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GE wants to link your existing fridge to your smart home
There's no shortage of smart appliances now, but that won't help you much if you bought your gear a few years ago. What if you want to get your existing refrigerator talking to the rest of your automated home? GE may soon have a solution... if you're one of its previous customers, anyway. The company tells GigaOM that it's developing a WiFi-based Connect box that will link some fridges from 2009 and newer (all of them equipped with Ethernet jacks) to the Wink smart home system. While it's not clear just what this will do for your not-quite-cutting-edge food box, it wouldn't be surprising if the add-on at least gives you a heads-up when something goes awry.
Ubuntu Linux is now ready to power your appliances and robots
Ubuntu Linux has spread to quite a few platforms in its 10-year history, if not always successfully. Today, though, the open source software is tackling what could be its greatest challenge yet: the internet of things. Canonical has released a version of its stripped-down snappy Ubuntu Core for connected devices like home appliances, robots and anything else where a conventional PC operating system wouldn't fly. It's designed to run on modest hardware (a 600MHz processor will do) and provide easy updates, all the while giving gadget makers the freedom to customize the software for whatever they're building. It promises to be extra-reliable, too -- it only applies updates if the code checks out, so you won't lose control of your smart thermostat due to a buggy upgrade.
Keurig's soda machine will let you make Dr. Pepper drinks
Keurig just got a big edge over SodaStream in the make-it-yourself beverage wars. The normally coffee-focused company has reached an exclusive deal that will let you make some of the Dr. Pepper Snapple group's drinks in its upcoming Keurig Cold machine, which arrives this fall. There's no mention of the exact brands, but it wouldn't be surprising if you get pod-based versions of big names besides Dr. Pepper or Snapple, like Canada Dry and Crush. Between this and a pact last year with Coca-Cola, about the only recognizable soft drinks you won't make with Keurig's machine are from Pepsi, which has been testing versions of its beverages with SodaStream. It's too soon to know if these on-demand versions of major drinks will taste like the real thing, but you at least won't have to settle for generic recipes when making fizzy liquids at home. [Image credit: Frankieleon, Flickr]
GE's smart appliances let you take control with your phone
It's now fairly easy to get at least a few connected appliances, but it's still rare to see a full range of them. What if you want to outfit your whole home with smart equipment? GE thinks it has an answer with its new Profile line. The series' dishwasher, fridge, laundry combo, ovens and water heater all give you control from a smartphone. You can preheat your oven before you get home, or tell your water heater that you're going on vacation. Your washer will let you know when your clothes are done, and your fridge will warn you if someone left the door open. Only the ovens are available today, though, so don't start planning a home technology revamp just yet. While the water heater arrives in February, you'll have to wait until the spring to get either the fridge or the laundry pair -- and the dishwasher won't arrive until 2015 is almost over.
Samsung's Smart Home service ready to control new wave of TVs and appliances
Samsung has just taken a big step in its home automation plans by launching its Smart Home service in the US and Korea. That means you can now download an Android app that, in conjunction with Samsung's cloud service, will give you control over certain (crazy expensive) Samsung smart appliances. In the US, those include Samsung's T9000 Smart French Door refrigerator, the WF457 smart front loading washing machine, all 2014 Smart TVs and, later in the year, the Smart Bulb, Gear Fit and Smart Ovens. On top of an app for any Android 4.0 or later device, a Tizen app will soon arrive to Samsung's Galaxy Gear 2 smartwatch, as well. Once all that's installed and connected, you'll be able to fully control a wash cycle, check the temperature of the fridge or even say "good night" to the TV remote to shut down all connected devices. Samsung has promised that all of this is encrypted and secure, so let's hope that's the case -- all this is just the beginning of its "grand plan" to enhance your home.
Samsung's latest developer kit lets you control appliances from your TV
Ever wish you could turn on the air conditioning without leaving the couch? Samsung's new Smart TV SDK 5.0 will give you the luxury of being that lazy. The programming kit gives the TV control over home appliances, including network-savvy lighting and refrigerators. Developers should also have an easier time building apps thanks to a new web framework that both supports HTML5 and uses Native Client to run software across a wide range of TVs. Apps can run on mobile devices, too. Samsung has already posted a beta SDK, but aspiring big-screen app builders will have to wait until January 6th to get the finished tool.
LG's HomeChat will let you command its latest smart appliances via SMS
LG really, really wants you to have a good chat with your washer/dryer and robotic vacuum cleaner. It just announced you'll soon be able to use the Line messaging app and a new service called HomeChat to give natural language commands to its 2014 Smart Appliance lineup. If you tell the system "I'm going on vacation," for instance, it'll put your refrigerator into power-savings mode and program the robotic vacuum cleaner. The app will also update you as to what's in the fridge, show a history of your robotic vacuum's cleaning trips and recommend recipes via the smart oven, to name a few other features. LG also announced NFC tagging and smart diagnoses for its upcoming smart appliance lineup, a scheme that'll help you avoid unnecessary repair visits, download new washing machine cycles and more. All of this will arrive in the flesh at CES 2014, but if you're interested, maybe avoid seeing Maximum Overdrive in the meantime.
WSJ: Google working on an Android-powered game system, smart watch and new Nexus Q
According to the Wall Street Journal, Google might make another foray into living room hardware as it's currently developing an Android powered gaming console. Since that's just not enough of a rumor bomb, the talkative "people familiar with the matter" also claim a wristwatch and followup to its "postponed" Nexus Q project are on the way. If you believe the rumors, its reason for jumping into all these categories is to beat products Apple is reportedly developing in the same categories, with at least one of them launching this fall. Finally, the leaks indicate Google's next major Android update will be "tailored to low-cost devices in developing countries," and are ready to go in a much wider variety of devices. That could mean laptops or even appliances running the rumored Key Lime Pie flavor of Android, built by manufacturers like Samsung which is already working on a watch of its own. Also mentioned is HP, which the report goes on to claim is building laptops that run Android. Companies like Ouya, Mad Catz, Pebble and GEAK probably think Mountain View is already late to the party, but official OS-level support and heavily marketed hardware could take these segments to the next level.
LG patents RFID-labelled cookbook, attempts to offer more than just another place to spill sauce
LG is no stranger to mixing together patents and white goods and this time it's trying to bridge the gap between recipes and those all-too-often underwhelming results. One of its patents, granted today, outlines the idea of two RF tags that would offer food information and appliance specs, with a reader located on a terminal (say, an oven) that would attempt to bridge the gap between the two. This (likely wireless) device would then connect to a server, which would return operating details for cooking that specified "food information" on your appliance of choice. LG also hints at the ability of expanding the remit of a book when enough info can't be given due to the space limitations of the printed word, hopefully offering up some added value to any compatible future cookbooks. Well, you've got to try and explain those connected fridge and oven costs somehow, right?
Samsung targets LG in $45 million suit, claims corporate image 'tarnished' by fridge advertisements
Samsung's corporate image has become slightly tainted as of late -- some might argue that recent launch events are to blame, but the company has a different culprit in mind: LG. This latest accusation relates to the company's position in the all-too-competitive home appliance space. Samsung has filed a lawsuit against LG in South Korea, targeting online advertisements that cited information that the company claims to be incorrect. You see, last year, LG told the public that its own refrigerator offered the highest capacity, but according to the suit, that badge of honor belongs to Samsung. This, of course, follows an LG suit against Samsung for its own promotional video on YouTube last year. 50 billion Korean won are at stake this time around, which works out to roughly $45 million -- perhaps just enough for Samsung to recoup the costs of its massive Radio City Galaxy S 4 spectacle.
Belkin announces WeMo Smart, coming to your coffee pot later this year
Sure, Belkin's WeMo technology handles outlets and such with an iOS companion app, but now the company is looking to leverage the system with household appliances. WeMo Smart will allow companies to leverage Belkin's apps and existing tech to add new features to their various wares. At CES, a partnership with Jarden Consumer Solutions (JCS) -- the outfit behind brands like Mr. Coffee, Sunbeam, Crock-Pot and more -- has just been announced that will bring the home automation tech to remotely program an monitor small appliances. From the looks of it, you'll be able to turn off the coffee pot after you get to the office should you leave your house in a frenzy. The first WeMo outfitted products are set to arrive later in the year. Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub.
Verizon brings wireless monitoring service to Lowe's Iris smart home system
If you're haunted by dreams of left-on irons and stoves while trying to holiday, Verizon has announced it'll team up with Lowe's to help you wirelessly correct any carelessness. The operator is bringing a USB modem to Lowe's Iris smart home system, letting you monitor and manage your house remotely from a smartphone, sans WiFi or broadband. That'll let you track family members (or intruders) and control thermostats or appliances via smart plugs. Lowe's kits start at $180, so if you'd rather hear "are we there yet?" instead of "is the house on fire yet?" on your next trip, tap the PR after the break.
Panasonic expands smart home appliance line, adds Android Smart App, cloud services
If a wireless light bulb wasn't quite the Jetson's style future you were hoping for, perhaps Panasonic's planned expansion of its smart home appliances will better scratch that itch. From next month, there'll be an Android app to let you remotely operate appliances, view energy savings and program settings via NFC. Hardware-wise, the electronics giant is introducing connected air conditioners, refrigerators, washer-dryers as well as smaller devices such as blood pressure monitors and calorie meters. Along with remote control, there appears to be some supportive cloud-based services too, such as reporting device faults to customer service and generating reports (from the healthcare products). When can you get a taste of the future? September 25th if you live in Orbit City Japan. As for the rest of the world? We'll just have to be patient.
ARM forms UK group to foster an Internet of Things, put 50 billion devices online by 2020
ARM isn't content with dominating the mobile space. It's been by the far the most vocal about an Internet of Things where everything is connected -- and to make that happen, it just established an industry forum in the UK that it hopes will establish common ground for all those internet-linked light bulbs, refrigerators and thermostats. Home energy firm Alertme, cloud-aware sensing outfit AquaMW, lighting maker EnLight and white space wireless guru Neul will start meeting with ARM from August 24th onwards to hash out our automated, eco-friendly future. There's a certain urgency in this for the chip designer: it expects 50 billion devices on the grid by 2020. With IDC estimating a billion new connected devices just in 2011, the clock on that connected device transition is ticking very loudly.
Hands-on with the Electric Imp at Maker Faire (video)
Yesterday at Maker Faire Bay Area 2012 we visited the Electric Imp booth to chat with the startup's founders and get some hands-on time with the tiny wireless computer. What is the Electric Imp? It's a module containing an ARM Cortex M3 SoC with embedded WiFi that's built into an SD card form factor. While the device looks just like and SD card, it's not pin-compatible with the standard -- the idea is to leverage a reliable and affordable connector for the Electric Imp. The module is not very useful on its own -- it only comes to life when inserted into one of several boards, which provide the Electric Imp with power and access to the real world. In turn the device gives these boards a brain and an Internet connection. Eventually the company hopes that appliance manufacturers will incorporate Electric Imp slots into products to make them network aware. We talked with CEO Hugo Fiennes (formerly with Apple) about the past, present and future of the Electric Imp so hit the break to read more and to watch our hands-on video.%Gallery-155789%
Gmail and iPhone alums create Electric Imp, connect your toaster to the web
Have you ever wanted to preheat your oven while on the way home from work, or start your sprinklers while vacationing, only to remember you don't have the spare loot lying around for a network of smart appliances? A recent startup (that somehow eluded Kickstarter) called Electric Imp is about to make your wireless control / monitoring fantasies a reality with its soon-to-be-released, $25 web interface. It works much like an Eye-Fi card, and communicates with cloud services as well as other connected devices like your Android or iPhone via WiFi. The company is working hard to get the slots that work with the cards into many of the machines that we usually don't link up to the good ol' www -- but have often wanted to -- and it hopes to have everything in place later this year. This all sounds like a great deal right now, but just wait until your washing machine gets hacked and starts using scalding water on all your darks and delicates. More info at the source.
Microsoft Research wants to automate your house, introduces HomeOS
Ever wondered if you could control your house's climate, security, and appliances -- along with your PCs and peripherals -- using Microsoft software? That day may soon dawn, as its Research arm has started testing its home automation software, called HomeOS, in twelve domiciles over the past few months. The budding system views smartphones, printers and air conditioners as network peripherals, controlled by a dedicated gateway computer. The project even has a handful of apps in play, which perform functions like energy monitoring, remote surveillance and face-recognition. This growing list of applications, available through a portal called "HomeStore", will allow users to easily expand their system's capabilities. So how does it all work out in the real world? Head past the break, and let Redmond's research team give you the skinny.
Samsung WiFi Washer and Dryer hands-on (video)
We've all needed to keep the laundry going while we're out and about. Samsung is looking to help with that and let us in on their plans at yesterday's presser. The WF457 washer and dryer set houses an 8-inch touchscreen, is WiFi-enabled and can be controlled from inside or outside of the home via a mobile app. With your smartphone or tablet, you can choose the cycle, duration and set-up notifications on your mobile device once the job is done. Neither are available as of yet, but rest assured, this will be a neat piece of tech you should consider. Want a demo? Head on to the gallery below and video. After spending some time controlling a few eight second demo cycles, we were pretty impressed with the system as a whole. Amazingly enough, our load of towels was completely dry. The app worked well and stayed connected for the most part -- granted, we were in the midst of the CES WiFi crossfire. We did encounter some issues when controlling the dryer with a smartphone and then interacting with the appliance's touchscreen. The SmartHome tech seemed to only like to take orders from one source at a time. Other than that, everything went off without a hitch and the phone notification feature is quite a nice touch. Either way, not having to get up to fluff those 400-thread-count sheets is a luxury we can all enjoy in some capacity.
LG announces upgraded Smart ThinQ appliances, average refrigerator IQ set to rise in 2012
Were last year's ThinQ appliances from LG just not quite... sophisticated enough for you? Well, noble reader, screw that monocle a little tighter into your eye and get a load of this year's crop, which LG has dubbed Smart ThinQ. This includes a whole range of appliances like washing machines, ovens and even the company's robotic vacuum cleaners. Most promising to us is the refrigerator, which sports an LCD that indicates what food is in the refrigerator, where it's located and when it expires -- information that you can access from your similarly smart phone as well. That sounds fascinating, but it also sounds just like last year's more remedial ThinQ models, so we're not sure how much new functionality is included in this update. We'll endeavor to go find out once these hit the CES show floor next week.
On moderating expectations for Apple's 2012
Just after the year-end retrospectives clear newsrooms, speculators begin pounding away at the forecasts for the coming year. Every year we see wide-eyed imaginings about what Apple "could" do in the coming year, and every year someone comes out with a list that sounds just as outlandish as the "too cheap to meter" claims about nuclear power from the 1950s. Time Techland's Tim Bajarin looks at "five industries Apple can disrupt in the near future," and the piece is typical of the overly-optimistic expectations people always seem to sprout this time of year. I'll skip over the first section related to TVs, because it's the only halfway-plausible section of the piece, and dive right into the "meal in a pill" musings that follow. "Imagine if Apple began working with the auto companies directly and, in extreme circumstances, was perhaps able to get a 7-inch iPad into these cars," Bajarin muses, managing in one sentence to combine speculation about an industry Apple's shown no interest in entering with speculation about a product Apple's shown no interest in building. He imagines iOS device integration with car systems that would allow for Siri-activated access to things like navigation, media, text messages -- basically all the things Siri already does, but tied into the car's display. The question for this auto integration scheme -- and a question I'll ask twice more later on -- is why Apple should bother. "People don't replace their TVs all that often" has been a major strike against speculation that Apple will produce its own TV set, and that counterargument rings even truer for cars. Apple could theoretically produce a head unit or other bit of hardware with auto integration that could be deployed across multiple auto makes and models, but the question remains: how would Apple benefit from this? Where's the money in it? The first followup question one must always ask after "Wouldn't it be cool if," is, "How much money could Apple actually make doing this?" If the answer to that second question is, "Hmm, probably not all that much, now that I think about it," then you can safely discount the possibility of Apple entering that industry. That goes double for the next industry in Time's list: wristwatches. "If Apple used the Nano to mirror some of the functionality of my iPhone in a watch format, the company could potentially redefine the role of the watch," Bajarin says. The problem is, the wristwatch's role has already been re-defined for the majority of consumers: it's been put on the same pile as the typewriter, slide rule, and floppy disk. Even people I know who are wristwatch enthusiasts have admitted that if you have any kind of cell phone you don't really need a watch. "I don't need to pull my watch out of my pocket to tell the time," you might say in defense of the wristwatch; "I don't need a bulky bit of rubber and metal attached to my wrist to tell the time," is my response. Bajarin correctly points out that some nano users have been using the latest iPod nano as a watch, but most of the reviews I've seen of the so-called "iWatch" point out that while it's technically possible to do this, it doesn't work all that well -- not even as well as a conventional watch. As for the idea of putting Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or some other connectivity between a wrist-worn nano and an iPhone, this is once again an idea that sounds good on paper but very likely sounds terrible in Apple's accounting ledgers. iPod sales have been declining for years, and the iPod touch already makes up the majority of the iPod's increasingly slim share of Apple's profits. While it certainly sounds cool, iPod-iPhone connectivity is a very niche-sounding feature in an already niche product like the iPod nano. Apple's trend over the past few years has been to shy away from heavily promoting its outlier products like the shuffle, nano, and Classic while devoting much more focus to its wide-appeal, general-purpose products like the iPhone and iPad. That's with good reason: general-purpose products have greater appeal to a greater number of consumers, and therefore Apple can make more money selling them. The intersection between "wristwatch wearer" and "iPhone owner" and "iPod nano fan" and "gee wouldn't it be great if all these things talked to each other" speculator has to be very small -- and too small for Apple to want to bother with addressing that market. Another market Apple's shown no interest in is home appliances, but that doesn't stop visions of iFridges dancing through people's heads. "If Apple applied their iOS software to appliances and married it to iCloud, they could turn pretty much any screen integrated into things like refrigerators, ovens or even cabinets into application-specific smart screens," Bajarin writes. This is another case of something that sounds cool at first, like something right out of a sci-fi movie or one of those concept videos of the "near future" that outfits like Microsoft like to crank out every decade or so. It's easy to picture a scenario where you walk into your house, say "Lights," and a Siri-powered "home assistant" turns them on for you. Or better yet, iOS-powered appliances in your home converse with the ones in your car, monitoring your location as you drive home from work, and when you're five minutes away they turn on the lights, set the A/C to 72 degrees, start the coffee pot, fire up the TV, fetch your pipe and slippers, and so forth. That's the house of the future that we've been promised for at least sixty years, and I can already hear the jaunty piano soundtrack in the accompanying concept video. What's not so easy to picture is Apple willingly involving itself with any of that. Unless it plans on branching out into building its own refrigerators, dishwashers, HVAC units and toasters, Apple's iOS definitely isn't going to show up in home appliances. You're not going to see Frigidaire running a licensed build of iOS 6 on a touchscreen refrigerator door, nor is a Kenmore dishwasher going to have iOS powering a multitouch interface where you pick your rinse cycle then knock out a quick game of Jetpack Joyride. You know why not? Because Apple's never going to license iOS to other manufacturers, period. "Never say never," the saying goes, but I'm saying it anyway. Just like with cars and watches, you have to follow the money trail to divine the level of interest Apple might have in the home appliance industry. And just like with cars and watches, I just don't see toaster ovens or thermostats as a lucrative market for Apple. Though it's nice to play around with these Jetsons-like images of a fully Apple-powered home, the reality of Apple's 2012 is going to be far more "boring" than the iCar, the iWatch, and the iHouse. Here's what you can really expect from Apple in the year to come, roughly in the order you can expect to see them: A faster iPad, possibly with a double-resolution display Faster versions of its current Macs, and maybe a 15" MacBook Air A faster iPhone iOS 6, with evolutionary improvements to iOS 5 An A5 or A6-powered high definition version of the current Apple TV -- or, far less likely, an actual Apple TV set Iterative improvements to Siri, iCloud, and iTunes services throughout the year Yawn, right? Where's the disruptive product, the wave of the future, the thing that makes us feel like Star Trek's universe has come 300 years early? If it exists at all, it's probably deep within Apple's labs, in prototype form, and a hell of a lot more exciting than anything on Bajarin's list -- or mine.
