Cox Archives - Baton Rouge Family Fun

Life today is more mobile, more connected and more immediate than ever. For moms, it can also feel more hectic as we strive to get it all done and remember all of the things. Today’s family has at least six home devices connected to the Internet, by 2022, it’s expected that the number will grow to 50 connected devices in the home! Last week, I had the opportunity to tour the Cox Smart Home at The Preserve at Harveston and experience firsthand how smart devices continue to modify and form how we connect, live, work and learn.

Moms have busy lives, we are multitasking beasts and keep multiple running lists in our heads at all times. However, trying to remember all of the things while juggling all of the things can become overwhelming and physically and emotionally taxing. My greatest takeaway from the Cox Smart Home tour, that we are not utilizing technology to its fullest potential. There are a plethora of smart resources and services available to us to help make family life easier, safer and more productive. Picture a home full of assistants ready to help make family living run more smoothly in every living space of your home, or when you’re away! As I entered the Smart Home I was introduced to Cox Homelife, Cox Homelife lets you protect, monitor and control your home at the touch of a finger from anywhere, anytime, providing safety and peace of mind.

Cox Homelife safety and security

The safety of my family and my home is of greatest concern when I’m away from home. After leaving the house I will often second guess if I have left lights on or off, if I turned off appliances or if I locked the doors. Homelife mobile app allows you to arm your security remotely or control your thermostat, lights, door locks and even small appliances.

Cox Homelife smart devices

In the kitchen, food blogger and cookbook author Whitney Bond showed how a number of smart devices can be used to make life a lot easier. Imagine a coffee brewer that lets you create a personal brew profile by adjusting the pre-soak time, temperature and brewing time. The smart coffee machine will even text you when your coffee is ready to drink. And when it comes to dinner, the WeMo Smart Slow Cooker can adjust cooking time and temperature using the free WeMo app from your Smart device delivering total peace of mind when you’re away from home. Your furry family members have an assistant too, the Feed and Go Feeder lets you watch and feed your pets no matter where you are.

Cox Panoramic Wi-Fi and “G1GABLAST”

Cooking, video games, live podcasting, video conferencing and even cleaning {the miraculous Roomba} all work simultaneously on the same internet source with Panoramic Wi-Fi providing wall-to-wall Internet coverage and “G1GABLAST” offering speeds 100 times faster than the average speed in the U.S. today. The smart home also showcased a smart flowerpot that monitors and waters itself, an electric toothbrush that gives feedback on your brushing habits, a Sensor Mirror Pro that shows you how your makeup will look in natural sunlight and over 50,000 color variations and Amazon Dash buttons that restock home essentials with one simple click.

In the guest room I met Jason Yang, a world-renowned violinist and composer, he relies on high-speed Internet for all aspects of his work. Jason uses Skype to teach international students and stream live seminars in high definition to his students and fans. The way we learn, teach and communicate has evolved, technology has impacted almost every aspect of life today, and education is no exception.

Remote health monitoring

The Owner’s retreat introduced us to a remote health-monitoring by Trapollo LLC. Two years ago my mother became very ill and moved in with our family so we could help care for her. The ability to remotely consult with my mother’s physician would have made all the difference on days where we were unsure of her vitals and whether she needed to take a trip to the ER. Powered by the internet, the remote health-monitoring system connects patients with their clinicians and physicians anytime, day or night, allowing them to manage their health condition without having to leave their home. Changing the way healthcare is delivered. You can watch the remote health process in action in my video of the Home Smart Tour below.

Cox Contour

Another favorite resource in the home was Cox Contour, Contour gets you to your favorite content faster and easier with features like voice control, predictive search, TV apps and some amazing parental controls. Parents can create an account for each member of the family offering a more personalized viewing experience – up to 8 household viewers can create and access their own personalized profiles. Parents can customize access to content based on their kids’ age, restrict recordings and block television programs by channel, rating or time of day. Somehow, time watching TV or playing on electronics always gets away from me and before I know it our boys have been on for an hour. Cox Contour also lets parents limit the time periods children can watch TV

Technology and smart living are here to stay with new advances created every day, we might as well utilize them and allow them to help make life easier. Cox Homelife along with Panoramic Wi-Fi and G1GABLAST offers families a sense of security and peace of mind in and out of the home. These are game-changing technology-driven trends that will surely make life easier, safer and offer our families a new normal to how we live and learn. There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow!

Today’s kids are considered digital natives, they are growing up surrounded by and immersed in digital media. As a homeschool mom, not a day {or an hour} goes by that we do not turn to Google to get quick answers on just about any topic or question. The world’s encyclopedia is as weightless, free and instantly accessible as Wikipedia. Using the internet, you can learn a new language or delve into the depths of metaphysics with just a click of a mouse. The Web has unlocked the keys to a worldwide virtual school, a plethora of information and connectivity. Our boys use the internet to access their lessons, research and watch tutorials on just about anything they want to learn how to do. In much the same way, students are increasingly using the internet to keep up with homework assignments, to do research for school, and to connect with teachers and classmates.

Teachers are using digital tools in the classroom more and more to improve learning, assign online homework, post grades and email parents about student progress or needs. In today’s digital world, home internet connection is a necessity.

It’s hard to imagine living without the luxury of high speed internet, it’s something many of us take for granted. Unfortunately, too many are under-connected; an estimated one in three Louisiana residents does not have access at home. Students who don’t have internet at home struggle to keep up. Especially now, after the recent floods, I would imagine that many more children will go un-connected.

Having internet access at home is essential in helping students connect and succeed in the classroom and beyond. Living without internet access makes it hard for children to explore topics and ideas that interest them personally — what I, as a homeschool mom, call interest-driven learning. It’s easy to see that living without internet access can cause major learning gaps for children. Cox is working to alleviate this struggle.

Cox Connect2Compete Baton Rouge

Cox understands this new reality and works in the communities they serve to provide affordable internet and devices to low-income students and their families. Cox is striving to narrow the digital divide with Connect2Compete, a discounted Internet service available to qualifying households in our area.

There are many families in our area who want internet access but can’t afford the equipment or can’t afford the monthly fees. If you or someone you know is eligible for Connect2Compete, you need only apply online at www.connect2compete.org/Cox or call 855-222-3252 and get connected!

Disclosure: This is a “sponsored post.” The company who sponsored it compensated BRM via a cash payment, gift, or giveaway. Opinions expressed herein are that of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of the sponsor.