Meet Hive, an all-new DIY smart home subscription service from the U.K.

You've probably never heard of Hive or its British parent, the multinational utility Centrica plc. You might be familiar with Hive's Texas-based sister company Direct Energy, which provides residential gas and electricity services in 13 states as well as several Canadian provinces. I mention these connections because when you're considering signing a two-year contract for smart home services from a brand-new company, you'll want assurances that the company knows what it's doing. You'll also want to know that it has the financial backing to make a go of it. On the first point, Hive's smart home lineage can be traced back to the British manufacturer AlertMe, which was acquired by British Gas (another Centrica plc company) in February 2015.