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Google's sustainability features now include an EV buyer's tool
The updates come as part of the company's sustainability wing.
What you’ll need to survive the California wildfires this summer
Gear and strategies to help you ride out this summer’s fire season. Good luck.
Hive's smart home devices finally work with HomeKit
A handful of Hive's smart home devices finally work with HomeKit.
Nest thermostats will warn of possible problems with your AC or furnace
You might not have to wait until your home is frigid to find out that there's a problem with your furnace. Google has started testing a Nest thermostat feature that sends email alerts when the device detects unusual patterns in your HVAC system. If it's taking an oddly long time to warm up your house, you might get a notice well before there's a full-fledged breakdown.
Engadget UK giveaway: Win a smart heating system courtesy of Tado
There's something ever so satisfying about milling around in your PJs at home when you need to wrap up like a mummy to set foot outside. But making repeated trips to the thermostat and fiddling around with the timer isn't quite so enjoyable. This week, we're giving away a package that'll vastly increase your boiler's IQ, thanks to our pals at Tado. In addition to many remote control and scheduling features, Tado's latest smart thermostat helps you manage your home's microclimate, considering factors like air quality, humidity and others. On top of a thermostat starter kit, one lucky winner will also receive two smart radiator valves for creating individual heating zones, and free installation for the whole shebang. To get involved, read the rules, enter via the Rafflecopter widget below, then cross your fingers.
Existing EV batteries could be recharged five times faster
Lithium-ion batteries have massively improved in the last half-decade, but there are still issues. The biggest, especially for EVs, is that charging takes too long to make them as useful as regular cars for highway driving. Researchers from the University of Warwick (WMG) have discovered that we may not need to be so patient, though. They developed a new type of sensor that measures internal battery temperatures and discovered that we can probably recharge them up to five times quicker without overheating problems.
Solar windows use sunlight to retain a building's heat
A domestic property loses as much as 20 percent of its heat through windows. For big glassy commercial buildings, that figure is a lot higher, resulting in big heating bills and inevitable disputes among employees about the thermostat. But researchers have now found a way to turn ordinary windows into solar-powered heaters, using energy from the sun to boost window temperature by as much as 15 degrees Fahrenheit.
Qarnot's smart space heater has learned some new tricks
Anybody with a desktop tower (or a laptop running Chrome) knows how much waste heat processors can throw off during the course of their computing. Typically that heat is simply discarded, shunted from the processor's surface through a complex series of tubes and sinks. But French startup Qarnot has a better idea: Use that energy to heat your home.
Netatmo's radiator valves take cues from its smart thermostat
It seems like it was only yesterday that most smart thermostat makers were content with their simple solutions, leaving the more complicated heating zone control systems to those with prior experience. Actually... that was only yesterday. Just a few short hours after Tado announced the addition of smart radiator valves to its product range, Netatmo has revealed it's doing exactly the same thing. You probably know the score by now: Replacing existing, dumb radiator valves with internet-connected ones allows you to remotely control the temperature of individual rooms.
Tado's new thermostat listens to Siri and Alexa
Tado is no doubt celebrating today after its thermostat was selected above all others for O2's new subscription-based smart home offering. That's by no means the only Tado news from this year's IFA, though, as the company today announced its third-generation smart thermostat. Pretty much nothing has changed from a hardware standpoint, with the main improvements being support for both Apple's HomeKit and Amazon's Echo platforms, allowing you to control your heating by talking to Siri or Alexa, respectively. IFTTT integration remains part of the feature set, and the new generation is also said to have improved energy efficiency algorithms.
Hive's smart thermostat gets IFTTT's recipe-based automation
If you own one of Hive's smart thermostats and are looking to get more from the connected appliance, today is your lucky day. The British Gas-owned company today announced that it's teamed up with IFTTT to provide recipe-based automation for the thermostat, allowing you to connect it to 300 other products and services.
Engadget UK giveaway: win a smart heating system courtesy of Heat Genius
Of all the ways to educate your boiler, Heat Genius offers some of the most comprehensive smart heating systems around. From remote temperature and hot water control to radiator and underfloor heating zones, the options go far beyond the simple connected thermostat. And this week, it's thanks to Heat Genius we're giving away a complete smart heating system, including boiler controller, up to four radiator and four underfloor controllers, a hub to get the whole system online and, of course, installation. That's over £1000 of smart heating kit, depending on your configuration at home, so whether you're more interested in seeing out this winter or preparing for the next, you can enter our giveaway up to three times via the widget below. Give the rules a quick scan first, though, if you would. Winning: Congrats to Andy S. from Liphook, Hampshire.
British Gas' Boiler IQ will text you before it breaks down
While smart thermostats (supposedly) enable you to intelligently heat your homes and potentially save money, they only replace the dumb controls you had previously. Your boiler, the focal point of all the pipes that run across your home, hasn't really enjoyed the same level of innovation. British Gas, maker of the Hive thermostat and various smart home sensors, believes it can change that with the launch of "Boiler IQ," a new technology that can self-identify issues and alert engineers of a possible fault before things get really bad.
Elgato's Eve Thermo lets you control your radiators with Siri
Elgato is best known, in some circles at least, for its niche video products. In recent history, however, it's somewhat reinvented itself as a maker of smart home devices. The company's Eve range already includes smart plugs, door/window sensors and home/weather monitors, and today it's being joined by the Eve Thermo. This new device is easily installed on standard radiator valves, retrofitting them for remote, smartphone control. Like the rest of the Eve line-up, Thermo is compatible with Apple's HomeKit smart home platform, meaning you can politely ask Siri to kick the temperature up a notch when you're feeling a bit chilly.
Hive begins selling its smart plug and connected home sensors
When British Gas subsidiary Hive unveiled its latest take on the smart thermostat, the company also committed to launching a new a range of motion sensors, lightbulbs and a smart plug. It's taken six months, but Hive is finally ready to add its Active Plug and Window and Door sensors to its connected home line-up, with all three products now available to buy online.
Nest's latest thermostat comes to the UK with hot water controls
A month after its US launch, Nest's third-generation thermostat has arrived in Britain. The hardware might look familiar, but it has a few extra tricks that separate it from previous versions and even its counterpart across the pond. For starters, Nest has given the circular design a nice little spec bump; compared to its predecessor, the thermostat has a larger (2.08 inches), brighter and pixel-dense (229ppi) display, making it easier to scroll through the interface with sleep-deprived eyes. The device's entire body is also slightly thinner, meaning it should look just a smidge more attractive in a hallway or living room.
Honeywell brings its £139 smart thermostat to the UK
While Honeywell might be synonymous with home thermostats, upstarts like Google's Nest have forced the company to remain on its toes. It showed US consumers that it could deliver a self-aware thermostat earlier this year, but in the UK, its connected options are relatively limited. That's changing somewhat today, with the company bringing a new low-cost solution to Britain. The Single Zone Thermostat, which has already enjoyed success across Europe, is designed to add smart features to your existing heating setup, like smartphone controls and remote scheduling. It's no Lyric or Nest, but thanks to an accompanying "internet gateway," the thermostat can sufficiently automate your home without the need for extensive and expensive upgrades. It connects to Honeywell's evoHome smart zoning system, too, letting you add another point of control in one of up to 12 rooms. Together, the Single Zone Thermostat and internet gateway will set you back £139 when it launches later this month -- a more affordable option for those who want advanced control over their home heating but don't want to pay through the nose for it.
Airbnb to give some of its top hosts free Nest thermostats
One of the difficulties property owners face when renting their place out via Airbnb is making sure they don't waste energy while nobody's staying there. Sure, timers can reduce some of the hassle, but many can't be configured remotely, nor are they aware of when someone is home. Devices like Nest's Learning Thermostat are, though, so that's why Airbnb has teamed up with the Google-owned home automation firm to help hosts better manage their homes. The Nest will let hosts take advantage of its auto-away feature and remotely lock the temperature, meaning guests don't have to fiddle with heating settings or automatic timers. The initiative is currently limited to "top hosts" in the US and appears to involve some sort of selection process. However, the company says it will feature many of the properties outfitted with a Nest in "curated Wish Lists" on its website. Good news if you're looking for a place to stay over the winter and want nothing less than a warm welcome when you arrive.
Honeywell thermostat lets you set the temperature using your Pebble smartwatch
Honeywell may now be looking to take on Nest with a new sleek and stylish thermostat, but it's still making sure that users of its other connected systems enjoy updates too. In a bid to make things a little easier for owners of it evohome smart zoning thermostat, the company has extended support to the Pebble smartwatch, offering up room-by-room heating control from the comfort of your wrist. Honeywell's new smart bundle allows you to set the temperature of in each zone (or room) in your home and turn the heating on or off with the push of a button. The app can also immediately enable or disable any of the preset evohome quick actions, which is especially helpful if you've forgotten to shut off the heating before you fly off on holiday. If you've installed Honeywell's zoning thermostat and also own a Pebble, you can grab the new app and watchface from Pebble's app store using either your iOS or Android device.
Nest strikes deal with npower to offer its smart thermostat for just £99
Now that the Nest learning thermostat on sale in the UK, the Google-owned company is pulling out all of the stops to make it your go-to smart heating controller. Today, it buddied up with its first European energy supplier to give Britons a more cost-effective solution (at least for now) to British Gas' own Hive thermostat. npower, Nest's partner in crime, is incentivising customers to switch over to its new dual-fuel tariffs (which fix energy prices until April 30th 2017) by offering a Nest for just £99 installed. That's £100 less than the Hive and a third of the price of a standalone unit (with support) ordered from npower direct. You can, of course, still pick one up for £179 on Nest's own website and Amazon, or online and in-store at Apple, John Lewis and B&Q, but it'll be down to you to install it and make sure it works as it should.
