Logitech wants to link the living room with the rest of your smart home

You might've written off the idea of a connected home up to this point, and if so, Logitech wants you to give it a second chance. Together with Harmony (its living room wing), the outfit's working on an API that allows developers to link all of the connected devices in your home so they work in concert. The example the firm gives is, say, once you started watching a movie on your Samsung flatscreen via Apple TV, the Philips Hue lights in your living room would dim accordingly. Harmony claims this programming tool is the first of its kind and gives developers access to over 270,000 home entertainment and automation devices, creating a platform of sorts for smart home experiences that haven't been seen up to this point.

This wasn't possible before because wrangling the plethora of metadata and protocols was far too tricky, but apparently the Harmony API solves that. Logitech says its working with IFTTT and SmartThings, among others, to develop showpieces for the tech and says more developers will be announced soon. For now, just imagine how the promised voice and gesture control could change your home entertainment experience. On second thought, maybe hold off on that.