and put it in another place. Then you can connect your living room and all the other rooms in your house to play the same song at the same time. Great for party tricks for sure. They sound amazing and work with pretty much any and every type of music you want from Pandora, Spotify to Apple Music. Did I mention they sound amazing? Sonos Bose Sonos Soundbar However, they also work as a home theater. The goes in front of your TV and connects to the optical cable coming out of the TV. That is it, one wire. You join the rest of your speakers it to your WiFI network using the Sonos app and the speakers you have selected all sync and play whatever is coming out of your TV. Whether it connects to an , , , Cable, , or . You can start with just one speaker, the Playbar, and then expand to 5.1 theater sound as you go by adding a sub and then surround speakers. Did I mention they sound amazing? Playbar by Sonos Apple TV Roku Firestick XBox PlayStation But I have speakers, why do I need these again? Here is the upside. Remember those colossal home theater receivers by manufacturers like Denon and Onkyo? Wires running everywhere? Well, they are not needed now. As long as you have a power outlet, you can set a speaker there now (no more wires). Of all the devices I have added I use these the most. Working at home I’m streaming Spotify to the speakers from my Mac. Phone rings, pause the music, answer, hang up, resume playing. To add the home automation piece with our speakers, we leverage our Harmony Hub along with a Harmony Remote combined with the Amazon Echo. The Harmony Hub can control all of your multimedia devices as mentioned earlier and even run something called “Activities.” Activities are how you control what happens when you want to play Xbox for example. They carry out the steps needed to play Xbox: turn the tv on, set TV to the HDMI 2 port, turn on Sonos speakers, and turn on XBox. Now it just takes a voice command, “Alexa, play Xbox.” As you add more things to your home, more automation scenarios become a reality. New scenes become possible once you have installed wall switches, blinds, a garage door opener, and door locks, “Alexa, movie night.” All of your multimedia devices turn on, the blinds lower, the garage door closes, the lights dim, and all of your doors lock. Speaking a command like that and having magic happen sounds like science fiction I am sure. It is not that hard though. So start small, and by this time next year, you will stop worrying about watering your yard, turning off lights when you go to bed and even touching a remote. They are so 2016. Keith Elder Keith is the Sr. Technology Evangelist for Quicken Loans, Inc , the nation’s largest online mortgage lender, winner of eight JD Power Awards for client satisfaction. You can follow Keith on Twitter at @keithelder . Looking for a home loan or to refi? Visit Rocket Mortgage and shop with confidence, get approved in as little as 9 minutes. Originally published at keithelder.net on November 14, 2017.

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Since 1917

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