Smart home this. Smart home that. Everywhere you turn there’s more talk of smart home, smart home, smart home. And I love it…

The connected home is sure to be the hottest topic at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) next week, and that’s why we’re sending a crew from Coldwell Banker to give you an inside look at just how these new technologies will impact your home for years to come.

But what can you expect from all this smart home talk? Here are 4 predictions for this year’s smart home expo at CES that I think we can all expect to see:

1. No one will talk about Apple’s iHome Kit while everyone talks about Apple’s iHome kit.

Apple has long been absent from CES for their own reasons. They don’t have a booth. They don’t have speakers at the event. But they will have a presence. The iHome kit that’s part of the iOS8 will surely be on everyone’s mind. I fully expect the majority of smart home vendors to be prepping their new tech items for easy integrations with iHome.

2. Your phone will become your home’s magic wand.

If tech companies have learned anything over the years, it’s that trying to get consumers to use a new interface they are not accustomed to is nearly impossible. For every smart TV and refrigerator that has its own screen, what consumers really want is to use an interface they are familiar with, like their phone. Whether you have an iPhone or an Android, I’m guessing you’d much rather be able to interact with your new smart home devices on your own phone instead of on a menu screen on a fridge, TV, thermostat, etc. We will probably see more and more smart home apps for phones coming out that allow you to rule your castle comfortably from a seat on the couch.

3. Internet service providers will be very happy.

The more Internet connected devices we have in our home, the more Internet speed we will need. Consumers may love having smart home devices they can control from anywhere, but they will also be a burden on their home’s Internet speeds. Look for higher bandwith routers and services from Internet providers to be on the rise as our homes become larger data users the “smarter” they get.

4. Smarter home security systems will become vogue.

Just as LifeLock and other companies have become popular to secure our identities online, we will soon need similar services to make our homes secure. I’m not talking about alarm systems, but rather personal firewalls. The more are homes are connected, the greater the opportunity there is for hackers to find ways inside them without ever entering the front door. I expect a number of these home data security vendors to start gaining prominence and for the consumer’s ever-growing concern for digital privacy to make the sales of these products explode in 2015.

While those are my predictions, I’d love to hear yours in the comments. Also after I return from CES, I’ll revisit these and see just how many I got right and more likely how many I got wrong.

Be sure to follow the Coldwell Banker Blue Matter team’s posts from CES by following the hashtag #CBCES.