Upon visiting Berlin’s IFA2107 — Germany’s answer to CES — recently, there was one word I kept hearing: Alexa. In the consumer hardware space, it’s a great time to be Amazon, if the sheer number of hardware companies jumping on the Alexa bandwagon are anything to go by. Only today it was revealed that Amazon is working […]
Tag Archives: Home Automation
Neura AI aims to make the connected home truly smart
You’re probably used to waking up to coffee, thanks to a pre-programmed machine. But what about an oven that offers breakfast options based on your health and recipes designed around your level of activity for the day? Or a thermostat that adjusts for the day’s weather and knows when you’re headed out? Or plumbing that […]
Apple wants you to pay big for their smart speaker
As part of yesterday’s WorldWide Developer Conference (WWDC) Google launched their foray into home connectivity with the HomePad called by Apple CEO Tim Cook, “breakthrough home speaker with amazing sound and incredible intelligence that will reinvent home audio.” Don’t overlook the last word, in his statement, despite the desire some will have to group HomePad with […]
How will IoT change the lives of our aging population?
How do we conceptualize aging and disability in an era where there’s a heady excitement about a future reality that surpasses our current lived experiences of health and old age? Consider future tech such as Elon Musk’s Neuralink, a growing movement of people into posthumanism and of course fiction like the TV series Black Mirror with […]
Calm, cruel and connected: September’s best and worst of IoT
It seems that every day a new IoT device or means to connect existing devices is revealed. With so much energy in being devoted to tell us how, when, where, what we can connect to each other, the “why” may be getting a little blurry. So we want to take a step back every now and […]
IoT and applications: Truly the “internet of everything”
The Internet of Things (IoT) is growing like wildfire. Consumer education around this new basket of technologies is critical, since it basically describes a product category that can — and often does — include virtually every “thing” we interact with in our lives. Your car, refrigerator, door locks, and even your toilet seat are capable […]
Apple’s HomeKit gets big upgrade at WWDC
The opening keynote of Apple’S WWDC highlighted several big updates to the firm’s software platforms, including its HomeKit home automation offering. OS X is being rebranded to macOS with the first release of the newly-named OS being Sierra. But, perhaps the biggest announcement came in its breakdown the upcoming iOS 10. HomeKit, Apple’s framework for […]
Crownstone takes home automation beyond Alexa
Sensor technology seems to be one of the biggest buzz technologies of late, and companies like DoBots are bringing it to home automation. DoBots is a spinoff of Almende, a research institute in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. DoBots specializes in artificial intelligence, for robots and home automation alike. I recently spoke to roboticist and COO, Anne […]
Amazon Echo Getting Kudos Among Its Competitors
Report says Echo wins in customer reviews but consumers want to see better IoT connectivity across all platforms
Smart Homes Need Smarter Apps
The software doesn’t live up to the hardware
Perch Can Use Existing Devices To Make Any Home Smart
Free video monitoring service launches open beta today.
Smart Home Shocker: My Cats Are Out To Get Me
Two weeks after hooking up my home with SmartThings, I’ve learned things about my kitties I can’t unlearn.
Make Your Home Smarter
Keep your home safe, warm, and connected—from anywhere. (Sponsored by Iris from Lowe’s)
Home Sweet Connected Home
The first post of our ReadWriteHome series asks what it means to be a connected home.
Skydog Router Boasts Network Management Tools—For Parents
The Skydog Router: Forget “consumerization of the enterprise,” check out the “enterprisification of the consumer!”
Nest, The iPod Of Smart Home Tech, Preps Consumers For The Future
The Nest’s clean design, easy installation and wide availability is helping to plant the concept of smart home technology into the lives of everyday, non-techie consumers,
What I Learned At CES
Squint your eyes, and you can see what the world will look like ten years from now.