Not every appliance in your home is connected to the web, but with a different plug, it could be.
We’re not far off from having a home that can be controlled from a smartphone or your voice, and depending on the devices and appliances in your home, it might be closer than you think.
The concept of the “smart home” is coming fast, and if you’ve already embraced a speaker with voice assistant capabilities or a WiFi lightbulb, you’re already a little closer.
Everything else in your home will take some time, as manufacturers gradually find ways to integrate internet connectivity in their devices. You can control some heaters and fans using your voice, and there’s that whole smart lighting thing, as well.
But if you’re looking to get a bit of a jumpstart on the whole smart home thing, you can actually get gadgets that plug into wall onto Alexa and Google Assistant with a plug. Specifically with a “smart plug”, which provides an internet-connected controller for a wall plug to schedule devices, set them on a timer, or just simply turn them on and off.
D-Link has introduced a new model recently, a smaller variant it calls the DSP-W118, but which you should probably just see ad the D-Link Mini WiFi Smart Plug, a product that is more or less indicated by the name.
The Mini Smart Plug is basically a port converter, adding WiFi and a connection to the “mydlink” app so that technology that is plugged in can talk to the cloud. Where it’s “mini”, however, is because smart plugs can often be so large that they block other ports on a power strip. This one, well, isn’t.
In terms of functionality, it won’t suddenly impart special controls on a gadget just because it’s plugged in. You can plug a heater into it, for instance, but you can’t change the temperature on this plug, because it’s just controlling the power: on, off, timed, or scheduled.
However you could use it for things you might not expect, such as controlling a TV for your kids, and turning it off at a certain time or via an app, or even by connecting it to Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant and telling your phone or smart speaker that it’s bed time and the TV should be off.
“The mydlink app can control all our smart home products in the mydlink ecosystem and the new mydlink Mini Wi-Fi Smart Plug is an integrated part of making that ecosystem operate in a smart and seamless fashion,” said Graeme Reardon, Managing Director of D-Link in Australia and New Zealand.
“Put simply, the new smart plug combined with the mydlink app makes it easier for people to enable their smart home by adding clever automation and additional security,” he said.
The D-Link DSP-W118 Mini WiFi Smart Plug is available in stores now across Australia, fetching a recommended retail price of $39.95.
