Smart Home Archives - Page 28 of 43

The Ceiva Zigbee Home Control Photo Frame

Remember Ceiva? One of the original digital photo frames… that incorporated Internet connectivity (!) to receive pushed pics from remote family as we did about 10 years ago for Mom. Apparently the company is still alive and kicking, having just pushed the Ceiva HomeView widget station thru the FCC. While the Ceiva HomeView (SHR558) is capable of … Read more

Best Buy To Embrace Home Automation Big Time

From a well-placed friend in retail and possibly corroborated via a Starbucks conversation, we’ve learned that Best Buy intends to double down on the home automation market. Best Buy devotes significant space to this burgeoning category, but will up the ante very soon with an expanded two-tier approach. First, stores will offer what we believe to … Read more

Zonoff Links Home Automation Silos Via Staples Connect

As our homes acquire sentience, a few are attempting to traverse the technological silos… in an approachable way, suitable for civilians and geeks alike. While companies like Zonoff, Revolv, and Smarthings each strive to take home automation mainstream with somewhat differing technological and marketing approaches, they share a vendor- and network-neutral approach as they aim to provide an alternative to the security and telecom firms that are likewise pushing into this realm. And, as you might guess from the tweets and pics, I came away from CES quite enamored with Zonoff.

D-Link To Challenge Belkin WeMo With Wi-Fi Smartplug

As alluded, the connected home category is primed to explode. And, based on this FCC filing, the next entrant will be D-Link – who’ll be adding an $80 “WiFi Smart Plug” to their existing stable of IP cameras. The DSP-W215 mydlink Wi-Fi Smart Plug is a multi-purpose, compact, and easy-to-use device that allows you to … Read more

Kevo Gateway Takes Smartlock Control On The Road

Even though I’ve yet to wrap up my Kevo Smartlock review, Kwikset has gone ahead and revealed phase two of their Unikey-powered connected home strategy. There’s a variety of ways to slice and dice these smart components, and Kevo only ships with Bluetooth capabilities – unlike some of their competitors, who integrate WiFi. To extend … Read more

What We Know about Black Pearl Systems

GigaOM’s Janko Roettgers has been dogged about trying to discover the raison d’etre behind stealth start-up Black Pearl Systems, and now, six months after first revealing the company’s existence, Roettgers is finally able to give us details on what exactly the company aims to do. Black Pearl has launched its new consumer brand name, Lyve Minds, and plans to introduce a product called LyveHome next spring that lets users share and back up their personal media across a variety of devices and apps.

The big deal with Black Pearl, er Lyve Minds, is the management team behind it. The CEO and co-founder Tim Bucher used to be head of engineering for Apple, and the rest of his team brings in experience from companies including Netflix, Danger, YouTube, Microsoft, TiVo, Roku, and Amazon. Interestingly, I discovered separately that co-founder and Content CTO Scott Smyers left the company in October, and has now moved on to a VP role at the audio company DTS. It seems odd that one of the co-founders would abandon the pirate ship before launch. Perhaps a management disagreement? Or maybe something far less interesting, like logistics or start-up fatigue.

In the meantime, here’s what we know about the LyveHome product:

Philips Dusk to Dawn CFLs

Both my wife and my HOA have told me I need to keep our outdoor lighting on at night. While I’m not entirely sold on the rationale and am a reluctant switch flipper, I am a dutiful husband and neighbor.

When flourescents first got attention, I bought into their allure and outfitted my condo in early generation CFLs. Of course, as most folks in my situation quickly realized, this new fangled tech wasn’t all it was cracked up to be – dim, buzzing, slow lighting, lesser lifespans than equivalent incandescents, questionable cost/benefit, etc. So these days I’m much more judicious in how and where I apply fluorescent lighting. And I’d originally identified relatively inexpensive Ikea LEDs for my outdoor lighting project, consisting of four sconces, with intentions of leaving the fixtures on 24/7. Yet, at some point, I came across the Philips Dusk to Dawn CFL on Amazon… and changed up the plan. The 60-watt equivalent bulbs run $7-$8 each and feature a rotating light sensor, with the thought being that the bad guys will assume someone is home as lights go on and off. Also, I was hopeful these might be better suited for outdoor use.

Having run the Philips CFLs a few months,

While Uber is generally known as the modernized, Internet-connected car service, a friend-of-a-friend has discovered it can also be used for efficient local delivery. Of course, the rates may exceed a specialized service like Takeout Taxi and your driver may object, but the courier/delivery possibilities seem nearly endless. And the Southern Californian in question had a driver arrive at his home at which point he requested the car drive off to buy and deliver a pack of smokes. Which he did. Score?