4 Ways To Make Your Smart Home The Life Of The Party

We know hosting a party can be as stressful as it is fun. There’s a lot of work to do, people to entertain, children to watch, and more. Learn how having a smart home can save the day and help you host the best summer party ever.

The Video Doorbell Helps You Greet Guests

You’re running around the house like a crazy person just trying to finish last-minute details and the doorbell rings. Instead of panicking, you simply take out your smartphone to verify who it is and let them in with the push of a button. Then you can go back to setting up the tables and food, and the early guest can help.

Light Up Your Yard with Automatic Lighting

Your home automation can show off when the sun goes down, and the outside lights automatically come on. You didn’t have to do a thing. Automatic lighting is also an excellent deterrent to burglars who like to hide in the dark.

Contact Sensors and Smartphone Alerts Can be Your Private Eye

While the adults tell stories and reminisce, the kids like to explore the house. However, you have your own investigator, so you know exactly where they’ve been. Place sensors in places that are off-limits like the man cave. The sensors will send you alerts when someone accesses those areas. You’ll be one step ahead of the kids with your very own private eye.

The Security System Can Set Itself

The guests have gone home, and you’re beat after cleaning up the party. All you want to do is go to bed, but you still have to lock up the house. Home automation allows you to lock up the house and set the alarm with scenes. Create one for your nighttime routine, and you can use the system command to arm your alarm and lock up the house. It can even set the thermostat back for the night.

Home automation provides convenience and streamlined solutions for everyday life. It’s also a pretty good party host and a favorite of many.

ABOUT All Action Alarm

All Action Alarm has been a relationship-driven security company that provides superior customer service, quality installations, and state-of-the-art monitoring – and now, our services include smart home upgrades. We are proud to be one of the top security companies on Staten Island.

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3 Outdoor Home Security Products for Summer

Summertime brings warm weather and with it, open doors and windows as well as empty houses with homeowners on vacation. Some cities in the U.S. report over a 20 percent increase in crime during the summer compared to other seasons. Make sure your home is secure this summer with these essential outdoor home security products.

1. Intelligent Lighting

Smart lighting connects with your security system. The intelligent security cameras or image sensors trigger it when they see or sense motion in your yard. Place lighting in the dark areas of your yard and that leaves burglars with no place to hide.

Advanced lighting technology even protects your home when you’re gone on vacation. Simply, set up a schedule for your smart lighting so that it turns the lights on every night, making it appear that someone is home.

2. Smart Security Cameras

Since you can’t be everywhere at once, intelligent cameras watch the places you can’t 24/7. They’re the untiring sentinels for your property. Typical security cameras alert you when they sense activity outside, but advanced technology now lets a new generation of security cameras detect whether it’s an animal, vehicle, or person.

You can even customize the alerts to notify you about all of the activity that you want to be made aware of. Customized alerts prevent you from being bombarded by the trivial events that don’t matter to you. The system can send you recorded and live footage of things going on outside as well as conveying the message that burglars aren’t welcome.

3. The Popular Doorbell Camera

One of the most popular security products on the market is the doorbell camera. It allows you to see who’s at the door or lingering around your property even when you’re not home. Video alerts are triggered by motion in the area of the doorbell. The two-way video and voice functions allow you to speak to both welcome and unwelcome visitors.

With smart locks, you can use your phone app to open the door for visitors once you’ve verified them even when you’re nowhere near the door. If you’re expecting a delivery while you’re out, you can speak to the delivery person and tell them where to put the package so that it’s safe until you return home.

These are just three security elements that will protect your home and family, whether you’re home or not. A complete smart home security system with automation is like having your own security team to help protect your property.

About All Action Alarm

All Action Alarm is a family owned business that has been caring for Long Island families since 1980. Our 5-diamond central monitoring station keeps watch 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Contact us at (631) 549-7225

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Build Your Man Cave With Intelligent Home Automation

Every man dreams of creating their very own man cave, and when that dream comes true, he constantly wants to improve it. A man cave is never truly finished, but what is the one improvement that provides the most entertainment and efficiency? The answer my friends is intelligent home automation.

Using Smart Home Automation to Impress Your Friends

There are many fun features of home automation, but remote-controlled entry will impress your friends and allow you to never miss important sports’ plays ever again. The new video doorbell for your front door lets you know when your takeout food arrives, and you can even unlock it to let your friends in. They’ll be quite surprised to see you never left the couch when they walk in. If it’s someone at the door you don’t want to see like a salesman, send them away using the smartphone app.

Automate Your Lighting

Using a smart plug, you can automate all the lamps and lights in your man cave. They’ll activate with automation triggers such as opening the door to the man cave or voice control by saying a phrase like, “turn lights on.” There’s no more getting up and down to switch a lamp on or off.

Control Everything with a Single Button

Use the customized scenes to show off your smart home technology. Scenes are simple to customize using the app. You can use any combination of devices connected to the intelligent technology such as smart shades and lighting to create the perfect Game Day environment. You can even include a customized thermostat setting to the scene by adding a remote temperature sensor that communicates with the house’s main thermostat.

Security for the Refrigerator in Your Man Cave

The contents of your kitchen’s refrigerator may be open to all, but the contents of the fridge in your man cave are sacred. You can place a contact sensor on the refrigerator door that no one will notice. When someone opens the door, you’ll receive a customizable alert on your smartphone that tells you when it was opened.

You’ll be the envy of all your friends if you kick your man cave up a notch with smart home automation. This technology will make you more efficient with its simple-to-use features. Game Day will never be the same again.

About All Action Alarm

All Action Alarm has been a relationship-driven security company that provides superior customer service, quality installations, and state-of-the-art monitoring – and now, our services include smart home upgrades. We are proud to be one of the top security companies on Staten Island. 

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Home Security When On Vacation

Modern family dynamics often include a father that travels for work. Mothers are busy too so they can only fill the shoes of both parents to a certain extent. A smart home security system is just what the busy contemporary family needs for home security when on vacation.

Smart Home Security Systems are Proactive

Every father will tell you that having a child changes you. Science has proven this assumption with studies of the changes in neural plasticity in new fathers. The safety of your family is a priority for you, and the modern home security system can help you be proactive in protecting your family.

The intelligent security system uses motion-activated doorbell cameras, smart smoke detectors, and contact sensors connected to the security system to detect possible problems quickly. This allows your family to react swiftly to emergencies when they arise. The system sends you alerts when it detects trouble such as an unlocked door or motion at the front door. You’ll always know what’s going on at home with these alerts.

Perform the Last Security Check for the Night No Matter Where You Are

We all know that kids and significant others forget to set the alarm at night occasionally because it’s your job when you’re home. With the smartphone app, you can check the status of the garage doors, windows, exterior doors, and the security system. If anything’s amiss you can fix it through the app. If someone forgot to turn the alarm on, once everyone is asleep, arm the system, and you can relax knowing your home and family are secure.

Enforce House Rules When You’re Away

Ever wonder what happens to house rules when your not there to enforce them? There’s a solution for that as well. Give each of your children a unique code for the door, and you’ll always know if they miss curfew. The security app on your phone will alert you when your kids use their code. There’s also an option to turn the alerts off if you don’t need to monitor anyone.

Perhaps there are areas in your house that are off-limits to the kids. Installing contact sensors lets you receive alerts immediately when someone oversteps their bounds.

Intelligent home security systems are the comprehensive solution to protect your family and home when you’re gone. There’s no need to worry anymore when you have to travel out of town.

ABOUT All Action Alarm

All Action Alarm has been a relationship-driven security company that provides superior customer service, quality installations, and state-of-the-art monitoring – and now, our services include smart home upgrades. We are proud to be one of the top security companies on Staten Island. 

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What Does Dad Really Want? Home Automation

Men love their man caves, and now is the perfect time to give those rooms an upgrade. Rather than wood paneling a wall or buying another pricey beer light, we recommend giving the man cave a boost with the benefits of a smart home upgrade. Here’s what home automation can mean for your man cave.

Smart Sensors: Protection for Sensitive Areas

The man cave may be the home’s party room, but that doesn’t mean guests should have access to everything in it. If you have a bar and you like being your own bartender, then one way to keep it secure is to place a sensor in the behind-the-bar area. That way, you receive a smartphone alert the moment a guest goes into your sacred territory. It’s a great way to manage the flow of liquor, saving you money and protecting you from liability during parties.

Smart Locks for Home Access 

Is there anything more distracting during a party than getting up to answer the door? With a smart home upgrade to the security system, smart locks can be opened with a tap of the app; that way, you never have to leave the man cave, barbeque, or party game while there’s activity in progress. Guests will be impressed when you talk to them through the speaker, and even more impressed when you unlock the door remotely.

Smart Lighting & Thermostats

Home automation is a great trend, but it’s an even greater home improvement. Now, homeowners can automate the lights, locks, thermostats and even window shades with a simple smart home upgrade to their security systems. It’s no longer a massive undertaking or financial investment; it’s manageable for the average security system owner. And there are few rooms in the home that will benefit from this improvement more than the man cave, especially for homeowners who do a lot of entertaining.

About All Action Alarm

All Action Alarm has been a relationship-driven security company that provides superior customer service, quality installations and state-of-the-art monitoring – and now, our services include smart home upgrades. We are proud that one of the top security companies on Staten Island. Contact All Action Alarm today at (631) 549-7225.

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How Wireless Security Systems Make Moving Easier

It’s almost tax day, but there’s good news for 60 percent of Americans. That’s the amount of people who can expect to receive a tax refund this year, according to NerdWallet. The same outlet reported that the average tax refund in 2019 will be over $2,500. That’s definitely enough for a medium-to-large home improvement project – and for some, it may put a nicely sized dent in a goal to move into a new home. If that happens to be your goal for your tax refund, you may wonder: Can you take your security system with you when you move? Yes with Wireless Security Systems.

Wireless Security Systems

With the introduction of wireless security systems, there were many advantages to the technology shift; one of those benefits was portability. With no cables or dependency on landlines for support, wireless home security systems can normally be moved to your next home. However, it’s important to notify your security company so that your monitoring service can be moved to your new address. In fact, it’s more than important; it’s absolutely critical, so that help can be sent to the correct address if your alarm is triggered by an emergency.

What if you have an outdated system?

For those who own a hardwired, plain old telephone service (POTS) home security system, it would be much harder to pull off taking the system to a new home. But for those homeowners, the good news is that moving to a new home is the perfect opportunity to upgrade to a wireless system.

Not only is this system more portable; it’s also tamper proof, meaning it will work even if an intruder smashes the keypad (not to mention there’s no phone wire for an intruder to cut). No matter what, the alarm will sound and the signal will reach the monitoring center. Even bad weather can’t interfere. These things just aren’t the case with an outdated POTS system.

Then, there’s mobility.

Another reason to use your move as an opportunity to switch to wireless home security? Mobile access to your system anytime. From the convenience of your smartphone or tablet, you’ll be able to arm and disarm the system, view your security video, and even get text alerts when there’s an apparent security threat. An outdated POTS system doesn’t have this mobile connectivity.

To learn more about moving while retaining or upgrading your home security, Long Island homeowners can call All Action Alarm. We look forward to speaking with you.

About All Action Alarm

We have experience in the electronic security industry and experts in home automation technologies. If you are looking for ways to simplify your life, give us a call.

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3 Ways to Create Smart Home Scenes

Typically, “making a scene” is not something you want to do – but with your smart home security system, making a scene is exactly what you want to do. With your security app on your mobile phone, you can control a whole network of devices and create smart home scenes with a single command.

How do you do it? Here are three easy steps.

1. Open your smart home security app.

If you’re using your phone, open your smart home security app. If you’re on your desktop computer, you’ll need to log in. Once you’re in, your path is emPower > Scenes. You’ll see four pre-set scenes: Home, Away, Sleep and Wake Up).

2. Edit your smart home scenes command.

Now, it’s time to decide what you want each of these Scenes to do; they already have commands built in, but you can add and delete those commands right inside the app. Don’t want your Away scene to change the thermostat? You can remove that command from the scene. Want the Wake Up scene to open the garage door so it’s ready to back out of the driveway? That’s your choice.

3. Customize more scenes.

While the four main scenes are a perfect starting point, you can create even more scenes on your smart home security app. These are customized scenes you create based on your specific lifestyle needs. One of the most popular customized scenes is “Movie,” where you adjust lighting and thermostat for a cozy night at home. Another is “Kids Bedtime,” which can include all the commands needed for parents staying up once the kids are tucked in.

When it comes to your smart home security system, go ahead and make a scene – as many as you want. For questions on household management using the great technology of smart home security, Long Island homeowners should call All Action Alarm. We look forward to speaking with you.

About All Action Alarm

We have experience in the electronic security industry and experts in home automation technologies. If you are looking for ways to simplify your life, give us a call at (631) 549-7225.

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What to Look for in a Smart Home Security System

It’s a wonderful time of the year to shop for a smart home system, but not all of the products out there are equally effectual. Here’s what to look for when shopping for yours.

Rock Solid Security

Smart home systems can do all kinds of things: automate your lights, locks and thermostat, allow you to talk to whoever’s at the door, and even allow parents to check in on kids. All of that is great, but what about protection from home security emergencies? That should always be the primary purpose of a smart home system. If an emergency occurs, you want a smart home system that can notify the central station and get help to your home.

If someone attempts a break-in, your system should wirelessly alert the alarm monitoring center. From there, the trained security operators should be ready to dispatch help to your home.

Bells and whistles are great in a smart home system, but rock solid security comes first.

Proactive Fire Protection

The same principle is true for a fire emergency. A true smart home security system should include smart smoke detectors. Are these different from “regular” smoke detectors? You bet. They’re designed to signal the monitoring center if smoke is detected, where operators will promptly respond by alerting the fire department. At the same time, the smart thermostat will shut off the HVAC system so that the noxious fire fumes stop circulating through the air.

Smart home systems start with home security, but fire protection is equally important. Make sure yours has it.

User-Friendly Operation

Buttons, codes, keypads, beeps…all of those things can be in your rearview mirror with a smart home security system. A true smart home system lets you control home security with your own smartphone, via a user-friendly home security app that your professional installer helps you set up during installation. And from that day on, there should be informed support available anytime you need it.  

If you’re shopping for a smart home security system, we can help you choose a system that’s easy to operate while providing rock solid security and fire protection. To learn more about smart home security in Long Island, contact All Action Alarm. We will be glad to answer your questions.

About All Action Alarm

We have experience in the electronic security industry and experts in home automation technologies. If you are looking for ways to simplify your life, give us a call.

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Rolling Out the Winter Welcome Mat With Home Security

t’s that time of year when your favorite overnight guests may be coming to town. You want the environment to feel welcoming and safe for these loved ones, but you also want to impress them with all the great security technology you have in your home. Fortunately, you can do both with your smart home security system. Here’s how. 

Give them their own user code.

When you give your house guests a unique user code for the keyless entry at the front door, your guests can come and go freely – and no one has to worry about accidentally triggering the alarm. This spares them potentially embarrassment, and saves you any potential hassle. Plus, they can go out at night without you staying up to let them in. It’s easy and impressive. And when the visit is over, just deactivate their user code; it can stay inactive until the next time they visit.

Keep the guest room cozy.

Everyone loves to look at a winter wonderland through the window while they sit inside the warmth of a house – the operative word being “warmth.” If you are unsure whether your guest room is warm enough for your friends, you can use one of the most exciting tools your smart home system has to offer: the remote temperature sensor.  

When this sensor is placed in the guest room, it can adjust the thermostat based on the average temperature in the rest of the home. It’s the perfect way to find out if your guest room is your house’s “cold room” – and, it takes care of that problem so guests can enjoy their stay more.

Show them how the cameras work.

Although home security cameras are popular, there are still some “holdout” guests who may be concerned their every move is being watched. You know that’s not true, so show them how the cameras really work. Open up your home security app settings, and show them how the Geo-Services technology can prevent the indoor cameras from recording when people are home. They’ll breathe a sigh of relief, and you can let your cameras continue to do their job.

If any of these smart home security tools are not yet part of your home security setup, we would be happy to help. Contact All Action Alarm for a free consultation to discuss home security. Long Island homeowners, we look forward to hearing from you. 

About All Action Alarm

We have experience in the electronic security industry and experts in home automation technologies. If you are looking for ways to simplify your life, give us a call.

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Smart Security Cameras vs. DIY: Which is Better?

Connected home security cameras are among the best electronic investments a homeowner can make, especially as a first step into home security. As most people know, many criminals avoid targeting a home if they see a camera mounted outside; plus, connected cameras can be incredibly useful for household management.

Unfortunately, some beginners to home security start out believing that all home security cameras are the same. This is not true at all; as a matter of fact, many of the cameras you encounter at retail stores are standalone camera sets that are not connectable to a security system. What’s the difference between those and true security cameras? The latter is fully connectable to your home security system. This means they give you:  

Important Notifications

Connected home security cameras have exclusive features and intelligence that standalone cameras don’t have. One of those is the ability to notify the homeowner when there’s a person at the door, or motion captured on one of the cameras; this is done via an alert to the homeowner’s smartphone. Because the homeowner receives an alert whenever these events happen, it’s possible to stay on top of home security from anywhere.

Unique Intelligence

Of course, not everything captured on the cameras will be a legitimate security threat. Sometimes, it could be your own loved ones coming and going from the house. That’s where a connected camera’s unique intelligence becomes very valuable. Using the home security app that enables you to control the entire system from the palm of your hand, you can choose the specific video events that warrant a notification.

For example: Do you really want a notification every time your spouse or kids move into camera view? Probably not – so to prevent this, you can customize the motion-triggered notifications you will receive for each camera. You can even filter your notifications by time of day or alarm activation status. This will greatly reduce the number of notifications you get, which means you’ll know that the alerts you receive warrant your attention.

Household Management

Of course, there may be some common household events that you do want to be notified: for instance, when the kids come home from school. When your cameras are connected to your security system, you can use your app to enable a video notification when the kids arrive.

Likewise, you’ll receive a video notification when there’s an alarm event – like if the alarm is ever triggered by a possible break-in. The alarm event prompts your cameras to begin recording automatically, which means you’ll see everything going on during a true home security event. And because the video clips are sharable, you’ll be able to send them to law enforcement or post on social media to caution others.

These are some of the differences cameras purchased off the shelf and connected cameras for home security. Long Island homeowners who would like to learn more can contact All Action Alarm.

About All Action Alarm

We have experience in the electronic security industry and experts in home automation technologies. If you are looking for ways to simplify your life, give us a call.

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