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Yes, someone made a smart clothes peg
It seems nothing is safe from the Internet of Things revolution. The latest attempt to make a household object smarter is Peggy, a connected clothes peg by Australian detergent brand OMO. A few basic components sit inside its orange shell, including a thermometer, UV sensor and humidity detector. These track the weather outside and, in the case of impending rain, trigger timely alerts to your phone over WiFi. So if the clouds roll in and you're busy with something else -- maybe you're out of the house, but someone else is indoors -- you won't be left with soggy washing.
Nest has 'case-by-case' help for abandoned Revolv owners
Next month Nest shutting is down its service that powers Revolv smart home hubs, and now the Google-owned company says it's trying to help owners of the devices. Nest bought Revolv back in 2014 but no longer sells the hardware, and yesterday word came of the impending shutdown. Today Nest Support tweeted that it's "here to help," encouraging Revolv users to email support for help.
Nest kills integration with Revolv's smart devices
Google-owned Nest has announced that it will shut down all support for the Revolv smart home hub in May and many customers are up in arms over the news. That's because, come middle of next month, Revolv's $300 smart hubs will stop functioning completely. It's not just that their API will no longer operate, the physical devices themselves will brick, according to a report from Business Insider.
Engadget UK giveaway: win a smart heating system courtesy of Heat Genius
Of all the ways to educate your boiler, Heat Genius offers some of the most comprehensive smart heating systems around. From remote temperature and hot water control to radiator and underfloor heating zones, the options go far beyond the simple connected thermostat. And this week, it's thanks to Heat Genius we're giving away a complete smart heating system, including boiler controller, up to four radiator and four underfloor controllers, a hub to get the whole system online and, of course, installation. That's over £1000 of smart heating kit, depending on your configuration at home, so whether you're more interested in seeing out this winter or preparing for the next, you can enter our giveaway up to three times via the widget below. Give the rules a quick scan first, though, if you would. Winning: Congrats to Andy S. from Liphook, Hampshire.
Nest devices get better at knowing when you're home
If you're a Nest owner, you've probably experienced the company's thermostat flipping itself to Away mode while you were still home. Most likely, that's because someone didn't walk past the motion sensor on the tech in a timely fashion. Thankfully, Nest announced two new features that will improve the the gadgets' ability to tell when someone's home. First, there's a new Home/Away Assist that uses your phone's location in addition to the motion sensors and software algorithms inside the household gear.
Privacy concerns kept Nest from making an Echo-like assistant (updated)
With the announcement of two new Echo speakers, Amazon also revealed that those voice-controlled devices (and the Fire TV) now play nice with Nest thermostats. According to Recode, the Google-owned connected home company thought about making an Echo-like of its own, but scrapped the idea due to concerns over privacy. Nest thought that consumers wouldn't think too highly of a device with a virtual assistant that was tied directly to Google. Of course, there's no telling how far along those plans were. What's more, the company's CEO Tony Fadell addressed privacy concerns when Mountain View bought Nest, explaining that the smart home outfit would remain a separate entity.
Elgato's Eve Thermo lets you control your radiators with Siri
Elgato is best known, in some circles at least, for its niche video products. In recent history, however, it's somewhat reinvented itself as a maker of smart home devices. The company's Eve range already includes smart plugs, door/window sensors and home/weather monitors, and today it's being joined by the Eve Thermo. This new device is easily installed on standard radiator valves, retrofitting them for remote, smartphone control. Like the rest of the Eve line-up, Thermo is compatible with Apple's HomeKit smart home platform, meaning you can politely ask Siri to kick the temperature up a notch when you're feeling a bit chilly.
Sony's smart light turns on the TV when you enter a room
Sony is launching a connected light that performs a surprising number of chores. The "Multifunctional Light," developed using Toshiba's LED lighting tech, can (of course) output a full spectrum of light to match your mood. When it's connected to your smartphone or other WiFi device, you can also activate it remotely or set it up on a scheduled timer, like most other smart bulbs. That's just scratching the surface of this product, though. It also has built-in motion, luminance, temperature and humidity sensors, along with a memory card slot, infrared controller, speaker and microphone. For a light fixture, that lets it do a ridiculous amount of stuff.
Philips won't block third-party Hue bulbs after all
Well, that was fast. After announcing that it would drop support for third-party Hue bulbs, Philips is reversing its decision. The company initially nixed support for bulbs that weren't certified by its Friend of Hue program that ensures products from other brands don't cause any issues with the lighting setups. However, Philips says that it "underestimated the impact" on customers and a second software update is on the way to reverse this week's action. It also reminded users that using third-party bulbs may lead to the same incompatibility issues as before, such as not dimming properly or creating the correct colors.[Image credit: Jasper Juinen/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
Smart sprinklers only water your lawn when it's thirsty
Putting your sprinklers on a timer system is probably the best way to avoid under-watering your plants -- but the "set and forget" mentality isn't the most economical. What if it rains during the week and you forget to turn the timer off? Now you're wasting water and drowning your lawn. A company called ETwater thinks it has a better automatic solution: a smart sprinkler that only waters your lawn when it actually needs it.
Nest's latest thermostat comes to the UK with hot water controls
A month after its US launch, Nest's third-generation thermostat has arrived in Britain. The hardware might look familiar, but it has a few extra tricks that separate it from previous versions and even its counterpart across the pond. For starters, Nest has given the circular design a nice little spec bump; compared to its predecessor, the thermostat has a larger (2.08 inches), brighter and pixel-dense (229ppi) display, making it easier to scroll through the interface with sleep-deprived eyes. The device's entire body is also slightly thinner, meaning it should look just a smidge more attractive in a hallway or living room.
The coming smart-thing apocalypse
Bad Password is a hacking and security column by Violet Blue. Every week she'll be exploring the trendy new cyberhysteria, the state of the infosec community and the ever-eroding thing that used to be called "privacy." Bad Password cuts through the greed, fearmongering and jargon with expertise, a friendly voice and a little levelheaded perspective. Like some people I know familiar with the ins and outs of digital surveillance (and startle like housecats when an app makes a geolocation request) I don't own any "smart" home items. My 1913 flat is well-connected to the internet, and my living room is a hacker's honeycomb hideout of entertainment playthings, but I'm far too pleased with my paranoia to own something from the class of spyware and advertising honeypottery known as the Internet of Things.
Yves Behar on designing beautiful, functional products
Engadget caught up with world-renowned product designer and co-founder of August, a leader in home security products, Yves Behar at Wednesday's Smart Lock event. I picked his brain about his ever-evolving creative process, how consumer tastes have influenced it and how to build a smart home device that stands out from the crowd.
Nucleus wants to take the friction out of video calling
Video calling is a great example of a technology that once felt highly futuristic but is now available on nearly every computer and smartphone out there. FaceTime, Hangouts, Skype -- there are plenty of options, and they all work pretty well, and work in pretty much the same way. A new company called Nucleus thinks that there's still a lot of room for improvement in video calls, particularly in terms of connecting people instantly. That's the goal of its new product (also called Nucleus): it's a tablet you can mount on your wall or place on a counter that lets you connect with other users in less than a second.
Google's secret strategy for controlling your home
Yesterday in San Francisco, Google launched a pair of new smartphones, some AV devices and a Surface-like tablet. But future events could just as easily devote a large portion of their running time to the Internet of Things and smart home devices. Tilt your head by 90 degrees and you can almost spot Google's subtle strategy to become the dominant name in your home -- after all, as the phone market begins to play itself out, it's only natural that the firm would move onto the next big thing. After years of lingering on the periphery of the industry, perhaps souped-up lightbulbs and thermostats are ready for their day in the sun.
Kwikset's latest smart lock lowers the price by ditching the frills
Kwikset is no stranger to connected locks, but the $219 price for its Kevo lock might put you off if you're used to securing your door with cheaper conventional locks. That might not be a stumbling block for much longer, though: the company has trotted out a Traditional Signature Series Deadbolt lock with an easier-to-swallow $150 price tag. It'll still talk to any Z-Wave home automation network that supports locks (such as a Wink hub), giving you a way to remotely unlock the door or get alerts. The cost-cutting mostly comes through the absence of extras you might not need, like a gateway device or a keypad. This won't be the cheapest lock if you're starting fresh, in other words. However, it'll definitely make more sense if you're already living in a smart home and just want the entryway to match.
Quirky will sell its Wink smart home tech after going bankrupt
Quirky hinted that things weren't going so well when it stopped building its namesake oddball gadgets, and it's now extra-clear that the company has hit a rough patch. It's filing for bankruptcy in a bid to get its house back in order, and the restructuring effort will include selling off Wink, the firm behind its relatively popular smart home platform. The contract manufacturing outfit Flextronics is making a "stalking horse" offer for Wink to set a baseline price, but the hope is that another company will pony up a greater amount. So how does this affect you, then?
Samsung's next-gen SmartThings home hub goes on sale
The next generation of SmartThings hardware is now available after a lengthy delay. Samsung purchased the home automation company just over a year ago, but was optimistic when it said the next-gen hardware would arrive in April. The hub, sensors and app (available on iOS and Android) are now good to go, however, along with developer tools to get other companies on board. The new hub improves on the last version in a couple of key ways. It no longer needs an internet cloud connection to function, and can run autonomously for 10 hours on a battery if the power is cut.
Researchers find major security flaw with ZigBee smart home devices
Manufacturers of smart home devices using the ZigBee standard are aiming for convenience at the expense of security, according to researchers from the Austrian security firm Cognosec. By making it easier to have smart home devices talk to each other, many companies also open up a major vulnerability with ZigBeee that could allow hackers to control your smart devices. And that could be a problem if you rely on things like smart locks or a connected alarm system for home security. Specifically, Cognosec found that ZigBee's reliance on an insecure key link with smart devices opens the door for hackers to spoof those devices and potentially gain control of your connected home.
Amazon's Echo speaker can control your Wink-powered smart home
If you've filled up your home with Wink-based lighting and similar smart appliances, you're about to get an easy (and official) way to manage it all with your voice. As of now, you can tell Amazon's Echo speaker to control Wink devices -- so long as they're paired, you only have to ask Alexa to "turn on the light" or "turn off the fan." Range limits will likely prevent you from using Echo's new trick around the whole house (you won't be putting on backyard light shows, for example), but this could still save you some hassles when you just want to relax after a hard day.
