Internet Archives - Man Cave Retreat

Man caves get a bad rap for being dark, dingy, and stuck in the dark ages. With all the new technology coming out, there are all kinds of cool things you can do. In this article, we will look at some ways to modernize your man cave and maximize your space. One of the best ways to modernize your man cave is with Alexa. With Alexa, your voice, and things like smart outlets, smart light switches, and smart homes, the possibilities are endless. By plugging appliances into your smart outlet, you can turn them off and on. I have my man cave’s air conditioner set up this way. Maybe the coolest way to modernize your man cave is by using Alexa do control your Neato automated vacuum. Some people may think that trying to automate your man cave is being lazy. I don’t think so. There are all kinds of things that we can do to make our lives easier, so why wouldn’t we? I am only going to talk about the practical ways of automating your room. As the Internet of things: making the most of the second digital revolution states, there are some dangers associated with going too far with this “internet” of homes, appliances, and other stuff. But if we don’t get carried away, modernizing and automating our man cave does not have to be overkill. It can be an extension instead. Automate Your Man Cave With Alexa: In recent years, there have been all kinds of devices like Alexa and Google Home that can be awesome to have in your man cave. Without any setup, they can be an easy way to play music or have a quick question answered. But with a little bit of set up, there are all kinds of crazy stuff you can do with them. When you first look at Alexa, it seems neat… It’s a cool party trick to impress your friends in your man cave. But at the beginning of this article, I promised I would be only giving practical suggestions for modernizing your man cave. The true power of Alexa comes with the different apps that it is compatible with. Although there are some apps you would likely never use in your man cave, some are awesome. With a little bit of room prepping, your man cave will be ready for the 21st century. Most Important App For Alexa: Spotify: One of the best apps for your man cave is Spotify. If you have a Spotify account, you are going to be able to play music for any occasion in your man cave by simply saying “Alexa, play ___”. Even better, take the time to make different playlists for different occasions, and say “Alexa, play my ___ playlist”. I am guessing you already have some type of sound system in your man cave. Just hook up Alexa to those same speakers, and you have a stellar voice-activated DJ. Most Important Smart Hardware For Your Man Cave: Yes, there are some cool apps that work well with your Alexa. The true benefit of having an Alexa comes when you set up your room with the right hardware. Honeywell and Nest Smart Homes: The first category of hardware Alexa can work with is smart home systems. Examples of these systems that Alexa works with are Honeywell and Nest. If you have never heard of smart home systems, they are simple. The idea is to create a small web of appliances that can all talk to each other. Like I mentioned earlier, you really don’t need to go over the top here. Keep it practical! With the Honeywell and Nest systems, you can control your heating in your room (or the whole house if you are feeling ambitious/generous). If you have a bunch of people over, and your room starts to get a little toasty, just use Alexa and say “Alexa, turn down the heat” or “Alexa, it’s too hot”. Nice and easy. Of course, you could add more things to your smart home, but honestly, you may not need to. The other options I will be talking out should do everything you need! TP-Link and WeMo: Smart Outlets: The next piece of hardware that works well with an Alexa device is smart outlets. TP-Link and WeMo are both brands of smart outlets that your Alexa is compatible with. The awesome part about these things is how simple they are. Of course, they are all going to be a bit different, but the idea of them is the same. Plug the smart outlet into an outlet, and then plug an appliance into it that you want to be able to turn on and off. Then you set it up with a name, which your Alexa will recognize. In my man cave, I have my air conditioner connected into a smart plug. When I first did it, I wasn’t completely convinced it was worth it. But as time went on, I realized how nice these things can be. My man cave is above the garage, so controlling the temperature can be a bit of a pain. But if it is getting too hot all I have to say is “Alexa, turn on the air conditioner”. Just like that, it’ll turn on. I feel like this is an overused saying but, I really do think the possibilities are endless. If you have been reading my content, you know that my goal for myself and the readers is to build a room that allows us to be authentically us. I think these smart plugs are an awesome tool to make the room our own. Smart Light Switch: From my experience, automated lights aren’t usually super high on the list for modernizing man caves. Hear me out though. This could be a great inclusion to your man cave or entertainment center if you have a home theater. The number of times I have sat down to watch a movie and realized I forgot to shut off or dim the lights is painful. Shame on me, I still have not installed these… Why? I couldn’t tell you. If you don’t find yourself adjusting the lights often, you probably don’t need this option. But if you are watching a lot of movies, or have certain overhead lights for your bar, automated, Wi-Fi enabled light switches could be an awesome inclusion to your man cave. Neato (automated vacuum): Unless you have been living under a rock, you know what a Roomba is. Those things are the gold standard of automated vacuum cleaners. Unfortunately, these are not currently compatible with Alexa. However, Neato is compatible. Some of the commands available to you with Alexa and your Neato vacuum are: stop, start, pause, resume, and scheduling. These things are worth looking at if you are looking to modernize your man cave. Fire Stick or Chromecast: I think it is worth considering having some type of streaming device in your man cave. This whole time I have been saying “make your space work for you”. Well, a streaming device like a firestick or a Chromecast is the epitome of flexibility. With the fire stick, you will be able to use your voice to navigate your TV as well. If this is something that is important to you then I would highly suggest getting a fire stick. If you happen to not buy a smart TV, one of these devices can make you forget it wasn’t a smart TV, to begin with. It should be mentioned, the Chromecast is not able to be controlled by Alexa. Instead, you would need a good home if you wanted to be able to control it with your voice. The way I look at it, these devices are still worth buying even if you can’t control them with your voice. It just adds an extra cool factor. Final Thoughts: Too often, I see posts about finding ways to “trick out your man cave”. Sure those are fun to look at, but personally, I care more about adding to my man caves in ways that are practical and make it more modern. Forget about fully automating your man cave. That’s not what this article is for. This article is to help you find different ways of modernizing your man cave which is not too over the top. Alexa is a great way to add functionality to different aspects of your man cave, without things being too convoluted. Until next time,