Articles about Smart Home

Last week my colleague Derrick Wlodarz wrote a great deal about today's home automation push, comparing the entire thing to Skynet. I see his point, but I'm not sure I can resist the urge. After all, the convenience is so enticing, it's hard to ignore the technology that can add so much functionality to your home.

Over the weekend I stumbled upon an Indiegogo project that captured my fancy. bRight Switch is designed to replace your wall-mounted light switch, adding just a bit more technology to the room.

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Every once in a while a Kickstarter project comes along that deserves attention. Thanks to plenty of rather pointless funding campaigns, the good ones often get less attention than they should. But one that is closing out today deserves a mention, as it could actually prove to be a rather useful item.

If you live in an area that sometimes loses power, and I think that includes almost everyone, then how about a battery-backed-up light bulb? As in, the electricity is out, but your light still comes on?

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The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has ended, and the shiny and new have been unveiled. It's been a roller coaster ride, with 4K TVs and tablets taking center stage, alongside the useful and just plain weird selection of tech inventions. Now it's time for reflection, sitting back and taking it all in and deciding what we truly liked.

While others may go for those crisp-screened TVs that get all of the attention, or the latest and greatest new laptop, I spent a lot of time looking at the products that got less attention from the media, but that may truly make a difference.

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With the 2014 edition of CES now underway, we’re seeing a mind-numbing amount of products being unveiled. The show isn’t just about tablets and TVs, there’s kitchen products, USB drives and a lot of much stranger items, as well.

One of the biggest product lines being shown off in Las Vegas is home automation -- a field that has been growing increasingly lately. Nexia, one of the big players in the market, unveiled a new home thermostat, designed to take on Nest, and also allow for control of other network-connected products within your home.

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It seems as if we should have reached this moment long ago -- like, perhaps, when the Roku debuted? The little, inexpensive set-top box seems capable of doing most anything, with the obvious exception of acting as your DVR. But, until today, it was incapable of playing content from the most popular streaming video service on the internet.

There are some stipulations with this release -- well, one major one, at least. That is the simple fact that the brand new YouTube app appears only on the Roku 3. "We’re bringing you the YouTube app (or 'channel' in Roku-speak) today on the Roku 3 in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Republic of Ireland", announces YouTube's Sarah Ali.

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Roku is one of the leaders in an ever-more competitive set-top box market that includes heavy-hitters like Apple and Google, Despite that, the company has carved out a niche for itself through a combination of functionality and pricing. Now, to celebrate both the holidays and its good fortune, Roku is holding a sweepstakes.

Here's how it works -- Roku is giving away a number of items everyday between now and December 22nd. The list of products remains the same each day, but you'll have to enter daily for a chance to win. Head to the Stuff Your Stocking Sweepstakes website and pick the item you desire. Each day the company will give each item away to a lucky winner.

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It's been a big day for Microsoft. The Xbox One hit store shelves and took over the daily tech news, overshadowing all competition, including that of it's own Nokia devices arm. While reviews, unboxing videos and a few tales of hard drive woes have highlighted the news, there were other announcements surrounding the console launch.

One such piece of news came from an unexpected source. Logitech, known for its cases, keyboards and mice, is also in possession of all-in-one remote company Harmony. The darling of the home theater crowd, or at least those who don't wish to pay for Crestron, has thrown its support behind the new gaming console.

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Vizio Co-Star has remained one of the more popular set-top boxes for those looking for a Google TV experience. The tiny device brings along all of the features found in more expensive cousins from the likes of Sony, but with less of the big-name price. While rumors persist of an impending name-change for the search giant's foray into the living room, details of an updated media OS have been tough to come by.

Vizio, leaving nothing to chance, is hedging its bets with a new model of that Co-Star box that shuns Google TV...ah, Android TV...you get the picture. Instead, the television manufacturer is focusing on bringing its smart TV technology to, well, dumb TV's.

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Google TV started slowly, with a less than stellar launch thanks to the overpriced and barely functional Logitech Revue. Since then, the platform has managed to slowly get off the ground, though still not living up to its full potential. Better pricing and improved functionality has raised expectations, however, giving cause for hope among the faithful.

The platform is already solid enough to power a living room's entertainment with no problem, as I have been doing since earlier this year when my HTPC simply became too old and slow to handle the task any longer. But questions lingered when I made this shift -- how would I access my stored media? What about the web?

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Roku is on a bit of a roll lately, with the release of the brand new version 3 hardware, and the continuous addition of new channels and content. While much of this development has taken place stateside, it is not the only front the set-top box maker is tackling. Now it brings Demand 5 to British customers, adding to the plethora of content already available on the little system.

"We’re pleased to announce the addition of Demand 5 to our growing entertainment library in the U.K. Demand 5 on Roku lets customers instantly access Channel 5’s full range of catch-up content as well as an extensive library of popular programs including Big Brother, Archer, Dallas, CSI, and Neighbors. Roku users can also enjoy original programming including The Gadget Show, The Hotel Inspector and Eddie Stobart’s Trucks and Trailers". This brings the total to more than 450 channels -- and that is just within Great Britain.

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Roku, a set-top box in a vastly competitive market that includes products from Apple and Google, has made a fair amount of noise, locking in many deals to bring content to its growing base of customers. The tiny living room computer can offer much to the home entertainment experience, and now that offering grows by one.

Today the entertainment company announces Sky News is making its way to more shores via the Roku box. The British news service not only will be on UK-based boxes, but also launch for customers in the United States, Canada and Ireland.

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The next Xbox was a lightning rod of controversy between rumors and the official announcement (and even that came without key details). Today's E3 keynote address fills in the information we were waiting for. Microsoft took the stage at the world's gaming mecca to deliver important information such as pricing and availability, as well as the all-important games stuff.

The console maker refers to its new lineup of games as "blockbuster", though that is for consumers to decide. Unveiled games include Ryse: Son of Rome, Forza Motorsport 5, Dead Rising 3, Project Spark, Sunset Overdrive and Titanfall. The biggest related news, however, is the unveiling of "Halo Xbox One", the next chapter of the gaming franchise developed by 343 Industries, which launches in 2014.

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My favorite platform for shuffling media around my home and, most importantly, getting it to my Google TV, today gets a bit better. Okay, actually a lot better. Plex announces updates rolling out to its Media Server platform, bringing it to version 0.9.8 -- one step closer to the fabled 1.0 release.

While the software has not yet reached that 1.0 threshold, do not get the impression it is not ready for your home. The service has been full-featured for sometime now.

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Connected living room devices are here to stay. Smart TV's, set-top boxes like Apple TV, Roku and Google TV all aim to make sure of this. Opera, known mostly as a web browser, has been branching out into this market as well, with its Mediaworks project. However, instead of apps, and despite the name, Mediaworks is an advertising network.

Now the company's subsidiary, AdMarvel, announces what it calls "a forward step in the evolution of online video advertising into the connected TV space". Opera explains that "AdMarvel for Connected TVs will provide publishers and advertisers with a dynamic, rich ad-serving platform combined with sophisticated ad exchange, ad serving and ad management functionality on connected TVs".

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This may seem like a distraction from my theme of Silicon Valley and Hollywood, but please stick with me for a moment as we consider the fate of Blake Krikorian, who is best known for the Slingbox and now seems to be selling his current company, the awkwardly named Id8 Group R2 Studios. I think Krikorian’s career arc and our fascination with it give some insight into the whole tech-vs-Hollywood theme, showing how aimless and confused are some of these big technology companies.

The post I read that got me thinking in this direction came from Kara Swisher at allthingsd.com, which is part of the Wall Street Journal. Krikorian is reportedly selling his home automation startup to Amazon or Apple or Google or maybe Microsoft -- in other words the usual suspects. Amazon may be now out of contention because Krikorian just resigned from the Amazon board. But in any case, Swisher says, they all want Krikorian because "he is considered one of tech’s most savvy execs with regard to video and media distribution". Yeah, right.

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