The Zuli Smartplug is a new device that allows users to control home appliances and lights from their smartphones. Leveraging the simple fact that we take our smartphones with us everywhere these days, the Smartplug syncs with a user’s phone via Bluetooth Low Energy, giving that person unparalleled control and monitoring capabilities of the electrical appliances in their home.

By plugging the Smartplug into any standard power outlet, connecting a light or appliance and downloading the relevant free app, users will have power management capabilities over household devices from one control. With one Smartpug, users are able to turn devices on/off, dim lights, schedule actions and monitor energy output on a specific appliance. However, by setting up the ‘Full House Pack’, using a minimum of three Zuli Smartplugs to utilise a Bluetooth mesh network, the system will have the capability to detect a user’s location within the house so that appliances can adjust as you make your way from one room to the next.

In a similar manner to Canary - a smartphone-activated security system that acts as a virtual ‘house sitter’ - the Zuli Smartplug makes home monitoring simple. A further upshot of Smartplug use is the potential to dramatically lower your household’s energy usage, by having the means to completely power-down every appliance in the house at the touch of a button. If Zuli have their way, we’ll never have to get out of bed to turn off the bedroom light again. Currently on Kickstarter, the Smartplug should be on the market by June 2014 if Zuli can meet their $150,000 goal. You can pledge here.