Cutting-Edge Comfort

My parents are reasonably tech-savvy people, so I’d like to get them something kind of tech-related for Christmas this year. They have a nice house, but it’s getting a little older, so I thought perhaps some smart home technology might be a good choice. But now I have to research that stuff, because I really don’t know a thing about it. I can’t exactly tear open my parents’ walls to install the stuff, but I know there are some types of smart home products that don’t require any remodeling or professional installation. But I also don’t want to give my parents one brand of device and find out later that they wanted to use another, making my gift useless because it doesn’t work with the app they use, or something like that. I’m just not sure where to start – any advice, experts?