A new smart device called Leeo Smart Alert Nightlight can protect your house from fires while you are away.

A friend of mine was out one day, and while he was away, there was a house fire. It deeply disturbed me that our homes have no way of telling us what’s going on when we’re away,” Gettings said.

Leeo is one of the first “smart home gadgets,” along with SmartThings, Lowe’s Iris, WigWag and WeMo. With the Smart Alert Nightlight users will be notified if something goes wrong in their home by connecting Leeo to their existent smoke alarms.

The device is easy to use: simply plug it in near your smoke alarm, connect it to your wireless network and set it up through the Leeo app. In case of emergency or when the fire alarm goes off, the consumer will be notified through their phone. If there is no response from the user, the device will automatically reach the emergency contact list installed in the device. The smart device is now available for US$99.

They wanted to make it easy for people to move into the IoT space, which appealed to me,” says Brunner. “I felt I could help by simply making a beautiful object that people would want to have in their home. In so many ways it’s a fascinating time to be a designer, because we’re constantly re-exploring gadgets and devices that we all thought were done.”

This makes the Internet of Things accessible to a broader consumer base.

Read more here – “New Leeo smart night light alerts cellphones to danger,” (Marco della Cava, USA Today).