Google's Nest has today received a boost in that it can now be integrated with other home automation hardware and services from other vendors such as August, LIFX, Lutron, AT&T, P&G, Waxman, SkyBell, Simplehuman, Misfit, and WeMo.
It's hard to believe that it's been almost two years since Apple introduced HomeKit at the 2014 Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco. The HomeKit protocols were originally revealed and exposed to developers and manufacturers as a way of addressing some of the problems that existed within the Home Automation market at that time, namely price of hardware and the complexities involved in getting started. Over the last two years, Apple has filed a number of patents to improve and push HomeKit forward, including this recently discovered filing that outlines how "automated behaviors in an environment can be implemented based on aggregation of individual user routines."
If you are lucky enough to own one of Amazon's fabulous and extremely popular Echo, Echo Dot or the Tap hardware, then you're about to benefit from even more added functionality thanks to a new and improved Amazon Alexa experience. Starting today, Amazon has upgraded its Alexa virtual assistant with some new abilities that will allow users to utilize the new found travel expertise of the assistant to be more efficient in the booking of all things related to travel. Alexa's new functionality, which waterfalls down to a variety of Amazon hardware including the Fire TV, is all thanks to an integration partnership with travel search engine KAYAK.
Own a Tesla? There is now a way to control your electric car using Apple's Siri and HomeKit framwework. Here's how it works.
Samsung's new Family Hub smart fridge is now on sale in the United States, featuring a giant 21.5-inch touchscreen display, and a lot more. Here are the details.
Philips may have caused a storm in achievable and affordable home automation when it introduced the excellent Hue range of connected bulbs and lighting solutions, but the same really couldn't be said for the accompanying Philips Hue app for iOS and Android. It could probably be best described as "functional", in that it did what it needed to do, but wasn't particularly precious about looking slick or offering a fluid user-experience.
Meet the world's first smart mirror + scale system that uses hardware and software to track a user's fitness goals in three dimensions. Here are the details.
It appears to have been a good few days for the folks over at Ring, and the company isn't being shy when it comes to sharing its successes with the world. After going through a successful process of raising a huge $61.2 million in Series C funding to progress the business, Ring has announced its new video doorbell hardware, the Ring Video Doorbell Pro. Fans of connected devices, and the connected world in general, but specifically those who love a good snoop to see who's actually outside of their property, will love the improvements made with the Pro version of the doorbell.
It seems that even the most obscure companies that you wouldn't expect to embrace the Internet of Things (IoT) revolution are starting to get in on the act. Most of you have probably heard of Brita - the German company that specializes in water filtration products - and have probably even used one of its products at one point or another. An industry leader in what it does, but not exactly a company that you would immediately expect to come up with a Wi-Fi enabled water pitcher that offers integration with Amazon Dash to automatically restock itself. Well, that's exactly what the Brita Infinity is.
The original Raspberry Pi Model B was released exactly four years ago during the last leap year, on February 29th, 2012. In the time that's followed, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has managed to ship more than eight million units worldwide, three million of which have been Raspberry Pi 2 second-generation offerings. In romantic fashion, the makers behind the tiny little computer have acted on the fact that we have another leap year, by releasing the new Raspberry Pi 3 today, complete with some notable and sought after additions.
