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LG will release new AI products under the 'ThinQ' brand
LG is getting serious with artificial intelligence and will launch products and services that use AI under a new sub-brand called "ThinQ" starting in 2018. All its upcoming TVs, fridges, even electronic devices and services under the new brand will have features developed with deep learning techniques and will be able to communicate with one another. LG says you can expect its new offerings to use its own AI tech, DeepThinQ, as well as its partners', but it didn't elaborate further or listed possible features.
Google Assistant is coming to more speakers and appliances
Last May, Google opened up its AI Assistant's software development kit to the wider world of third-party smart devices, including blenders, smart locks and web cameras. At the IFA in Berlin, Google has just announced that even more gadgets will be able to integrate Google Assistant. You'll soon see the digital helper in more speakers, various appliances and home automation systems.
The UK wants smart homes to become one with the energy grid
The UK government imagines a near future where smart home devices and appliances can help balance the scales of energy supply and demand, as well as save consumers and businesses money. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has worked with regulator Ofgem and the industry on the "smart systems and flexibility plan," which sets out ways in which we can make smarter, more efficient use of the grid and new technologies. Connected appliances could play an important part. You might want to set your smart washing machine to run when electricity is particularly cheap, for example, or even cede control of your smart fridge to an external force that turns it off for ten minutes when demand is high and the grid is stressed.
Sears will sell appliances on Amazon as its retail stores dwindle
Sears announced today that its Kenmore branded products will now be sold on Amazon, meaning it's now joining forces with the company that contributed to its downfall. It's no secret that Sears has been struggling -- the company has lost around $10 billion in the last few years and has closed over 200 Sears and Kmart stores this fiscal year. In 2016, Sears said it would explore other outlets for its brands, including Kenmore, and today's announcement appears to be a result of that venture.
Google Assistant helps with chores on LG appliances
Google Home's voice platform will soon be supported by some LG smart appliances. Today, as part of the company's I/O 2017 developers conference, LG revealed that its Signature-branded washing machines, dryers, fridges, ovens and air purifiers are getting a Google Assistant update later this month in the US. This means you'll be able to use voice commands to do things like tell your fridge to make more ice, or get real-time air quality updates from your air purifier. LG says these kind of features are also coming to its connected air conditioners and robotic vacuums, such as the Hom-Bot Turbo+, adding that the goal is to make even more appliances compatible with Google Assistant down the road.
Whirlpool brings Alexa to its next generation of appliances
Alexa can already order a pizza and fire up your TV as you lazily bark commands at it, but appliances giant Whirlpool is about to put Amazon's personal assistant to work with some extra chores around the house. The two companies announced they've teamed up to connect Alexa with Whirlpool's next line of smart home appliances. The future where you can ask your fridge to set the temperature in the veggie drawer has finally arrived.
LG's SMS-activated smart appliances are ready to wsh ur shrts
If you're rich and lonely, LG is now rolling out the SMS-controlled smart appliances it previewed earlier this year. You can send commands "much like chatting with a friend" to the Smart Refrigerator, Washing Machine and Lightwave Oven using the LINE messaging app and LG's WiFi-based HomeChat system. For example, text "what are you doing?" to the washing machine, and you'll get a real-time response on its progress (hopefully not "I'm flooding the basement"). The Smart Oven will provide recipe recommendations and set the temperature and cooking time for your chosen dish. Finally, the Smart Refrigerator's built-in wide-angle camera will track your food habits and generate shopping lists automatically, to name a few examples. They're now available in Korea, but will also arrive to the US and elsewhere soon. LG hasn't listed prices yet, but if you've never shopped for smart appliances before, brace yourself.
The Internet of Things isn't safe: thousands of smart gadgets hacked to send spam and phishing emails
Smart things are the future, or at least that's how it appeared to those of us who attended CES 2014. And, while we're excited about home automation and smart appliances, it turns out that those companies building the bits and pieces of the Internet of Things (IoT) need to beef up security. Proofpoint -- a security service vendor that routinely researches large-scale spam and phishing campaigns -- discovered that during the two-week period before CES, a global hacking campaign successfully targeted and manipulated more than 100,000 consumer gadgets, including smart appliances, routers and other devices, into sending out more than 750,000 malicious emails. Apparently, the attacks began on December 23rd and, while roughly three quarters of the emails were sent by traditional computers and mobile devices, more than 25 percent were doled out by gadgets from the IoT.
CES 2014: Household roundup
Alongside the TVs and tablets, CES is also home to the future of... homes. LG had smarter washing machines and robot vacuums that you can turn on by texting with everyday language, while Samsung introduced an entirely new ecosystem: one it's inviting third-party hardware companies to join. Qualcomm had a similar proposition with AllJoyn: Some companies are looking to dominate smart homes. This tech will come to your house. In Vegas, however, it's often the smaller companies that pique our interest. Don't we all want an appliance to automatically marinate our meat?
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.
LG is building a washing machine that doesn't use water
Still not charmed by LG's robo-vacuum? Well, the Korean electronics manufacturer has plenty more appliances up its capacious sleeves, including a washing machine that won't require water. Alas, Senior Vice President for LG Electronics Home Appliance Division, Kevin Cha, wasn't willing to divulge to us exactly how this laundry magic trick will be performed, or whether it'll be totally waterless rather than just virtually waterless -- it's still in the early stages of development and is (for now) a trade secret. What we do know is that another LG model, the Styler that was unveiled at CES this year, can already 'freshen' clothes without detergent or water. This, too, is also going to pick up a feature upgrade, with the company set to add some kind of ironing functionality to the upright clothes cabinet soon. LG is also looking at an ecological re-imagining of the refrigerator, with a prototype that can keep itself cool for six hours without any power assistance. In general, LG says it's focusing on next-generation smart appliances in a big way next year. Hopefully, those plans will include some of the interesting patents we've picked up recently -- and wine.
Jawbone Up extends social feed with Facebook Open Graph integration for iOS
There's no better motivation than public humiliation, err, community support. Which is why Jawbone's extending its Up band's social circle to encompass the likes of Facebook. Previously, Up users could only share their dietary, exercise and sleep habits with other registered users, but now that feed will also extend to a user's Facebook Timeline. The company's also ushered in a few tweaks for its Sleep alarm, now offering the ability to set specific wakeup alerts or configure Smart Sleep timers for 30, 20 and 10 minute windows. The update's live in the App Store today. So, if you've been dying to share your physically fit and / or gluttonous ways with a much larger audience, well, now's your time to shine.
LG announces infrared-equipped Optimus Vu II and universal remote app
LG just outed the Optimus Vu II for the Korean market, designed around a remote control app, QRemote. The company's translated PR claims (erroneously) that the new device will be "the world's first smartphone using infrared," letting it operate gear like set-top boxes and home appliances, including other companies' products. The device is scheduled to launch next month in the maker's home country, around the time the Tegra 3-powered Optimus Vu will go on sale in the US as Verizon's LG Intuition. The company hasn't released any technical details for the phone -- in fact, other than the remote functions, we don't even know if there are any changes from the current pen-capable model. In any case, it might give pause to another Korean maker about to announce an awfully similar product.
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.
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.
Broadcom's got a WICED game it plays, to make smart devices feel this way
Broadcom wants you to fall in love with its BCM 4319 WICED (Wireless Internet Connectivity for Embedded Devices) platform -- a weeny 802.11 a/b/g /n WiFI module that can be added to any device that uses a microcontroller. Jimmy one into your fridge, digital camera or aircon and it'll find its own way to the cloud. With instant networking for kit like this, doctors could monitor patients vital signs, your holiday snaps could find their own way online and, most importantly of all, you can make sure the kids aren't fiddling with the darn thermostat again.
Control4, Sub-Zero get in on the home automation game
While brands like LG, Samsung, and Kenmore all showed off their own special brand of Jetsonian appliances at CES this year, Sub-Zero was close by touting a stable of 30 automation-ready products and a partnership with Control4 that could make them a contender for home automation domination. Sub-Zero's ZigBee-based system uses preexisting serial ports (initially installed for diagnostic purposes) to connect users to appliances via touchscreens, smart phones, and other enabled devices. The system lacks full control of potentially dangerous appliances like the oven, instead acting as an alert system when, say, your turkey is done roasting, but it does grant complete access to things like your refrigerator or freezer. Other systems might sport increased functionality, like LG's Thinq, which allows users to set oven temperatures remotely, and Samsung's fridge, which lets you tweet from a built-in touchscreen, but Sub-Zero is hoping a second-quarter release will put them at the head of the pack. We'll see if a head start makes a difference in the glacial appliance market, when Samsung rolls out its smart refrigerator this May and Kenmore's system comes to fruition in 2012.
Samsung WiFi-enabled RF4289 fridge cools, eats and tweets; we go hands-on
Other brands may view networked fridges as the key to going green, but it seems Samsung is more interested in letting users access Pandora or tweet while grabbing a snack. At least that's the impression we got from its staff while playing with the RF4289 fridge at CES, which the brand touts is the first of its kind to feature integrated WiFi. To be fair the unit provides a few pragmatic features too like the ability to view Google calendars, check the weather, download recipes from Epicurious, or leave digital notes -- though we'd have been more impressed by functions such as remote temperature adjustment or food spoilage alerts. We also found that the stainless steel exterior made reading the 8-inch LCD touchscreen screen difficult from more than a few feet away. Otherwise, further details on the software and definite pricing are nonexistent at this point, but we do know the appliance will be available to cutting-edge Canadians sometime in May. For more details check out shots of the UI in the gallery below, and hit up Samsung's vague press release after the break. %Gallery-113980%
Kenmore shows off smartphone / tablet-connected appliances at CES (hands-on)
We've already seen some smartphone-connected appliances in LG's Thinq lineup, and it looks like Kenmore is now getting ready to join it in a big way with some fairly impressive "enhanced" appliances of its own -- which we managed to get an early look at here at CES. Those will include things like washers, dryers, stoves and refrigerators, all of which will be able to be controlled via a "smartphone or smart tablet" (Apple and Android devices were specifically mentioned as getting a free app), or via a large touchscreen on the device itself (not removable as a tablet, unfortunately). What's more, the appliances all boast Kenmore Connect, which allows for remote diagnostics that can be used to prepare technicians for in-home repairs, and they pack an array of energy management features that will let you conserve energy and keep watch on how much you're using. Unfortunately, you'll still have a bit of a wait before you can actually buy one -- Kenmore says they'll start rolling out in 2012. Hit up the gallery below for a closer look. %Gallery-113454%
