Apple was forced to delay its planned launch of HomeKit, a Siri-assisted platform for the connected home, as its software teams continue working around the clock to shrink down the code base to run efficiently on small devices, according to a report Thursday by Fortune.
Fortune writer Stacey Higginbotham claims that Apple’s connected home platform will likely arrive in fall — late August-ish or early September-ish — rather than in early summer as originally planned.
Samsung's new solution for the connected home, based on a technology provided by SmartThings, a startup it announced acquiring in August of last year, will play nicely with Apple's own HomeKit platform, Cnet reported Monday.
Although SmartThings CEO Alex Hawkinson did not detail precisely how HomeKit fits into Samsung's strategy, he did confirm that his company's SmartHome platform will support HomeKit.
First preview at CES 2015 a week ago, Automatic, makers of the popular connected car adapter, today officially announced a new feature to connect your car and home with Nest, the smart thermostat from Google.
The integration enables communication between your car and home through intelligently chosen rules that give the Nest thermostat a more timely understanding of when heating or cooling is needed and more importantly, when it's not.
Folks looking to take advantage of the onslaught of HomeKit products being introduced at CES this year will need to make sure they have an Apple TV. The Verge is reporting that many of the just-announced HomeKit accessories require the set-top box for select features.
More specifically, the outlet says that new smart home devices from iHome, GridConnect, Chamberlain, Elgato and others require users to have a third-gen Apple TV (running software 7.0 or later) on their network in order to take advantage of Siri remote control capabilities.
Debuting at CES 2015 as the world's first HomeKit-certified products on the market, a smart power switch from an accessory maker called iDevices makes it easy to turn on anything in your home using your voice, no hub required.
Marketed as the Switch, this smart power switch uses voice capabilities of Siri to help manage your home from wherever you are.
EyeSight Technologies, a startup which specializes in machine vision, user awareness and gesture based interfaces, launched a very interesting home accessory yesterday, one that highlights a world of possibilities for a next-generation Apple TV.
They're calling it the OneCue and it aims to connect and control your Apple TV, or other media streamers and smart home devices for that matter, using hand gestures akin to Microsoft's Kinect with the Xbox One.
Supporting a plethora of TV sets, cable and satellite boxes, media streamers and AV receiver, the OneCue can turn on multiple smart home devices (i.e. TV, cable box and stere receiver) at the same time with the swipe of a hand or point of a finger.
Growing up as a child, anytime my family would venture out of town for more than a couple days, my father would run around the house trying to locate "the timers." The timers, with which anyone is familiar, were the timer switches for the lamps in the house. They were old brown boxes with a beige turn wheel and a little switch, think I/O, for each of 24 hours. After manually selecting each switch to either turn on or off the receptacle, off you go for vacation. Now your lights magically turn on while you are away.
Even in the late '80's, I remember those timers looking dated, even acting dated. But, they worked and continue to be the same technology most people use today. Thankfully, Belkin is putting a stop to this archaic fumbling system with a modern appeal. The WeMo line of home automated devices gives you the power, literally, in a carefully crafted app and hardware unit.
With much of the ‘next big thing in tech’ talk focused on wearables and mobile payments, it’s easy to forget about the connected home. But all of the major tech companies are making major moves in this space, including Google, Apple and now Samsung.
Following Google’s Nest acquisition and Apple’s HomeKit unveiling, Samsung announced this week that it has purchased smart home startup—and former Kickstarter sensation—SmartThings. The money is said to be in the neighborhood of $200 million...
As the smartphone, tablet and personal computer markets become increasingly saturated, Apple is said to be planning to expand its foray into the home. A new report, citing unnamed sources, claims that the iPhone maker has assembled a team to work on different hardware products for the home that would be closely integrated with Apple's existing lineup of devices…
Smart thermostat-maker Nest announced on Friday that it has reached an agreement to acquire Dropcam. The company, which itself was purchased by Google earlier this year, says that the all-cash deal is worth a hefty $555 million.
For those unfamiliar with Dropcam, it's behind the popular line of Internet-connected home monitoring cameras. Major selling points for the cameras include easy setup, 2-way audio and remote streaming via any PC or mobile device...
As expected, Apple has announced a new platform for smart home accessories called HomeKit. The new API, which will launch with iOS 8, will make it easier for smart accessories to allow their devices to be controlled by iPhones, as well as Siri.
This will allow users to control HomeKit-certified smart appliances, such as garage doors, lights and security cameras, by simply speaking a command. Imagine saying 'get ready for bed,' and watching all of your [smart] doors lock and lights turn off...
While the Financial Times previously reported that Apple is working on a full-featured home automation software platform, a new report claims that the company actually has much smaller plans for the home. According to sources for Gigaom, Apple is hoping to lessen fragmentation in the home by certifying more connected devices through the official Made for iPhone program.
The company is reportedly not working on software-based automation, however, and instead is focusing its smart home efforts on connecting devices over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for voice control. It might not be the full-out attempt at perfecting the smart home as was anticipated, but this is a good first step for Apple to be taking. Gigaom reporter Stacy Higginbotham elaborates…