home automation
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SmartThings brings its home automation app to Windows Phone
Samsung promised an open platform when it purchased SmartThings, a startup that aims to make every household more intelligent with its products. So, despite the automation service already being present on iOS and Android, the most popular mobile operating systems, SmartThings is opening its doors to a fresh audience: Windows Phone 8. The SmartThings app is great for people looking to upgrade their home but that were, perhaps, hesitant to do so because of the ecosystem's lack of support for Windows Phone handsets. Most home automations platforms have some sort of integration with iOS or Android from the get-go, leaving Windows Phone users out of options. As such, this is a great move by the Samsung-owned SmartThings. Once you download the app, you'll be able to control SmartThings devices with ease -- and if you haven't invested yet, maybe now it's the time to start thinking about creating your own Smart Home.
Smart everything: Behind Hive's plans to automate your entire home
When British Gas' Hive entered the connected home space a year ago, smart thermostats were still an emergent technology. The energy provider joined a small number of manufacturers, promising to change the way you heated your home with a mix of complex automation algorithms and slick mobile apps. Fast forward to today: While Brits have embraced smart thermostats from Nest, Tado, Climote, Netatmo and Honeywell, it's Hive that has enjoyed more of a significant uptake than most. Today, the subsidiary is claiming that its controller is now the most popular smart heating solution in the UK, having been installed in over 100,000 homes.
Belkin WeMo Smart LED Bulbs take on Philips hue lux in smart lightbulb market
The home automation market keeps heating up, and one of the biggest players in that market -- Belkin, with its WeMo line -- has added a new product that may be the entry into home control for a lot of new customers. The WeMo LED Lighting Starter Kit (US$99.99 -- comes with two bulbs and a hub, extra bulbs $29.99 each) works with the company's proven WeMo app, allowing control from anywhere with a tap on of a screen. In the past, the WeMo devices -- light switches, wall sockets, motion sensors, and appliances -- haven't required a hub of any sort as they simply added themselves to a Wi-Fi network for easy control. With the new Smart LED Bulbs, a starter kit containing the WeMo Link is required. Although WeMo Link runs on the popular Zigbee home automation standard, it doesn't need to be plugged directly into a Wi-Fi router like so many other hubs. Instead, it can just be plugged into a convenient empty wall socket and can control up to 50 individual LED bulbs. For someone like me who has a literal pile of various home automation hubs plugged into a router, this is a godsend. The bulbs can be controlled individually from the app, or users can create groups that can turn on or off all of the lights in a room simultaneously. There are rules in the app that make it simple to turn a light on automatically at sunset and off at sunrise, and a 10-watt bulb (which are about as bright as 60 watt incandescent bulbs at 800 lumens) will save an average of $26 over its lifetime in electricity costs. The bulbs can also be dimmed for more romantic lighting, or even programmed to dim or brighten slowly over a period of time. The app also has an away mode that will automatically turn lights on and off randomly to simulate an occupied home. One of my favorite features of the WeMo ecosystem is the support for IFTTT. At this time, IFTTT integration is not provided for the Smart LED Bulbs, so it's not possible at this time to create recipes that allow actions outside of the WeMo app. Belkin notes that the WeMo and IFTTT teams are working together to provide this capability in the near future. Probably the closest competition to the WeMo Smart LED Bulbs at this time are the Philips hue lux LED bulbs, which uses a small hub that must be plugged directly into a router. To start out with the non-color hue lux bulbs, you need a $99 starter kit that includes the hub and two bulbs. Those bulbs sell for approximately the same price at the WeMo bulbs, at $29.95 a pop. How do the bulbs work in real life? To test the setup, I followed the easy instructions in the box. First, you plug the hub into a wall socket where you have at least two bars of Wi-Fi signal strength on your iPhone. Next, you take the two bulbs and plug them into fixtures, making sure that they're turned on. The third step is to connect to the WeMo.Link Wi-Fi network. Once you're connected, you fire up the WeMo app, which asks you to select your home Wi-Fi network and then sign into it. The WeMo Link hub connects to your Wi-Fi network and if you have Remote Access enabled (allows access to turn those lights on and off from anywhere on the Internet) for other WeMo devices, it is enabled for your bulbs. The app allows you to edit the names of the bulbs, and provides controls -- not only an on/off button, but also a dimming slider. When you turn the bulb off, it doesn't just cut off; instead, it dims down and off within about two seconds. The light from these bulbs is very "incandescent-like"; in other words, the light is warm, not a cold bluish light. Belkin notes that the bulbs will be available in a variety of socket types for worldwide use. While the WeMo Smart LED Bulbs don't provide the ability to create color combinations like the original Philips hue bulbs, I found that I don't use those color bulbs that much anyway, except in the standard "warm white" color scheme. I haven't had an opportunity to try the hue lux bulbs, which are very similar to the WeMo bulbs. I do have to admit to preferring the WeMo app over the Philips app, as it's just a lot more stable, easier to use, and it's doing much more than just changing color schemes with its built-in rules capability. Belkin is slowly, but surely expanding the world of home automation with a series of products that are all controlled from one app. It would be interesting to find out what the company is doing in terms of integration with Apple's HomeKit framework... With everything from a WeMo-enabled Crock Pot Slow Cooker to a Smart Room Humidifier, as well as NetCams, switches, and now light bulbs in the ecosystem, Belkin is moving home control and monitoring into some unique new areas. Conclusion With the addition of the Belkin WeMo Smart LED Bulbs, homeowners can now control lights other than lamps. These efficient bulbs, combined with a truly wireless hub, easy setup, and a powerful iOS app, are a great addendum to an already impressive home automation ecosystem. Rating: 4 stars out of 4 stars possible
PĒQ marks Best Buy's entrance into smart home market
All the big players are getting into the smart home/connected device market. First, Google acquired Nest, then came word last week that SmartThings was bought by Samsung. While Apple is staying away from connected device hardware, iOS 8 will bring a home automation framework to iPhone and iPad through HomeKit. Today, big box retailer Best Buy announced that it is bringing Icontrol Networks' smart home platform directly to consumers through a home automation service called PĒQ. Icontrol Networks' products have primarily been available in the past through security and telecom providers such as ADT Pulse and TWC Intelligent Home, although the company's Piper security cam/automation hub has been directly available to consumers since earlier this year. You'll be able to get a variety of home automation products at Best Buy through the PĒQ brand, everything from a connected thermostat à la Nest to light switches, cameras, water sensors, window and door sensors, and more. Devices that use the Zigbee RF protocol should work with the PĒQ home automation hub. A PĒQ representative noted that they're using a single protocol to avoid latency and interference problems that happen with "universal" hubs supporting multiple protocols. Like many of the other home automation/security providers, PĒQ will offer a service for storing security video, setting up rules and text alerts, and update equipment firmware. The service is reasonably priced at US$9.99 per month, with no subscription required. While you can take a look at the PĒQ ecosystem and purchase products right now at the website, you'll have to wait until August 31 to buy the products on the BestBuy.com website or at selected store locations.
Poll: What home devices would you like to have controlled by HomeKit?
At WWDC 2014, Apple announced a new developer framework called HomeKit. The idea behind HomeKit is to provide a common way for home automation devices -- the so-called "Internet of Things" -- to be controlled from iOS devices. We've seen everything from home hubs to app-controlled slow cookers so far. What would you like to be able to control with a tap from your iPhone or iPad? What home devices would you like to have controlled by Apple's HomeKit?
EverSense: More than a smart thermostat
First, there was the Nest Learning Thermostat, which brought home environment control to iOS users around the world. More recently, legacy thermostat and controls manufacturer Honeywell jumped into the fray with the Lyric smart thermostat. Now Austin-based Allure Energy is introducing a smart thermostat that also acts as a home hub. The company's EverSense system (US$299) is the first of its type to add features like music streaming, video playback and a weather app to the trusty home thermostat. The EverSense thermostat comes with an iOS app that provides proximity control of heating and cooling as well as remote control. Like the Nest, it can determine when you're at home or away and adjust the controls to make your life more comfortable. But it also adds features that the competitors don't have, such as wireless speakers that you can stream music to, an app that grabs your Flickr uploads and turns the EverSense display into a digital picture frame, the ability to play back videos, and a built-in weather app showing forecasts and radar images. The company plans to expand EverSense in the future, adding two more apps to the device -- one for Wi-Fi enabled security cameras and another to control smart plugs. The device itself is larger than a traditional thermostat, and makes use of GPS technology and a trademarked Proximity Control Technology to gradually adjust the temperature at a residence based on where the homeowner is to optimize energy usage.
TechCrunch: Samsung eyeing home automation startup SmartThings
We know that Samsung isn't one to let any potential market segment pass it by, and according to TechCrunch, it's considering an acquisition that would put it in play in the suddenly expanding home automation business. The target? SmartThings, which would follow a recent theme of former Kickstarter projects being acquired by behemoths, and pump up Samsung's Smart Home efforts to match Google/Nest and Apple/Homekit. In case you've forgotten, SmartThings is the company that figures it can connect everything in your house to the internet through its Hub device and make them controllable from pretty much any mobile app -- if you're ready to handle that kind of responsibility. TC's sources put the proposed price at $200 million but caution that the deal may not be done yet, and we don't know where the just-announced Thread industry partnership would fit in with this. SmartThings' PR declined to comment on the rumor, but we'll go ahead and pencil in "Galaxy Lightbulbs/Door Knobs/Thermostats" for Samsung's next big unveiling just in case.
Rachio Iro Smart Sprinkler Controller: Watering by iPhone
The American West and Southwest are usually in a state of drought. It's not climate change causing this; rather, it's the nature of this arid region of the world. Add millions of people living in a desert area, all of whom want green lawns and colorful gardens, and you create a need for a lot of water that is simply not available. Thanks to the laws of supply and demand, that makes water a scarce -- and expensive -- resource. So a new company, Rachio, decided to create a product that combines the smarts of the iPhone, the connectivity of the Internet, and some attractively-designed custom hardware to help home and business owners to gain more control and use less of that pricey H2O. The Rachio Iro (US$249 for 8-zone, $299 for 16-zone) is the first smart sprinkler controller designed specifically to be set up and programmed by iPhone, and it's available both directly from Rachio and from a number of Home Depot stores in the US. Specifications Controls: Standard 24 V AC sprinkler valves Number of zones controlled: 8 or 16 Connectivity: Wi-Fi Available inputs for master valve or pump, rain sensor Design Highlights The one thing about most sprinkler controllers is that they're usually in locations where nobody can see them -- dark basements, crawl spaces, garages. That's particularly sad in the case of the Rachio Iro, which is really quite attractive. Unlike most sprinkler controllers, there are no knobs, dials, or displays on the outside of the Iro. Instead, it's a sleek white box with Rachio's sprinkler-like logo, a small sensor on the lower left side, and a set of LEDs on the front right side. That's it. By dispensing with all of the manual controls, the Iro immediately lets you know that you're going to be using your iPhone to do all of the brain work. Functionality Highlights Installation of the Iro is incredibly simple, particularly if you already have an existing sprinkler controller. Rachio suggests that you take a few photos of your existing controller to document which wires go where, and that you also use your iPhone to check the strength of the Wi-Fi signal at the location where the Iro will be installed. Next, you remove the old controller, then use a pair of included screws to mount a back panel on the wall that contains wiring connectors (spring loaded) for the low-voltage lines as well as a pinout connector that plugs into the back of the main unit. I found it very easy to plug in the wires -- you literally just push the bare ends into a small hole while pushing down on a "button", then let up on the button to hold them in place. At that point, you're ready to install the main Iro unit by lining it up with the back panel and mating the connector. Plug the included AC adapter into a wall socket and plug the other end into the Iro, and the unit powers up. One green LED tells you that you have power; a second LED flashes red to indicate that it's time to set up the Wi-Fi connection. That's done by using the free Rachio app. You'll need to create a free account to register your Iro. A step-by-step process takes you through through the process of identifying the network you want to connect the Iro to and entering the password. Then comes the fun part; you tap an on-screen button when you're ready to send the information to the Iro, then place it face down on the section of the device where the little optical sensor is. The iPhone screen flashes a pattern that is captured and translated by the Iro, and seconds later the Wi-FI LED settles down to a green flashing pattern to indicate that your connection is live. The rest of the setup can be done from your yard! The app takes you through each zone, turning it on, asking you to identify the main type of foliage (grass, shrubs, etc...), the type of sprinkler head, the type of soil, the amount of shade and whether or not it is sloped (and if it is, whether or not you're at the top or bottom of the slope). Based on your zip code, the app assigns a duration to each zone. As an example, for my yard it selected 23 minutes per zone in the front (not much shade) and 16 minutes per zone in the back (well-shaded). Those times are also based on your watering schedule. You can enter in schedules based on daily, every other day, every third day, or whatever other crazy pattern you desire. The app asks if the schedule is due to a watering restriction, although I'm not sure exactly why... There's also a way to enabled Water Budgeting, which adjusts the amount of time that each zone is watered to account for regional and seasonal variations in watering needs, and to turn on Weather Intelligence. Weather Intelligence will skip scheduled watering times if certain weather conditions are detected by the app. For example, let's say that it rains in the afternoon for an hour today and tomorrow. It's pretty likely that if the rain was heavy, the Iro will skip watering on Thursday morning. If you happen to have a rain sensor attached to your Iro, it will take that information into account as well. All of this automatic stuff doesn't mean that you can't just water an area a bit more if you need to. In fact, Iro makes that much easier to do -- if you're wandering your yard and the flower garden looks a bit stressed, pull out the iPhone, select the zone for the garden, pick a time (3 minutes is the default), and then tap the green Run button. The zone gets an extra pop of water, and Iro shuts off the water once the manual watering is done. While the zone is being watered, a blue line gradually circles the duration so that you can see with a glance how much time is left. So far, I've been very favorably impressed with the Rachio Iro. Are there any things I wish it could do? Sure - I'd like a notification to appear in Notification Center telling me that it ran a particular schedule on a certain day, maybe even telling me about the durations if they change from the original calculated quantity. I'd love to see Rachio source their weather information from Weather Underground's Personal Weather Station (PWS) network, so it would be possible to let the timer know exactly how much rain my lawn has received (I run a PWS). Even people in close proximity to a PWS would benefit from this. Finally, integration with HomeKit and Siri would be amazing -- I'd love to be able to say "Siri, water the front yard for ten minutes" and have Iro bend to my command. What I really love about the Rachio Iro is that I should no longer have to worry about whether or not my lawn is getting enough water if I'm gone for a while during the summer months. I could even set up a webcam that would view the lawn and if it gets a little dry looking, just do some extra watering from wherever I happen to be. I'm also looking forward to seeing how my water usage varies thanks to Water Budgeting and Weather Intelligence. Conclusion The first time I heard about the Rachio Iro, it caught my interest as it's definitely a product that can conserve both water and money. For a startup, Rachio has shown an incredible ability to design and execute connected products in the home automation space and bring them to market, and I eagerly anticipate seeing what the company does next. As it is, the Iro is sure to spawn a host of competitors, but I seriously doubt if any one of them will do a better job. In terms of design, setup, and the way that Iro intelligently varies watering times based on actual weather data, it's a top-notch home automation product. Rating: 4 stars out of 4 stars possible
An early look at Siri and HomeKit
At Macworld/iWorld 2014, I made a presentation on the part that Siri could play in the home automation revolution. Some of the key points I made were that iOS 7 and Siri really couldn't do too much at the current time without assistance from third-party tools such as IFTTT, and that Apple would need to open up the Siri API to developers before much would improve. Well, the announcement of HomeKit in iOS 8 at WWDC 2014 went a long way toward making it possible for us to get to a Jetson's-type world where turning lights on and off, locking doors, and making your home more comfortable is just a voice command away. The team at AppleInsider took a look at responses from Siri in iOS 8 beta 2, finding that Siri now responds to various home automation-related queries with responses that give a hint at how Apple's intelligent assistant will work with third-party devices. The article notes that "built-in HomeKit services include garage door openers, lights, door locks, thermostats, IP camera controls, switches, and more", providing control over the characteristics of those devices. What developers will need to do is create their own tools to control their accessories, but they'll be able to do so with links into Siri. HomeKit provides not only control over characteristics of different accessories, but "knows" the location of those accessories as well. For example, asking Siri to check whether or not the front door is locked indicates that each accessory can be given a unique location identifier. As with the existing SmartThings ecosystem, HomeKit can also provide control over multiple homes, say a main house and a cabin in the mountains. Asking Siri "Are the doors at the cabin locked?" could result in a quick scan of all of the door locks at that location and a response that "Yes, they are". At this point, since no smart home accessory manufacturers have publicly demonstrated their devices working with HomeKit, queries to Siri result in a plaintive reply: That's why they call this a beta...
Apple attempts to conquer the connected home
It was only one announcement among many at WWDC 2014's opening keynote, and Craig Federighi, Apple's SVP of software engineering, made mention of Apple's new foray into home automation practically in passing. HomeKit is a common network protocol that seeks to make Siri your preferred method of controlling all of the smart things in your home. We're talking garage door openers, lighting, thermostats, door locks, the works. Federighi spent just one and a half minutes of a two-hour keynote talking about HomeKit -- scant attention paid to such a massive undertaking.
The TUAW Daily Update Podcast for May 27, 2014
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get some the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the player at the top of the page. The Daily Update has been moved to a new podcast host in the past few days. Current listeners should delete the old podcast subscription and subscribe to the new feed in the iTunes Store here.
Feedback Loop: Home automation, Chrome extensions and more
Welcome to Feedback Loop, a weekly roundup of the most interesting discussions happening within the Engadget community. There's so much technology to talk about and so little time to enjoy it, but you have a lot of great ideas and opinions that need to be shared! Join us every Saturday as we highlight some of the most interesting discussions that happened during the past week. This week, we take a look at getting started with home automation, try to identify apps that drain our phone batteries, share our favorite Chrome extensions and discuss whether digital magazine subscriptions make sense. All this and more past the break!
How to get started with home automation through Z-Wave
For many of us, smart homes seem like a far off concept from a science fiction novel set hundreds of years in the future. Imagine things like appliances that learn our schedules, lights that turn off after we leave a room, locks that can be remotely triggered to let yourself (or others) into your house and more. You know what though? The future is here. Engadget reader Dignan17 shows us what it takes to get started with home automation using Z-Wave compatible devices.
Microsoft's Cortana could soon control your mood lighting
Microsoft's Cortana may be younger than counterparts such as Google Now and Apple's Siri, but the virtual assistant already stands out thanks to some unique features. One prime example is Notebook, which the service uses to learn about your habits and keep track of your preferences. Another is the ability to communicate with third-party apps, opening the door up to plenty of new use cases. But we're still just getting started; if the hackers at Onion.io have their way, Cortana will soon be controlling the lights in your home, among other automation tasks.
Revolv Smart Home Hub and app eases home automation setup
As noted in my Macworld/iWorld 2014 talk on using Siri to control the "Internet of Things", there's one big problem in the home automation world right now -- too many standards! Now I know that sounds like a contradiction in terms, but there are a number of competing standards available: Z-Wave, Zigbee, Insteon, Sonos, Belkin WeMo and more. Several manufacturers are attempting to corral this stampeding herd of standards with smart hubs. We've already reviewed one here at TUAW (the US$99 SmartThings Hub) and now it's time to take a look at the $299 Revolv Smart Home Hub and the companion app that controls it. Over the past few years I've been building up my home automation world by purchasing bits and pieces as I've had a chance. As a result, I have a number of Belkin WeMo switches, wall switches, and motion sensors, some SmartThings sensors (moisture, motion), and some other Z-Wave devices that I've picked up along the way. In this review, I'll tell you about how the Revolv hub is set up, how it recognizes and controls the various devices, and how the free Revolv iPhone app works to tie all of your home automation devices together. Setup The Revolv Smart Home Hub is incredibly simple to install. You just plug in the included AC adapter and plug the other end into the red teardrop-shaped hub. There's no need to run an Ethernet cable to the Revolv hub, which is quite different from competing hubs. Instead, you launch the Revolv app and tap a button to begin the new hub setup. That basically requires you to identify the network that your iPhone and the Revolv hub will be on, and then enter the password for that network. Once that's done, you're asked to put the camera flash from your iPhone right over the top center of the hub, and the fireworks begin. What kind of fireworks? Well, all sorts of rapid-fire flashing takes place as your iPhone communicates to the hub via light. Wait a short while and then the hub is up and running. At that point, you can have it begin to search for connected devices on your network. This is where things got a little interesting. At this time, I have a number of devices on my home automation network, including some door/window switches, moisture sensors, and a number of Belkin WeMo devices. Well, the Revolv hub found a few (but not all) of the WeMo switches and a WeMo motion sensor, but couldn't find the other devices that communicate on the Z-Wave protocol. Revolv has a list of compatible devices online, and even has links to those products on Amazon. But if you have devices that just aren't compatible, your only choice is to let the company know through a "suggestion box" and then hope that others vote for that device to be added. In comparison with the SmartThings hub, the Revolv hub doesn't appear to me to have as much range or as much compatibility with a wide variety of sensors and switches. I initially started out with the Revolv hub in nearly the same spot as the SmartThings hub was during its testing, and it couldn't detect many of the devices that the SmartThings hub picked up immediately. Even moving the Revolv hub to other locations didn't seem to help. Actions Rather than use IFTTT to allow mashups in an almost-infinite variety, Revolv's app has the ability to create actions. One of my first tests was to do something that took me no time to accomplish with WeMo's own rules and that's to have a specific light in the house turned on when someone trips the sensor, then turn off the light after a certain amount of time has elapsed. When I tried using Revolv's actions to do this, I could get the light to turn on, but then it turned off immediately. As far as I could tell, there was no way to get that to turn off after a set period of time. What I finally ended up doing was something that's supposed to be resolved with a hub: using an app specific to the problem at hand, in this case the WeMo app. That's not to say that Revolv's actions and app aren't useful -- they just weren't in this particular case. Some of the other actions include having lights go on as you get near your home, as the hub determines its location during setup and the app uses iOS 7's Location Services to figure out where you are at any particular time. Along with location-driven actions, the Revolv app also provides actions based on the status of a device (on or off) and on time. Design Although the Revolv hub costs about three times the amount of the SmartThings hub, it looks cheaper. The red, plasticky exterior of the Revolv hub might be attractive to some home automation fans, but to me the sleek white exterior of the SmartThings hub is preferable and blends into a lot more homes. On the other hand, not having to plug in an Ethernet cable makes it possible to place the Revolv hub in a lot more locations. Conclusion The Revolv Smart Home Hub wins kudos from me for its simple setup process. However, the lack of breadth of sensors that can be controlled (moisture sensors, for example), the inability to create mashups with IFTTT, and the relatively high price are three sticking points for me. IFTTT integration vastly expands the abilities of the competing SmartThings hub, making it possible to do such bizarre things as receive a phone call from your house when a plumbing leak is detected or activate an alarm when severe weather is approaching. I won't count Revolv out of the picture yet -- the company says they still have three more radio standards to implement in the device, and it appears to be moving forward on adding support for new devices all the time. Rating: 2-1/2 stars out of 4 stars possible
TinkerForge brings home automation to the masses with its DIY kit
Do you have some old 433MHz home automation gear lying around and fancy making your home a little smarter? TinkerForge is releasing a new internet of things controller designed to let you run power sockets, light fittings and even electric blinds from the comfort of your smartphone. The platform markets itself as a coding-free alternative to Arduino and Raspberry Pi, so building the control scheme online promises to be entirely safe for novices. If you snag the hardware before May 24th, then it'll only set you back €50 ($70), after which the price will go up to €65 ($90), but that's a small price to pay to really freak out your housekeeper.
Daily Roundup: Samsung's love of plastic, Siri for Apple TV and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Daily Roundup: Taiwan fines Apple, LG HomeChat, Siri photo-tagging patent and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Belkin adds WeMo Insight Switch to the home-automation tool family
The Belkin WeMo family of home-automation tools grew by one yesterday with the introduction of a new member -- the WeMo Insight Switch (US$59.99). The Insight Switch one-ups its older sibling, the WeMo Switch ($49.99), by being smarter and skinnier. While the WeMo Switch provided a way for iPhone users to turn lights and appliances on or off from anywhere they were on a network by using the WeMo app, the Insight Switch adds a new trick -- being able to monitor power usage. Like its older sibling, the Insight Switch has its own IFTTT.com channel to provide even more intelligence to the seemingly simple task of turning something on or off. For example, you can set up the WeMo Insight Switch to monitor a plugged-in device -- let's say an electric space heater. If that power-hungry appliance has been on for a certain amount of time, you can tell the switch to shut it off. Likewise, if the daily cost of using the space heater to keep your toes warm rises above a pre-set level, you can shut it off. You could also use the Insight Switch to tell you something like how long a window-mounted air conditioner has been running and send that info in a text message. I mentioned how the Insight Switch is smarter than the old WeMo Switch in being able to monitor energy usage, but I also said it was skinnier. The new switch is much smaller than its predecessor, making it much more likely for design-conscious homeowners to adopt the Insight Switch. The WeMo app also received a redesign yesterday, adding support for the new switch, getting a new iOS 7-friendly look and providing faster response than the old app. In addition, WeMo is now supported on the Android platform. TUAW will have a full review of the WeMo Insight Switch in the near future.
Smart Power Strip brings its home automation dreams to Kickstarter
Smart Power Strip landed its way into the final round of our Insert Coin competition the other week at Engadget Expand, and while it didn't take home one of the giant foam commemorative coins (or the prize money attached), it was an impressive feat nonetheless. Not taking home the gold means that Roger Yiu and team could use the money even more. The project just hit Kickstarter, in hopes of snagging $100,000. A pledge of $99 will get you one of the smart outlets, so you can bring a touch of low-cost, smartphone-controlled automation to your home. You can check out our hand-on with the the device here and watch the crowdfunding plea below.
