WeMonitor Heartbeat: Smart Power Outlet Saves Money, Too (preview)

aNewDomain.net — The three big stories at CES 2014 were curved televisions, computers you can wear, and stuff you make your house smarter. This last one doesn’t sound too exciting, but people are catching on to the advantages and convenience of being able to turn lights on and off or unlock doors using their smartphones. As a result, we’re seeing companies taking everything from thermostats to washing machines and hooking them up to the Internet. One of the newest entries in this category is the Heartbeat Switch from WeMonitor.

The Heartbeat Switch from WeMonitor not only lets you control devices remotely, but it can also help you save energy and money. Image: Alfred Poor for aNewDomain

WeMonitor demonstrated a prototype of its smart outlet on the CES 2014 show floor. Like other smart plugs, this smart outlet lets you monitor its status and turn it on and off remotely using your smartphone over the Internet. A programmable LED light ring can glow different colors depending on what information you want it to convey.

But the big difference here is that the device also captures information about the energy being used by the device. And it sends this up to a cloud service that then will give you reports on your electricity consumption. That’s the sort of functionality that will help you save power and save money, too. The Heartbeat Switch comes in models with different capacities, including one capable of handling a refrigerator or other large load device.

According to a WeMonitor rep, the switch will be available at retail at a price that is lower than other smart switches on the market that do less.

This is the video piece I did for aNewDomainTV that really shows what this tech is all about.