Every year we head out to CES on Las Vegas to see what’s in store for the electronics world. We see some products that are pretty cool, and some that shouldn’t ever see the light of day, and we see some we want to take home with us right now. Read on to see what we wanted to sneak into our suitcases and add to our personal tech collections.
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CES 2017 Smart Remotes, Mesh Networks, and More - TMO Daily Observations 2017-01-04
CES 2017’s Unveiled event was last night and we saw loads of interesting new products. Dave Hamilton, Bryan Chaffin, and John F. Braun join Jeff Gamet share some of the cool tech gear they found ranging from smart remotes for home entertainment systems to new wireless mesh network basestations.
Apple’s HomeKit Security vs. ioT Botnets – There’s Only So Much Apple Can Do
The recent botnet attacks have called into question the security of all our various internet of Things (ioT) devices, and rightfully so. One of the regular chimes I hear in our Apple-centric universe is, “HomeKit is secure, it must be the answer.” Unfortunately, HomeKit is only built to secure HomeKit, not everything. More must be done.
Elgato's Eve Motion Adds Motion Sensor Control to Your HomeKit Network
Elgato just expanded its HomeKit smarthome offerings with its new Eve Motion. The Eve Motion is a motion sensor you can use to trigger HomeKit scenes, like turning on lights when someone enters a room. It has a 29.5-foot range, is splash-proof so you can use it outdoors in areas that are protected from direct rain, and runs for about a year on two AA batteries. Eve Motion is a Bluetooth-only device, so you’ll need a third or fourth generation Apple TV for remote access and control. Amazon is taking orders now at US$49.95 each, and it’ll ship on November 9th.
Apple's Tuplejump Purchase Hints at a Smarter Siri and Echo Competitor
Apple indirectly confirmed it purchased the machine learning company Tuplejump, adding to its collection of artificial intelligence talent. Tuplejump’s technology is designed to process large amounts of data to make it easier to work with, which sounds like a great fit for Siri.
Perseus Smart Mirror Interfaces to Your iPhone
The Perseus smart mirror is a Kickstarter project. It’s a hybrid mirror and display of the home screen of your smartphone via Wi-Fi. The developers explain: “Imagine this: a weather alert pops up while you are brushing your teeth and reminds you to bring your umbrella. As you adjust your hair, a text message from your boss appears at the bottom of the screen. Best of all, there’s no need to put down that hair product – the mirror is controlled through simple voice recognition menus…. It looks like something right out of a sci-fi movie.” It really does. This Kickstarter project is almost halfway to its funding goal, and delivery is expected in April 2017. Early bird slots are filled, but you can get in now for US$219.
Smart Products Made Smarter Together
Episode #179 As promised last week, here's my first look at HomeKit, Apple’s framework for securely controlling smart home products with your iPhone or other device. In a nutshell, HomeKit lets you control smart home products from a multitude of manufacturers using an iOS app or Siri. HomeKit enables such magic using, “scenes,” which…
California Bill Would Ban Encrypted Smartphones
Promo shot of Assembly Member Cooper, in the middle Source: Mr. Cooper's website Put another way, Assembly Member Cooper wants to make all of us vulnerable to the hacking of criminal organizations, malicious hackers, and foreign governments, and he's trying to do it in the very state that is home to Apple and Google. From…
Retailer Screws Up, Shows Off HomeKit Compatible Hue Bridge Early
Philips Hue HomeKit compatible Bridge coming soon and it'll cost about $60 The online listing for the new Bridge was first spotted by iCulture. The retailer has since pulled it from their site and Philips isn't talking yet about the new product. The new Hue Bridge will be compatible with all of the Philips Hue…
Rachio Iro - The Smart Sprinkler Controller
Yup, time to turn on the sprinklers (unless you're in drought-stricken California, of course). We head outside to tackle that task which we dread doing every year – setting the schedule on our sprinkler controllers (because for some reason, we have to do it every year). As we fiddle with the knobs and buttons of…
Three Easy Ways to Get Started With Home Automation
Philips Hue I've talked about why Philips Hue lights are a good idea, and the biggest reason is because it's easy. Basically you plug everything in, download an app, and you're ready to go. There's even an option in the official app (as well as an IFTTT action) for having the lights automatically come on.…
Home Depot Drops Apple Pay Support
Home Depot to customers: No Apple Pay for you Home Depot told iPhone toting customers who asked about the change, We currently do not accept Apple Pay in our local stores or online. We do have the option of using PayPal, in store or online. Since Apple Pay uses NFC, or near field communication, for…
Three Scenarios for Home Automation
Here are three of those scenarios: Scenario 1: Switches and lights coming on when i get home when its dark The first time I realized home automation could improve my life was when I noticed my girlfriend (now wife) struggling to get in our apartment after coming home from work one particularly snowy winter evening.…
Amazon Wants to Turn You Home into a Web Store with Dash Buttons
Amazon Dash turns your home into an online ordering tool The just launched program lets Amazon Prime subscribers pick up three of the key fob-size buttons so they can order items like laundry detergent, razor blades, and diapers without making a trip to their computer or having to pull their smartphone out of their pocket.…
This Is Why You Should Set Up Philips Hue LED Smartbulbs
There are others from companies such as Wink and WeMo, and most of the same concepts apply to these bulbs. Primarily you see two styles of bulbs: the “Hue” bulb which can be adjusted to a variety of colors, and the Hue Lux which is a white bulb that only has brightness adjustments. (Wink and…
No Sooner do we Secure Our iPhones Than the Home Invasion Begins
______________________ The modern customer who surfs on top of the blue waters of the Internet generally has no idea of what's going on under the water. The enormous layers of complexity and software abstraction mean that we can no longer understand what's going on under the hood ouf our devices with the time we have…
California Senate Passes Bill Requiring Smartphone Kill Switches
This is just the first step in the bill becoming law—it would have to also pass the California Assembly and be signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown or his successor (likely to be Jerry Brown, for those keeping score at home). The new bill would require remote kill capability starting in July of 2015,…
Analyst: iWatch isn't about Smartwatches
With rumors of an Apple smartwatch running hot and heavy, analysts are offering thier take on just what might be up — or at the end of — the company's sleeve. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Brian White thinks the mythical watch isn't about being a smartwatch at all, and instead is a wrist top remote for…
'Home' App Makes Facebook Center of Some Android Phones
Facebook offered up its big reveal on Thursday, taking the wraps off of “Home,” a new Facebook app for Android. Or, at least some android devices. Home puts Facebook services front and center by taking over your home and lock screens and giving you quick access to status updates and messages from your Facebook friends.…
Safari: The Smart Search Bar, the Cursor, & You
When you open a new tab (Command-T) or a new window (Command-N) in Safari, you'll almost always want your cursor to start in the so-called Smart Search Field. After all, it doesn't make a ton of sense to open a new window, all ready and eager to start typing a URL or a search term,…
Nokia Threatens to Take Toys Home in Apple SIM Fight
Understanding the Fight The battle between the tech giants is an interesting one. On the one hand, Nokia, RIM, and Apple have all proposed different solutions for the 4FF standard in Europe. This standard is also referred to as a nano-SIM card, as it is for a smaller SIM card that will give smartphone makers…
Karotz Smart Rabbit: A Fun Toy with Serious Usefulness
The Karotz Smart Rabbit is a PC- and Mac-compatible gadget that brings a variety of fun and useful apps into a small, entertaining form factor. Through a web page interface, you can load up your Karotz with applications from an “Appz Store” that, while small, is growing daily and is open for developers to do…
HP MediaSmart Servers Get Mac Support
HP introduced updated versions of its Windows-based MediaSmart Servers on Monday with support for the Mac. The ex485 and ex487 both support Mac OS X 10.5 and let users back up their data and share an iTunes library over a local network. HP’s MediaSmart Server for the home. The ex485 and ex487 support Leopard’s Time…
Smarthouse: Mac Tablet Prototype Built, Manufacturers Bidding
“The Mac tablet has been designed to handle third party applications such as home automation software that will allow users to control lighting, audio, entertainment devices and security feeds,” wrote Mr. Richards. “It also acts as a full blown PC, and has wireless linking for a new generation of Wireless Hi Fi speakers that are…