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Engadget Daily: Haven's barricade-style smart lock, Nissan's electric pickup truck and more!
Need to catch up on the last 24 hours of tech news? Read on for our daily highlights, including Nissan's EV pickup truck, a heavy-duty smart lock that can withstand a battering ram, the deal with Apple's iOS 8 bugs and more.
Haven is a super-strong smart lock that bolts onto the floor
While there's certainly no shortage of connected door locks that allow keyless entry into your home, many products don't actually make the traditional deadbolt in your door any more secure. Luckily, there are some solutions that add to the security of existing locks by better reinforcing other parts of the door. Created by a former Army aviator in Iraq, Haven is a new type of smart door lock that is fixed to the floor and the doorframe, allowing you to gain entry using either your smartphone or a specialised key fob. Intruders can't pick locks or force their way in by targeting the deadlock (in fact you won't even need a set of keys) because Haven acts a powerful smart wedge that reinforces the strongest part of your door. It's so strong, it can take on a battering ram and come away victorious.
We made weed butter with a 'magical' machine
WARNING: This story contains references to the use of marijuana. Do not try this at home -- unless, of course, you're an adult living in a state or city where the use of such substances is legal or, you know, you like the way it feels.
Samsung's Smart Home tech is apparently enough to make KITT the robot car jealous
Samsung is seriously gunning for your potential smart home dollars - enough to draft in (and pay for) David Hasselhoff and his early-eighties partner, KITT. The car ain't happy. (And did he just say what I think he did?)
Elgato announces $50 Avea smart lightbulb and Eve smart home sensors
Apparently, the world needs another smart lightbulb, and Elgato's going to sell it to you. Called Avea, the $50 bulb connects to your iDevice directly using Bluetooth (no external hub needed), and lets you set the mood in any room with an appropriate shade of light. Just one iPhone (4S and up), 5th gen iPod Touch or iPad (3rd gen or newer) can control a whole house full of lights and give users multiple lighting scenes to choose from. Plus, there's an alarm feature that wakes you with the gentle gleam of a 7W LED bulb pumping out 430 lumens (which is just a bit brighter than its competitor from Lumen, and is roughly equivalent to a 40W incandescent bulb).
Samsung's 'Smart Home' dreams get bigger with $200 million SmartThings buy
Count Samsung in -- it's officially purchasing home automation startup SmartThings, a move that should help it keep up with the Joneses, aka Apple and Google. TechCrunch has sources confirming a $200 million pricetag, matching the amount it heard last month when rumors of the deal leaked out. In a blog post, SmartThings CEO Alex Hawkinson said the team would continue to be run independently, but that it's moving home base to Palo Alto, where Samsung has one of its Innovation Centers. He says Samsung is ready to get behind its vision of an open smart home platform that works for third party devs as well as different hardware manufacturers, and already has support from some 8,000 apps. SmartThings has gone from Kickstarter to playing with the big boys, now we'll see if its Hub device and wide-open strategy can get your doorknob, stove, drapes and lightbulb all on the same page.
Ninja Sphere promises to turn your house into a smart home for $329
Back in January, a smart home device called Ninja Sphere made over $650,000 on Kickstarter. Now, its creators (Ninjablocks) has started accepting its first pre-orders outside the crowdfunding website for $329 per unit. But, what can a Ninja Sphere do in the first place? Well, this gesture-controlled device can monitor temperature, lighting and even energy usage, but that's just one of the things it's capable of. Ninjablocks touts it as a veritable multi-tasker that sends alerts if you've left appliances running when you go out and let you turn them off using your phone. With the proper IFTT recipes in place, it also lets you switch on the heater or AC before you get home, or switch on the lights at a set time using a phone or even a smartwatch.
Engadget Daily: EA Access, upgrading your dumb home on a budget and more!
Today, we review LG's Heart Rate Monitor earphones, learn how to upgrade your dumb home on a budget, check out Apple's new Retina Macbook Pros and learn about a new Xbox game-streaming service called EA Access. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours.
How to make your dumb home smarter without spending a fortune
If you go all out connecting your house, you can end up spending as much upgrading a smart home as it costs to build a dumb one. But you don't need a ton of proprietary gear to pimp your crib with 21st-century tech. Your smartphone and tablet already serve to consolidate your digital life, and they can do the same with your lights, power outlets, air conditioning and nanny cam -- even your door locks and Crock-Pot can be app-controlled, if you so please. Join us below to explore affordable options for your entire home, all of which can be installed yourself.
Recommended Reading: 'Lucy's' bad science and space movie inaccuracies
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Lucy's Based on Bad Science, and 6 More Secrets About the Film by Angela Watercutter, Wired A quick Google search will reveal quite a few articles pointing out the inaccuracy of the main premise of Lucy. By ingesting drugs stuffed inside her belly by traffickers, a woman is able to access not just the 10 percent of her brain regular humans can supposedly access, but also the other 90 percent. That whole 10 percent figure is of course a myth, but that didn't stop Luc Besson from using it as the base for his fictional narrative. Besson uses his knack for creating great female leads with some out-of-order storytelling to make the whole thing a bit more believable, and Wired has a quick rundown before this weekend's debut.
Super cheap Smart Home kit brings automation to the masses
If you're wondering when home automation might tip into the Walmart-level mainstream, here's a sign: Archos' Smart Home starter kit is now on sale. Along with two cameras, two movement tags and two weather tags, they're throwing in a controlling tablet, all for $250 -- or $25 each for the cameras and sensors. Considering the tablet, that's even cheaper than SmartThings' low-end kit. Archos says it's the first to use the Bluetooth Smart tech in connected homes and engineered it to work at double the normal distance (65 instead of 32 feet) with up to 13 devices. That'll permit it to take a photo when a movement-tagged door is opened, for instance, using its scenario editor and the Tasker Android app. Archos also has controllable plug sockets, alarm sirens, motion-detectors and even a pet tracker planned for the future. The kit should hit its online shop soon, but fair warning -- Archos is known for low-priced, but not exactly high-end goods.
Apple's smart home plan rumored to be a boring certification program
When rumors of Apple's smart home efforts broke Monday, expectations for the future of home automation began to soar. According to sources speaking with Gigaom though, Cupertino's connected household project has more to do with fragmentation and the "Made for iPhone" label portion of the initial rumor. It seems that the focus of the program is to certify those smart devices that are scattered around residences rather than building automation controls into iOS or some such. The process is said to keep both WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity alongside voice control as key items for linking all those gadgets together, but as of now, a universal control system or a list of partnerships doesn't seem to be on tap for WWDC next week.
Homey gives your living room a voice
Too lazy to flick on a light switch? There's a Kickstarter campaign you should check out. Homey isn't the first crowdfunded home automation platform we've seen, but it is one of the most personable: the entire device is controlled by human speech. It's designed to ape the computers on Star Trek, explained creator Emile Nijssen, which interact with the users using an artificial intelligence. Homey isn't quite that advanced, but early demos show potential.
Apple may enter the smart home business
Forget those rumors of an Apple smartwatch for now -- home automation may be where it's at. The Financial Times hears from sources that the crew in Cupertino is going to unveil a smart home platform at its Worldwide Developer Conference kicking off next week. While there aren't many details, proximity will reportedly play a big role; your house lights would switch on as soon as you come home with your iPhone in your pocket. Apple would also have a Made For iPhone-style program to guarantee that devices work with its system, and it would put a strong emphasis on privacy to counter fears about both its ad-driven competition and government surveillance.
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.
Quirky and GE cook up a smarter, prettier air conditioner
Quirky is more than just bendy power strips these days -- recently, it's been pushing its vision of the connected home thanks to a multi-million dollar partnership with GE. So far their deal has yielded stuff like intelligent egg trays (seriously) and clocks, but they're unveiling something much cooler today: the Aros, an 8,000 BTU smart air conditioner. Yes, really.
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?
Home automation is the future and Archos knows it
Yes, this is another post about the internet of things blorg -- you know, that terrible buzz phrase for this new and actually exciting era of connected gadgets. Except this time, it's brought to you by Archos. The French outfit's branching out from its traditional portfolio of Android smartphones and tablets with a new Smart Home solution -- an ecosystem that's similar to Smart Things. The platform, which Archos announced just prior to the new year, incorporates a tablet-like gateway and various sensors that users can place in and around their homes for remote monitoring. Archos is gearing this whole system more toward convenience than security and its array of Bluetooth sensors proves this point. Smart Home revolves around Archos' gateway, a 7-inch tablet that gathers and manages a feed of all the data from its various Bluetooth sensors; sensors designed to monitor video, motion, weather and electricity. Though the initial $200 kit comes with just the gateway, one video camera and one motion sensor, users can go out and buy additional sensors piecemeal for anywhere from $14 - $50 (e.g., the weather sensor costs $30).
Samsung's new Smart Home service outlined, wants to connect to third-party services and products
We heard whispers that Samsung was planning big for CES, and we're not just talking TV panels. It's now revealed Smart Home, which attempts to tie together Smart TVs, home appliances and handheld smart devices into one single platform. Perhaps more importantly, the company says it's going to collaborate with third-party partners to extend the platform to products and services beyond only those with Samsung branding. At the middle of it all, there will be a single app that (as the picture above suggests) will get its hooks into all your wearables, phones and white goods with a cloud-based server keeping your data moving. Device Control will let users adjust lighting and temperature management through your smartphone. Meanwhile, Smart Home will also included embedded voice commands: if you say "going out" into your Galaxy Gear, then the system will automatically turn off your smart lighting and "selected appliances", so presumably not your fridge. The, once out, Home View will let you tap into devices with cameras inside your house, offering up some not-so-covert video streams to your Galaxy phone. Alongside the new system, the company announced a new software protocol too, hoping to forge a new ecosystem -- with Samsung in the middle of it all. Expect to hear more later this week.
Nest reportedly working on smart smoke detector dubbed Protect
Now that Nest has rolled out its second-gen smart thermostat, it looks like it's gearing up to reveal its next project: an intelligent smoke detector dubbed Protect. Jessica Lessin, formerly of the Wall Street Journal, first broke word of the device and now AllThingsD is chiming in to confirm its existence. Specifics are slim, but it's said Protect will connect to the outfit's existing A/C hardware (presumably over Bluetooth), lending it long battery life since it won't need a WiFi chip. Lessin notes that a subscription-based monitoring service and the ability to sense carbon monoxide have been considered, but ATD's sources say the contraption won't be tied to a monthly fee. An official unveiling is expected to occur soon, and retail availability could come by year's end. Now that intelligent smoke detectors appear poised to head into homes soon, we can only hope they're as charming as Gilbert Gottfried. [Image credit: Katy Warner, Flickr]
