Smart Home

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21 May: Save On Nest Thermostats This Month

At Best Buy, we’re committed to offering products that help our customers reduce their carbon footprints while saving money on their utility bills.

For the average household, more than half of the energy used is for heating and cooling1. A great way to control, monitor and reduce energy used at home is by installing a smart thermostat.

To help our customers save energy and money, we’re partnering with Google to offer deals on Nest smart thermostats this month.

From now through May 31:

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30 Oct: In-Home Advisor becomes lighting DJ at Halloween party

When Wendy and Paul Smith visited their local Best Buy store in Houston to learn about smart home technology, they weren’t expecting it to result in a decked-out Halloween party complete with smart lighting, speakers and more.

“I really wanted to be able to control things from an app,” Wendy said. “My No. 1 thing: I wanted to be able to put lights on a timer.”

At the store, they were told about our In-Home Consultation service and made an appointment with In-Home Advisor Angelica Fonseca to learn more about creating a smart home.

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24 Jun: Nursery tech device notifies Louisiana Best Buy employee at the right time

When Best Buy Blue Shirt Carl Scott’s son was born prematurely, friends and relatives were on high alert to make sure the family had everything they needed to monitor the baby’s progress and health.

Someone gave them an Owlet Smart Sock, which monitors an infant’s heart rate and oxygen level. At first, Carl wasn’t so sure about getting the gadget as a gift.

“To be honest, I was like, ‘Hopefully they send me a gift receipt so I can buy something else.’”

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26 Nov: A smart home expert (and owner) gives tips on getting started

Fermin Saldana knows a thing or two about how to turn a house into a bona fide smart home.

He’s an In-Home Advisor for Best Buy in San Antonio, where he visits customers’ homes every day to give them free consultations on tech products and services. But he doesn’t just talk about the gadgets, he lives with them, too. Fermin has a smart thermostat, smart lights and voice assistants throughout his house.

When it comes to smart home devices, there are great options at a variety of price points.

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22 Aug: How to build your own home security system

Technology has allowed us to make our homes smarter than ever. It can also make them safer than ever, too. And a whole host of products makes building your own home security system a breeze.

Best Buy In-Home Advisor Konrad Johnson hears from a lot of customers who are interested in outfitting their homes with cameras, alarms and other devices they can install and operate themselves.

“With so many smart home products out there, you can get overwhelmed,” he says. ‘If you’re just getting going, I recommend starting with a smart lock and a doorbell camera.”

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13 Feb: Installing a Smart Thermostat (All By Myself!)

I bought my husband a Nest learning thermostat for his birthday, and I promised that I was going to install it myself. However, that was a year ago.

With the extreme Minnesota weather, every time I thought about taking it out of the box, it was deemed either too hot or too cold to turn off our heating and cooling system, you know, “just in case” I messed something up. 

Well, no more excuses. I decided to get it done.

I was a little overwhelmed at the thought of installing smart technology in my house, but after watching this video, I knew I could do it.

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02 Feb: Smart Entertaining for the Big Game Starts with Smart Devices

Pro football’s biggest game of the year is about more than watching gridiron action. It’s about entertaining and being entertained (even if the game is a blowout).

If you’re having people over, you can let your smart home devices do a lot of the work for you, both before and during the game.

Minneapolis is hosting this year’s Big Game, so we asked Geek Squad Agent Derek Johnson at the nearby Mall of America Best Buy store for some tips on putting those smart devices to work.

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07 Dec: National Safety Council, Best Buy Provide Holiday Safety Tips

The holiday season is one of our favorite times of the year, but unfortunately, it’s also a time when home thefts and accidents tend to rise.

On Thursday, Maureen Vogel from the National Safety Council and Pedro Melendez, a Best Buy smart home security expert, talked to media outlets around the country to educate consumers about common holiday safety hazards and how to prevent them.

 

Let’s start with thefts.  What’s the best way to keep those online gift purchases from getting stolen?

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01 Dec: Green Your Holiday With Smart Home

This holiday season, turn your living room into a winter wonderland with the latest smart home devices.

Check out these tips to create that cozy atmosphere, while using green products that can help you reduce your energy usage.

  • Add a glow to your living room with the Philips Hue LED light strip. Install the strip under cabinets, or around your TV by bending, shaping or cutting the strip to fit your space. Its multicolored, dimmable lights can create the right atmosphere.
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04 Oct: New Google Products For Home, and Away From Home

Google has been busy coming up with new products to make our lives easier, and now you can get them at Best Buy.

Just announced today, these new gadgets span from voice assistants to smartphones to virtual reality headsets.

Let’s start with the Google Home Mini. It’s little, yes, but it can do big things. Powered by Google Assistant, it’s designed to fit in anywhere, so you can scatter Minis throughout multiple rooms in your house. It has far-field microphones that can hear you even if there’s music playing or loud background noise.

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04 Oct: Best Buy Assured Living Lets Aging Parents Stay at Home

Did Mom lock the front door before going to bed? How has she been sleeping? Has she been staying active? Those and other questions had become more common for Britt Stanton, whose mom is 71.

“While she’s young at heart, she’s not as young as she used to be, and I start to worry about her,” said Britt, who works at Best Buy’s corporate office in Minneapolis.

She’s one of millions of Americans who balance caring for aging parents with raising their own children, working full-time jobs and fulfilling other obligations.

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07 Jul: Beat the Heat Without Breaking the Bank

You don’t have to choose between your wallet and your comfort this summer. There are plenty of energy efficient and cost-friendly ways to beat the heat.

We turned to Geek Squad Agent Derek Meister in Cleveland, Ohio, to find out some easy ways to keep cool.

Smart home tech can save energy and money

Programmable thermostats, like the Nest Thermostat, learns your cooling preferences within a week and programs temperatures in your home accordingly, which can help you save both energy and money.