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Lowe's smart home device platform shuts down March 31st
Lowe's tried to become a mainstay of smart home technology with its Iris system, but it wasn't successful enough and unveiled plans to leave the category in November. Now, it's ready to bow out in earnest -- the hardware store has announced that it's shutting down the Iris app and services on March 31st, 2019. It stopped charging paying customers as of January 31st, and it's issuing Visa prepaid cards to eligible customers to help them migrate to other smart home platforms.
Robot bears are coming for your grandparents
Not content to simply blame millennials for killing practically everything, baby boomers are now expecting the younger generations to care for them in their agedness. The nerve. Indeed, some 13 percent of the American population is now 65 or older, though a recent report from the Pew Research Center suggests that figure will nearly double by midcentury. Given that the current annual median price of a nursing-home room is around $92,000 (and rising), and because we can't just up and dump a quarter of America at the Springfield Retirement Castle, robots will have to start lending elderly folks a hand. Because if there's anybody who inherently trusts new and confusing technologies, it's the olds.
Lowe’s Iris smart home system can connect to your Nest thermostat
Home improvement retailer Lowe's continues to update its Iris smart home system. Originally released in 2014, it added mobile set up, remote monitoring and subscription-based emergency services to it's offered services. Now you can manage your home's temperature with Iris, via a new integration with the Nest learning thermostat.
IKEA plans to improve AR shopping tools with help from Apple
Apple and IKEA are creating an AR app that will let customers preview how an item will look in their home. Michael Valdsgaard, IKEA's digital transformation manager, told Swedish website Digital.di, "This will be the first augmented reality app that allows you to make reliable buying decisions."
ICYMI: Skydiving from drones while Lowe's exoskeleton does heavy lifting
Today on In Case You Missed It: Latvian UAV company, Aerones, which specializes in heavy-lift drones, has made publicity stunts an annual tradition and this year is no different. They perched a man atop a 330 meter electrical tower, then sent their 28-rotor drone up to pick him up, then release him to gently parachute back to the ground. It's the future of commuting. We also take a look at a new, unpowered exoskeleton that Lowe's home improvement and Virginia Tech have developed. It utilizes carbon fiber rods situated around the wearer's legs that flex as the user bends over bend and spring back once they stand back up. It makes picking up heavy items a breeze and has been well-received by store employees during recent trial runs. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @Terrortola.
Lowe's exoskeletons help workers carry what you can't
Exoskeletons aren't just for shipyard workers or people with limited mobility. If Lowe's has its way, they'll help store staff fetch your giant bucket of paint. The home improvement retailer has partnered with Virginia Tech to test prototype passive exoskeletons that make it easier to haul heavy objects. Carbon fiber in the suits' back and legs serves as a "taut bow" that stores energy when you bend down -- that energy comes back the moment you stand back up, making it much easier to lift that heavy bag of concrete. The material's flexible nature should also help the suits feel relatively comfortable... a rather important consideration for warehouse workers who may need to wear it for an entire shift.
Lowe's smart home system can call 911 for you
If you own a smart home system, here's the worst case scenario: You're away, something has genuinely gone wrong and you need to contact the emergency services. That involves a frantic phone call and some worrying about how swiftly your phone's notification came through. Lowe's Iris has a different approach -- if you sign up for its premium plan, the system will monitor your home and call emergency responders automatically. You'll be notified through the app, of course, and in some cases be able to cancel or confirm before someone from the police or fire department is sent out.
Lowe's is using AR and VR to make how-to easier
Last year home improvement chain Lowe's teased what it was doing with Google's Tango augmented-reality technology, and now the company is ready to debut the next wave of its high-tech initiatives. First up is the outfit's new In-Store Navigation app, which it says is Tango's first retail indoor-mapping application. To use it, you'll need to snag a Lenovo Phab 2 Pro from an employee. Then you can use the slate to navigate around the store and hopefully find exactly what you're looking for in no time flat. It's something Lowe's showed off recently in tandem with a VR project to illustrate how tech can make DIY easier.
San Francisco Lowe's stores to get robot workers this fall
Shoppers at San Francisco area Lowe's stores are about to encounter a new kind of customer service worker: The LoweBot. Sound familiar? It might: Lowe's Innovation Labs first showed off an autonomous shopping assistant at CES 2015. Back then it was called OSHBot (for Orchard Supply Hardware), and it was still a work in progress. Not anymore -- the LoweBot is scheduled to make its public debut this fall at 11 Bay Area hardware stores.
With HoloLens, you can now remodel your kitchen at Lowe's
When it comes to HoloLens, Microsoft's augmented reality headset, the company's making very careful moves to introduce the holographic tech to the public. Case in point: Today, it announced a partnership with Lowe's, the home improvement chain, that will let customers in the Seattle area visualize a remodel of their kitchens using HoloLens in a showroom environment. The obvious appeal here being the cost benefits: there's no need to order, try and return expensive tiles or appliances if they don't suit your design tastes. They are just holograms, after all.
Lowe's updated connected home system is built for your phone
While most connected home devices on the market were introduced as mobile-first solutions, the Lowe's Iris system on the other hand, required new users to set it up via a browser. After set up -- while the mobile app was able to share status information and access features like turning items on and off -- it was still a desktop-heavy setup. Today the hardware store-turned developer is fixing that with a new platform built from the ground up with a mobile-first strategy and updated devices.
The fascinating, frightening drones and robots of CES 2015
At CES 2015 you could hardly turn your head without smacking into a 4K display, but finding a robot companion takes a bit of legwork. Luckily, we trolled the halls of the LVCC and beyond to find the most exciting (and often frightening) advances in unmanned technology. From drones that track you through the desert to an Android employee with lifelike expressions, check out the video and photo tours below to witness the fascinating future of robots and drones at CES 2015. For a closer look at these robots, drones and more check out our 2015 CES Field Guide.
Lowe's Innovation Labs redefine retail with robots and VR
It's weird to think that a humble DIY store is making groundbreaking strides to innovate retail stores, but that's what Lowe's Innovation Labs was set up to do. The company unveiled two pretty neat concepts for the future of shops in the last few months: a robotic store assistant that patrols the aisles of an Orchard Supply in San Jose, and a virtual reality interior-decoration tool that's currently in operation in two stores in Toronto.
Yup, robots are coming to take our retail jobs, too
Elon Musk may be terrified of self-controlling robots, but the retail industry is clearly hoping they'll save cash in the long term. Nestle, for instance, has purchased 20 copies of Softbank's Pepper robot as the new spokes-droid for its food business in Japan. If successful, then the food manufacturer could have up to 1,000 of the cute yet disturbing devices pimping Nestle vending machines across the country. It's not just limited to robot-friendly Japan, either, since Lowe's has announced that it's hired a robotic employee to help customers find stock in its San Jose Orchard Supply store. The OSHBot comes with a pair of displays, one to bombard you with offers and another to let you video conference with an in-store expert hiding in the back. That said, it's hard not to be concerned for all of the workers who could be handed a pink slip in favor of the Terminator's doe-eyed cousin.
Lowe's Holoroom is an augmented reality showroom, not a sci-fi revolution
Admit it, you've seen the 'holodeck' on Star Trek and thought to yourself: "I want that." So did the folks at Lowe's Innovation Lab, but what they came up isn't exactly science fiction. Lowe's Holoroom isn't a holographic reality, it's an augmented reality: by covering a small space in AR markers, Lowe's has created a room that allows customers to view potential home renovations by looking through the window of an iPad.
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.
Best Buy, Walmart, Target, more join forces for MCX mobile payment, deals provider
Mobile payments make strange bedfellows, so it's perhaps not all that surprising that a group of high profile retailers have teamed up to bring the world the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX). The list includes such biggies as Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Sears, Lowe's and Shell, among others. The venture is set to offer up a mobile-commerce app that will provide payments and deals on "virtually any smartphone." Details are still pretty scarce, though the MCX's official site promises more info on the offering soon, including further details on deals and additional company names. In the meantime, there's a press release after the break.
Nest Learning Thermostat on sale at Lowe's, thinks you should climate control it yourself
The Nest Learning Thermostat just became a lot more available -- that is, if you happen to be around one of the 500+ Lowe's stores in the US that now carry the smart appliance. Lowe's insists that the product, designed by former Apple employees, is in line with the chain's do-it-yourself focus, seeing as home most buyers will likely install the product on their own. And everyone could stand to shed a some cost from their energy bills, right? More info can be found in the press release after the break.
Samsung introduces Advanced LED light bulbs, preps for zombie apocalypse
Samsung is going to make sure your light bulbs use as little energy as possible, last literally decades and sort of look like a heat sink to boot. The company, which just released its Advanced LED Light Bulbs for the US, has put forth the A19, the PAR and the MR16, each bulb being designed for a specific purpose. The AR19, which is engineered to replace conventional incandescent bulbs, is dimmable and can shine directionally from vanity lights, wall sconces, assorted lamps and more. The PAR, which is also dimmable, is designed with a variable beam angle between 25 and 40 degrees in mind and slated around track and recessed lighting. Finally, the MR16 Bulb is designed to be used in recessed, vanity, and track lighting and arrives in two different base types with adjustable brightness levels. Samsung has priced the bulbs from $19.98 all the way up to $59.98 with a life expectancy between 27 and 36 years; they're currently available at your local Lowe's location, although if Philips gets wind of it, that could change post-haste.
Big US retailers adopting Apple products: Say goodbye to the cash register
Earlier today TUAW reported on how one New York City restaurant has adopted the iPad as a menu and point of sale system replacement. Now All Things D is reporting that Apple products -- predominantly the iPad -- are being purchased in droves by major retailers across the country. Home improvement chain Lowes is reportedly deploying 42,000 handheld devices to stores in the U.S. and Canada. Other major deployments have been announced by rival Home Depot, Nordstrom, and Urban Outfitters. As noted by All Things D's Tricia Duryee, some of the retailers haven't spilled the beans on what devices they're actually fielding, but it's anticipated that they'll be Apple devices -- iPhones, iPads, or iPod touches. While the devices can be easily set up to accept payments, many of the retailers are initially using the devices for customer service use cases: looking up answers to customer questions or checking availability of products. Pacific Sunwear, AKA PacSun, will be rolling out iPads in 300 of its stores, and plans to increase the distribution of the tablets to up to 600 more locations by next year. PacSun is using an application by developer Global Bay to assist customers in ordering items that are out of stock in the stores. Global Bay CEO Sandeep Bhanote mentioned that one retailer it helped has seen a 12 percent increase in average order transaction when customers receive service from associates carrying in-store Apple devices. For PacSun, the iPads are anticipated to let store associates close five more transactions a day -- and that's more than enough to cover the cost of the equipment and software. How about you, TUAW readers? Other than at Apple Store retail locations, have you started seeing a lot of Apple products at your favorite retailer? Let us know in the comments.
