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A Real Dad’s Smart Home Life: How Hive’s Tech Makes Things Simpler

BY Promoted Series Correspondent // 07.07.17

Self-driving cars, robotic vacuum cleaners, video telephones: Technological advances that were once a futuristic fantasy straight out of The Jetsons have increasingly become reality, making everyday life simpler in the process. But when it comes to turning your house into a smart home, how do you know who to trust?

Hive — a smart home subscription service trusted by more than 500,000 homeowners in the United Kingdom — has recently brought its services stateside. The company’s suite of products includes motion detectors, window and door sensors, smart light bulbs, smart plugs and thermostats that can be controlled from anywhere with Hive’s award-winning app (available for smartphones, tablets or on desktop).

All together, these devices aim to fulfill the promise of making clever technology simple and accessible, so you can spend more time doing the things you love. To find out how it works, we turned to Jeff Segura, the Houston-based blogger and digital influencer behind the Daddy Style Diaries.

After all, who better to ask than a dad?

“I knew that Hive was the leading smart-home brand in the U.K., so I was excited when they sent me products to try leading up to their U.S. launch,” Segura says.

He received Hive’s Welcome Home Standard Plan, which comes with a Hive Hub, two Hive Active Plugs, four Hive Active Lights, two Window/Door Sensors, one Motion Sensor and one Hive Active Thermostat. (This plan regularly costs $24.99 a month.)

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“I’ve had the products for about three weeks, and we’ve tried all kinds of different set-ups,” says Segura, who stays busy with his wife Ashley and their very active 2-year-old daughter Camila. “It’s been fun applying them to my family’s lifestyle and sharing the experience with my followers.”

This week’s winning combo? One Hive Active Plug on the television so that he can schedule viewing time for his daughter or set it to turn on while he’s away from home so the house doesn’t look empty. Another on the desk lamp, so he can return to his office to work after putting Camila to bed without fumbling for a light switch in the dark. A Hive Active Light over the dining table, where he can enjoy an intimate dinner with his wife (setting: warm, dim white) or play a board game with the whole family (setting: cool, bright white). Two Window/Door Sensors that send alerts to his phone any time one opens or closes, so he can keep his family safe.

But his favorite feature of all is the smart thermostat. “My wife and I are always on the go, and we love that we can activate the quick-cool option to cool it down when we’re on our way home, or turn it up remotely when we’re heading out of town,” he says.

Hive is bringing what it learned in its United Kingdom success to the U.S.

This daddy didn’t expect the technology to make his life easier in such a natural seemingly way. It’s almost like he did not adjust to Hive as much as Hive adjusted to him and his family. It’s almost as if the smart home system was made for his family lifestyle.

According to Segura, the app is easy to download and device set-up is a breeze with the system’s self-install approach. He loves that the products work as an active ecosystem, interacting and communicating with each other to make his life simpler — so he has more time to spend with family.

Isn’t that the point of having technology in the first place? So it makes it easier to enjoy time with the ones you love.

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