Munich-based startup and TechCrunch Disrupt NY Battlefield contestant KISI Systems is launching its Indiegogo campaign today. KISI and KISIBox together comprise a keyless entry solution that lets users provide timed, revokable access to their own apartments on an as-needed basis. It’s the perfect complement to collaborative consumption services like Airbnb and TaskRabbit and in general a very… → Read More
Two years ago, Google’s Vic Gundotra keynoted the company’s 2011 I/O developer conference, and one of the big surprises of the day was the launch of Android@Home, Google’s attempt to corner the home-automation market. At the keynote, Google also showed the first prototype of what would later become the Nexus Q “social streaming media player” that it gave to every I/O… → Read More
The Belkin WeMo line is designed to bring Wi-Fi connected remote home automation to the masses, without expensive, whole home system upgrades. The existing WeMo outlet is a little bulky, but it makes it possible to remotely power on and off any device with a two or three-prong cord. Now, the company is debuting an in-wall switch to make controlling your lighting from an app or the web easier. → Read More
Late last year, it was reported that Microsoft, Apple and Google were all speaking to id8 Group R2 Studios Inc. about a potential acquisition of the startup, and now the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Microsoft has indeed sealed the deal. R2 is a home automation and entertainment media startup, founded by Blake Krikorian, former founder of Sling Media. Microsoft hopes to use the startup’s… → Read More
Apple, Microsoft and Google may all be vying for the attention of a single startup, according to a new report yesterday from The Wall Street Journal. That startup is id8 Group R2 Studios Inc., a company with a rather obtuse name that flies primarily under the radar, tackling home automation software for mobile devices. So why are the biggest sharks in the tech industry circling R2 Studios right… → Read More
Home automation in its current state can be costly and, more importantly, unintuitive. But platforms like iOS and Android have made the idea of automating one’s home easier, more accessible and significantly cheaper.
Today at DEMO, Austin-based Ube (“yoo-bee”) is showing off its “Internet of things” wares, including an app that can virtually control any IP-based smart device in your home. So… → Read More
Today Nest Labs is taking the wraps off its second-generation Nest learning thermostat that the company says is 20 percent slimmer than the previous model and is now compatible with 95 percent of low-voltage US residential heating and cooling systems, a bump up from 75 percent. Nest is also updating its mobile software for both iOS and Android to version 3.0 with a plethora of upgrades. → Read More
When you love something so much – as much as this guy Pascal likes Star Trek’s LCARS UI – that you recreate it down to the smallest detail, you’d better be willing to go all the way. While he has skinned Windows to look like a screen on the deck of the Enterprise, why doesn’t he have his girlfriend dress up like a Klingon? Why aren’t there tribbles in his… → Read More
The iPad is making a big dent in the home automation field just like I thought it would mainly because it offers so many more advantages over the traditional remotes found in the space for a fraction of the price. $500 home automation remotes tend look like your Comcast DVR remote and so the iPad is quickly crashing that market. So much so that instead of work against it, most home automation… → Read More
I had a few X10 products back in the day, but never got beyond turning my lava lamp on through a web page. Unlike my buddy Rich who was interviewed in the New York Times for his home automation efforts. Things have come a long way in low- to mid-range automation technology, so put away your childish X10 products and graduate into something from Bitwise Controls. → Read More
Arkados is a company that makes a pretty nifty set of chips that are often used in home automation products by third party companies, among other things. If you have any kind of integrated sound system or automated control deck than you might be using Arkados’s technology without even knowing it. To take advantage of this, Arkados has released a reference design for making interactive… → Read More
My vast collection of Trader Joe’s Two Buck Chuck and other fine wines is so disorganized that I don’t know what do do anymore nor do I know what the temperature is like or what my stocks are doing. Enter Runtriz. A touch screen-based system that catalogs your wine cellar, provides up to the minute news, weather and stock info all at your finger tips. No clue what to make for dinner? → Read More
. But we still like to keep it old school. The Push Button Manor in Jackson, Michigan is about as old school as the concept can get. The modern (for the time) house was equipped with analog mechanics of the “future”, things like windows that close automatically during rain, remote control drapes, and automated dressing table lighting. What’s great is that the home’s owner… → Read More
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