16 of the coolest smart home devices from 2014

This year almost seems like a watershed moment for smart home devices. A deluge of new appliances, hubs, and apps aimed at making our houses more connected came into the marketplace, and even more popped up on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Some were designed to keep us safe, like smart smoke alarms and outlets, while others were just fun, like the smart photo frame. In fact, there was so much neat stuff this year, we had a hard time narrowing down what give as gifts this holiday season; it seriously helped that not all the devices on this list are actually available yet. It just means 2015 is going to be even more smart-device-laden than 2014.