Roll-your-own home automation remains something of a niche endeavor, despite an accelerating mainstream shopping push, given a whole host of compatibility considerations and complexity … that many of us are likely familiar with. It probably doesn’t help that Apple’s HomeKit is largely a no-show at this point and LG rival Samsung has delayed their SmartThings refresh. And perhaps why someone like Comcast, with existing relationships and network, sees an opportunity to similarly mate retail gadgetry to cloud-based services. Amidst this chaos, ADT also drops their hat into the ring with an attractive piece of LG hardware and promises to link up Nest, IFFT, and others:
This sleek all-in-one combines beautiful form with the functions of HD video, ADT 24/7 professional monitoring and seamless home automation. And its powerful yet compact design complements your modern home while keeping you in touch with it, right from your phone.
The monitoring hub, perhaps akin to iControl’s Piper, doesn’t yet have a name. Nor does the service have a price. Also unclear… might this somehow tie into the ADTs rumored investment in Zonoff, who we admire as the brains behind Staples Connect. In any event, ADT is planning a Fall 2015 release at which point all will be revealed.
ADT and Zonoff, eh? Would love to see some progress there. Staples Connect has been stagnant.
I think Zonoff should team up elsewhere. They have great software potential but I am still waiting on Staples Connect to do some very basic updates. I mean Widgets for starting activities should have been done last year. Alerts sent if my Garage door was left open (this is very basic but has somehow been looked over). I mean I have 2 garage door sensors but they are pointless for wanting to know if you accidentally left the doors open; unless of course I remember to open the app and check the doors status after leaving, which pretty much defeats the purpose. All Door sensors should have an automatic message sent to your phone when left open for so long.
With all the bad though Staples was much better than the others I tried. And I applaud their effort considering the field of competition is not on par.
Yep, Zonoff is doing a good job with the software. Staples isn’t doing great with marketing–in store or online or anywhere. Not sure what’s going on. Either they need to step it up, or let Zonoff go and rebrand. Maybe get a developer community and more rapid updates or at least a beta wing or something.