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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!
Ivee Sleek is a voice assistant that controls your connected home via WiFi
By this point, most of us are accustomed to being able to talk to our laptops and phones to get them to do what we want (some of the time, at least). Now, Ivee Sleek is here to give you the same control over all those WiFi-equipped lightbulbs, thermostats and door locks we've been seeing lately. Sleek looks like a standard alarm clock, but when hooked into your home network it taps AT&T's Watson voice recognition technology to give you voice control over your abode. It's not quite natural language speech system, but Ivee's CEO Jonathon Nostrant informed us that, while direct commands like "make the temperature to 72 degrees" works best, you can also tell Sleek "I'm hot," and it'll turn on the A/C, too. The device is also compatible with Z-Wave devices from Iris and Staples Connect thanks to those platform's WiFi gateways. We got to see (hear?) Sleek control a plethora of devices in Ivee's booth here at CES, and came away impressed. To get Sleek listening, Ivee pulled a page from Google's playbook -- a simple "Hello, Ivee" gets you started (there's a physical button that accomplishes the same thing). Commands were interpreted correctly without fail and the fact that Sleek lets you know with audio cues when your message is received we found to be a nice touch. However, during our demo, there was a few-second delay between speech, recognition and execution. When we asked about the delay, Nostrant told us that the wireless interference in convention center was the culprit, but he assured us that the Sleek works much more quickly in residential settings. As for the device itself, build quality looks to be pretty good. Black and white versions are available, with soft touch plastic surrounding the thing and uniform seams all around. Should Ivee have piqued your interest you can pick one up today for $199 at your local Staples.
Enblink turns any Google TV device into a home automation control center
Meet Enblink: a dongle that plugs into any Google TV device and turns it into a home automation control hub. Enblink works with any Z-Wave enabled gadget, from door locks and lamps to security sensors and video cameras. The dongle itself will serve as a Z-Wave radio (once it's passed through the Z-Wave certification process) when plugged into your GTV device of choice. From there, its software runs atop GTV's Android underpinnings and leverages the device's CPU to control the locks and lights in your abode. A companion app for Android turns your phone into a remote control and monitor for appliances hooked into the Enblink system, plus there's an iOS app currently in development. Input from mobile devices goes through Amazon Web Services, which relays commands to the dongle to execute your bidding from afar. It's up for pre-order right now for $85, with the price rising to $99 when it officially goes on sale sometime in the next month or two. Of course, if you're streaming video to your mobile device, there's an ongoing fee (of undetermined cost) for the privilege once you've used up your free allotment of 30 seconds of streaming per day. Regardless, by leveraging existing GTV hardware and AWS to do the lifting on the backend, Enblink is a fraction of the cost of many purpose-built home automation base stations. So if you're a home automation geek that counts yourself among those very few with a Google TV and a slew of Z-Wave toasters, locks and light bulbs, your ship has, at long last, come in. Update: We snagged some rendered screenshots of the TV and mobile UI, check 'em out after the break.
Almond+ Router/Smart Home Hub Kickstarter blasts by goal
Those who watched TUAW TV Live a few weeks ago may remember me describing some of the issues that I've run into with streaming video up to Ustream at the same time that my wife is connected to her office VPN. Hawaii's finest tech guru and new TUAW dude Shawn "Doc Rock" Boyd mentioned that he'd resolved similar problems by moving from an Apple AirPort Extreme to something called the Almond. After a few minutes of listening to Doc, looking at the device specs on Amazon and checking out some of the buyer ratings, I bought one for US$80 and I'm happy I did. Securifi, the same company that created the Almond, is now running a Kickstarter for the Almond+, which should be of even more interest to Apple fans. There are only 73 hours left in the Kickstarter project for Almond+ at the time I'm writing this, and it's almost at 300 percent of its goal. Why are people so excited about this project? It may be because it's a much faster router than the AirPort Express, supporting the 802.11ac and 802.11n WiFi standards instead of just 802.11n. Perhaps it's because it is also has a touchscreen for easy setup and configuration. Maybe it's the fact that it can also be used as a Zigbee and Z-Wave home controller hub. But I think the fact that it will have a $99 price tag and do all of these things is probably the most attractive feature, especially in light of the $179 price tag of the AirPort Extreme. For Apple users, who pride themselves both on enjoying good design and easy device setup, Securifi's router product delivers at a higher level than Apple's competing products. With the Almond+, the company is raising the stakes on producing accessories with much more utility and a significantly lower price point.
Securfi Almond+ hands-on (video)
Wireless routers aren't the sexiest of gadgets to come across on the CES showfloor, but Securifi's doing its best with the Almond+. The all-white router, an update to last year's OG Almond, still features a 2.8-inch touchscreen, but now supports the 802.11ac standard for high speeds over 5GHz, in addition to Zigbee and Z-Wave for home automated control. That latter bit is a recent addition to the Almond+'s UI interface, allowing users with compatible Zigbee or Z-Wave products to control lights around the house or even monitor and receive notifications (cloud-synced via a free iOS or Android app) when their door is being opened or closed. Around back the innocuously designed device sports one USB 2.0 and five for gigabit ethernet. At present, Securifi intends to launch the Almond+ on Kickstarter for $99 sometime within the next week, so look for it to debut there soon. While you wait, take a look out our gallery below, as well as video demo just after the break.
Mi Casa Verde Vera review: Home automation, simplified
Home automation and jetpacks are surprisingly similar in that both of these space-age technologies have, for decades, been over promised and under delivered. Who here wouldn't love to tap a single button when exiting the house to activate the alarm, shut off the lights in the kids' rooms, lower the thermostat, and lock all the doors? That's the convenience, the promise left unfilled as we say goodbye to 2010. We live on a planet that still requires humans to manually close the blinds at the end of the day and flip on a light switch some 90 years since the commercial introduction of the incandescent light bulb. How primitive. And it's downright criminal in ecological and financial terms that we still can't easily monitor and control the power usage in our homes let alone the trickle of wattage vampired off the individual electrical sockets feeding our greedy horde of household electronics. How is this possible given all the advances we've seen? Wireless and sensor technology has advanced far beyond what's required to automate a home. Just look at smartphones, for example, that now ship standard with 3G (and even 4G) data, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS radios in addition to sensors for motion, temperature, moisture, proximity, and even direction. We don't have the answer to home automation's dilemma -- to dig into that topic we'd require a few thousand more words, at least. All we know for sure is that the biggie consumer electronics companies are reluctant to sort it out. As such, dozens of small companies are left to deal with a mess created by an industry incapable of coalescing around a set of interoperable home automation standards. One such company is Mi Casa Verde. A tiny startup that launched its linux-based Vera home automation server back in 2008 with a renewed promise to make home automation setup and control as easy for novices as it is robust for techies and enthusiasts. We've been using a recently launched second generation Vera 2 for a few weeks now. Sure, we haven't quite reached one-button nirvana, but as home automation newbies we're proud to say that we've automated a few helpful in-home lighting situations while skirting the clutches of the Dark Angel sequestered within our fuse box. Better yet, we can control it all from an iPhone -- including the Christmas tree. Click through to see how we did it. %Gallery-111569%
Silverstat7 Zigbee-packin' thermostat to debut this fall for $600?
Every day it seems that companies are finding better ways to keep an eye on the non-renewable resources we're sucking down to enable our voracious appetite for Xbox gaming and Hulu viewing. Not that we're complaining! And now, thanks to a gracious tipster, we've received some deets on that Silverstat7 home energy management solution (er, touchscreen thermostat) we first hepped you to a couple days ago. Along with 802.11g WiFi, this guy supports the Zigbee and Zwave protocols (as you probably guessed), so it should be able to play nicely with your existing smart meter, switches and outlets. Earlier reports of a June 2010 release date may have been premature -- look for it this fall for about $600 MSRP. [Thanks, Tony L.]
Home automation shocker: Bulogic bridges Z-Wave to Zigbee smart power meters
Z-Wave. Zigbee. If you're a home automation nerd, these words mean something to you. You are an extreme form of pure nerd, and we envy your ability to invest in things like replacement light switches while the rest of us scrimp and save because now we have to watch TV in an extra dimension we never asked for. Anyway, that Z-Wave network you might have? Well, the Bulogics Smart Grid Controller bridges a Zigbee power meter into it using a new Sigma Designs chip, so you can track all your power usage easily and do something called "end-to-end load shedding," which either helps you save power or requires a painful medical procedure. You're welcome.
Nokia's Z-Wave Home Control Center hands-on and video
Since hearing about Nokia's foray into the world of home automation, our curiosity has been seriously piqued. Thankfully, our girl-on-the-scene Drita has captured video of the new software / hardware combo in action on the Nokia World show floor. It looks like a fully decked out system is going to run you a hefty fee (given all the components required), but can you put a price on the extreme laziness it will enable? We didn't think so. Check out the pics on Engadget and the thrilling video out after the break!
Schlage LiNK web-controlled Z-Wave door locks priced right out of consideration
We first spotted Schlage's web-controlled Z-Wave door locks back in May, but Schlage was still working out details on everything from the name to pricing, and it looks like ditching that key for online access will be pretty pricey: a LiNK lock "starter kit" will run $299 for a lock and Z-Wave Ethernet bridge that enables network control, with additional locks going for $199. On top of that, you'll be charged $12.99 a month for access to the LiNK portal and mobile apps, including 100MB of video storage if you add a video camera to the system. Good luck with that, Schlage -- turns out regular keys don't charge a monthly fee to keep doors locked.
Schlage announces web-enabled Z-Wave door locks
The Z-Wave standard for home automation has already proven itself to be a pretty versatile bit of technology, and it looks like its now set to ensnare yet another part of your house, with lock-maker Schlage set to introduce some web-enabled Z-Wave door locks. Those will let you lock or unlock your door from your PC, cellphone or any other wireless, web-enabled device -- or, of course, from the lock itself. That's done with the aid of a Z-Wave gateway that connects to your router, which relays the RF signals to and from the lock (or one of up to 256 other Z-Wave devices), and gives you the added benefit of extending the life of the batteries in the lock, which Schlage says should last for up to three years. Otherwise, the details on the locks themselves are pretty light, with the folks at Schlage only going so far as to say that they'll look "pretty similar" to their non-Z-Wave locks (pictured at right), and that they'll be "affordable," though presumably not less than the $150 their current locks go for.[Thanks, Steve]
