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GE's smart home brand expands beyond lighting with a security camera
C by GE has become Cync, and it's expanding beyond lighting to include smart home tech like security cameras and thermostats.
Savant Ascent mixes arcade shooting with music album, coming to PS4
The "Savant" in D-Pad Studios' Savant Ascent is drawn from a close friend of the indie developer, electronic musician Savant (Aleksander Vinter). The arcade-style, 2D action shooter's protagonist is even pulled from the cover of Savant's fifth album, Alchemist, designed by D-Pad Studios' art director Simon S. Andersen. Recently announced for PS4, Savant Ascent has players dispatching enemies in tune with Savant's music, which provides varying upgrades as tracks are unlocked. In the game, Savant is cast out of his tower by a "malicious orb," which turns his surroundings into enemies. Players must guide Savant back up the tower, which certainly explains the "Ascent" part of the game's title. Savant Ascent first launched on PC, Mac and Linux via Steam, GamersGate and the Humble Store as well as iOS and Android in December 2013. [Image: D-Pad Studio]
Electronic House crowns iOS-equipped dwelling 2011 Home of the Year
Electronic House just announced its pick for 2011 Home of the Year, and from the look of things, this iOS-enabled abode has the stuff to put your robotic butler out of work. The mammoth craftsman's interiors, designed by OCD poster boy Jeff Lewis, were automated by HD Media Systems using the Savant app. Everything from lighting to shower temperature are controlled using wall-mounted iPads or a series of unencumbered iOS devices. A pre-programmed "party button" immediately adjusts lighting and temperature, and bumps music to the 15 different Sonance in-ceiling speaker zones while displaying a slideshow on monitors dispersed throughout the house. Among the extravagant extras at work here are a switch in the master closet for flipping on the iron in the laundry room, a chandelier that flickers when it's time to switch out the toilet paper, and a virtual butler that warns of impending visitors. Looks to us like Rosie the Robot's days are numbered. Check out the source link for more automated overkill from this year's runners up.
The Engadget Show returns Saturday, November 20th with Sprint's product chief, Google TV's lead dev, and giveaways to really be thankful for!
Attention humans: in case you forgot, the Engadget Show is back in a big way this Saturday, November 20th at 6:30pm! Join us in New York City, where we'll be interviewing Sprint's product chief Fared Adib as well as Google TV product manager Salahuddin Choudhary, plus we'll have the usual mix of raucous editor roundtable, insane giveaways (somebody is leaving with an EPIC 4G and more!), crazy segments, and mind-bending chiptunes music from exileFaker! You don't want to miss it! Remember, giveaways happen at the live show only, so make the trek and join us at The Times Center in person. We have a new ticketing policy, so if you're coming to the live show, be sure to read about it below. If you're geographically incapable of joining us in New York City, just tune into the stream right here on Engadget. The Engadget Show is sponsored by Sprint, and will take place at the Times Center, part of The New York Times Building in the heart of New York City at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues (see map after the break). Tickets are -- as always -- free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be first come, first served... so get there early! Here's the updated info on our new ticketing policy that you need to know: There is no admission fee -- tickets are completely free The event is all ages Ticketing will begin at the Times Center at 2:00PM on Saturday, November 20th, doors will open for seating at 5:45PM, and the show begins at 6:30PM We now have assigned seating, so the first people to get their tickets -- and the Sprint text-to-win winners (see below) -- will get priority seating. This also means that once you get a ticket, your seat is guaranteed -- you won't have to get back in line to get a good seat. Ticketing will continue until all tickets are given away You cannot collect tickets for friends or family -- anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket Seating capacity in the Times Center is about 340, and once we're full, we're full The venue is located at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues in New York City (map after the break) The show length is around an hour If you're a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com. Sprint is offering 50 guaranteed tickets to the Engadget Show taping to the first 50 entrants who text "ENGADGET" to 467467 or enter online! Standard text messaging rates apply. Click for the Official Rules and see how to enter online. Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.
Savant stuffs iPod touch into multifunctional Touch Remote, includes VoIP and FaceTime promises
That's no render we're looking at, Savant assures us, it's the most recent photograph of the company's Touch Remote prototype. This crazy do-it-all peripheral comes with an embedded fourth-gen iPod touch -- no word on whether you'll be able to remove it, though it looks unlikely -- and mirrors the abilities of Savant's iPad home control and automation app. That means that once you get your lights, climate control, network cameras, and home cinema hooked up to Savant's control hub, you'll have yourself a neatly streamlined remote to save you doing anything yourself again. Or so goes the theory, anyhow. Savant augments the offering with promises of VoIP and FaceTime integration by the time the Touch Remote ships to retailers in the first quarter of next year. MSRP is set at $399, which may or may not be feasible given that the iPod touch by itself costs at least $229. We shall see. For now, you can see the prototype device on video after the break.
TUAW TV: The Savant experience in NYC
As we mentioned last week, Savant is currently running a road tour to show off its iPad interface for home automation; Mike Schramm was able to catch up with the festivities in California and got a good taste of the possibilities for replacing 'expensive glass' in proprietary controllers with the readily available Apple touch devices. Unfortunately for Mike, the Savant crew can't truck a full suite of home controls and AV devices around with them in their carry-ons, so he couldn't get the full-force feel of the system in operation. Lucky for me, I did: along with TUAW TV's Chad Mumm, I got a chance to visit the extraordinarily well-equipped Savant Experience Center, located in New York's SoHo district within sight of the Apple Store. All the touch displays in the installation are driven by Mac minis on the back end. Savant has tricked out this model apartment with scores of high-performance displays, a digital kitchen, a Steinway player piano driven by an iPod (!) and even a seven-seat screening room. Obviously, the budget for this sort of setup would be sky-high, but it's a demonstration of what's possible. We visited prior to the iPad introduction, so while you'll see the iPhone in use as a controller, the iPad itself remains a phantom in the video. Click the Read More link below to watch the episode. It's in the Brightcove player, so unfortunately it does require Flash until we can get the HTML5 player in gear. It's not nearly as seamless as expected... yet. For the Flash-impaired, here's the YouTube link.
Hands-on: Savant shows off their iPad interface
Savant AV brought their iPad road tour to a location that happens to be pretty close to me in Irvine, California. So, I headed down there to take a look at their brand new iPad app, an interface for wirelessly controlling their high-end home automation systems. The company helps dealers put together home automation and home theater solutions, and because all of their software is designed around Mac OS X, they've jumped headlong into using the iPhone and iPad as control units for their automation systems. With a full Savant setup installed, you can control your climate systems, audio and multimedia, lighting, and even security cameras all around your home directly from your iPhone or iPad. The systems aren't cheap; even the low-end systems will run you from five to ten thousand dollars, and of course, the sky's the limit on how luxurious you want to get. The good news, though, is that by using the iPad, Savant is actually able to put more value into the systems that they do sell. Before the iPad, a significant chunk of the cost was taken up by "glass," as founder Robert Madonna told us -- huge, expensive touchscreens that relied on custom, often clunky software. However, with the iPad, Savant can just hook into Apple's already available tools and hardware, and create much better looking applications that run on official hardware and lower the end cost. %Gallery-90117%
Savant: iPad to "Redefine home automation"
Automating one's home with a Mac isn't new. Indigo has been around for a while, as has XTension. Heck, you can even feed your dog remotely. The folks at Savant offer a way to control your home or office's entertainment system, climate, security cameras, lighting and more with an iPhone or iPod touch. To say that they're excited about the iPad would be an understatement. In an interview with Electronic House, Savant president Jim Carroll called the device's release a "...watershed moment." He also confirmed that his company is working on an iPad app, including some "pretty cool" plans for the device's large screen. For now, home automation can be expensive, but Carroll believes that the iPad will change that. With a device that starts at US$499 (and should only get cheaper) and runs App Store apps, more and more people will be able to take advantage of this technology. Of course, that doesn't mean your home will be as cool as Daniel Graystone's overnight, but it's progress. At the very least, imagine a beefed-up version of Apple's Remote app that went beyond Apple TV and iTunes sharing. We're living in the future!
OnPar's touchscreen GPS rangefinder could almost be a phone
If uPlay's uPro was the "iPhone of golf GPS technology," what then would you call this? Savant GPS has just come clean with what's likely to be the most sophisticated GPS rangefinder to date. The simply-titled OnPar measures in at 4.17- x 2.8- x 0.63-inches and features full touchscreen (3.5-inch) operation. It's also claiming to be the planet's first "GPS rangefinder with a dynamic hole layout display and GPS positioning that provides instant distances to anywhere and remaining distance to the green, personalized club averages, and simple score and shot tracking." The unit is designed to hold up to 300 golf courses with no membership fees or course map fees, and it'll be available for the taking (er, purchasing, we should say) early next month for an undisclosed price.[Thanks, Scoopster]
Hands-on with Savant's $35000 ROSIE Coffee Table
Savant's ROSIE Coffee Table seemed like it would be a mighty fine addition to any geek's den, and after seeing one in person, our hunch has been substantiated. The table was on display and constantly surrounded by onlookers today at CEDIA, but we managed to squeeze through the crowd and snag a few pics of the device in action. We'll be the first to say that the resolution on the screen could certainly be improved, and the touch response seemed quirky as well, but the table in Denver will reportedly be tweaked a bit more before being loosed on the public. Speaking of which, we were able to step aside with a Savant employee in order to learn a bit more about this forthcoming unit, so here's the skinny...Apparently, nailing down a spill-proof top is the final (major) hurdle standing in the way of a release, and the company hopes to have this bad boy ready for shipment by October / November. Moreover, the system within will indeed be based around OS X, play nice with other ROSIE equipment, and will purportedly tout an Intel processor, 500GB of internal storage, 2GB - 4GB of RAM, and no user-accessible optical drive. Lastly, we were informed that the ROSIE Coffee Table will ring up at a staggering $35,000 MSRP, so it's fairly safe to say that only the affluent will be seriously considering this one for their own domicile.%Gallery-7136%
Savant marries a touchscreen with iTunes; calls it "Apple Surface"
Look, we're all about innovation, and you know deep down we really want our computers to be big-ass tables, but Savant's press release touting "the first Apple-based coffee table surface product" just made us cringe. Savant's Rosie touchscreen home-automation products are already well-respected, so there's no need to try and grab any tailfeathers here -- in fact, we think the specs sort of sell themselves: you're looking at a 40-inch touchscreen that sports iTunes integration, access to photos and movies, home-automation through the Rosie system, and, yes, runs on an internally-mounted Mac of some sort. More important than that, however, is the one spec that Microsoft's Surface can't currently match: Savant is getting ready to sell these to consumers, and soon. See? No need to to get crazy with the hype, now was there? Now just set a price and tell us when these'll ship, and we'll be all set.[Via ShinyShiny]
Coffee Table Mac?
Remember the Microsoft Surface? It was a prototype device bringing an iPhone-like touch interface to a full sized table computer. The specialty home automation vendor Savant Systems has announced the "Apple-based" "ROSIE Coffee Table Touchpanel Controller." Apparently it duplicates the functionality of the company's in-wall touch-screen controllers, but in a 40" display mounted into the top of a coffee table. They don't specify in what way it's "Apple-based," but I would guess this thing probably integrates a Mac mini and one of the main selling points is its iTunes integration. They also don't say anything about it being multi-touch, so I suspect it's just a really big touchscreen. At the moment this thing is still vapor-ware, and of course there's no pricing info, but I wouldn't expect something like this to come cheap.
