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Tile brings video and voice to its trackers with help from Comcast
Tile's Bluetooth trackers help people keep tabs on their keys, wallets and other items they don't want to lose, and today the company is making it a little easier for some to keep track of their important objects. Tile is teaming up with Comcast so that Xfinity customers with an X1 Voice Remote can simply ask where their item is. All they'll have to do is say something like, "Xfinity Home, find my wallet," or, "Xfinity Home, where are my keys?" And the last known location of the Tile associated with that object will be displayed on their TV screen.
Xfinity's Gigabit router will soon double as a smart home hub
Comcast's Xfinity division has made some forays into the smart home world already: Xfinity Home started out as a home security product, but it now handles a number of common devices like locks, thermostats, lightbulbs and so on. However, the millions of people who subscribe just to Xfinity Internet haven't been able to take advantage of these features; you need to also have an Xfinity Home subscription. That's going to change this year: Comcast just announced that millions of its internet customers will be able to use their Xfinity Gateway routers as smart home automation hubs, free of charge.
Comcast's smart home app controls your Philips Hue lights
Comcast's Xfinity Home app can steer many of the devices in your household, but there's been a conspicuous omission: Philips' Hue lights. Why spring for Comcast's hybrid automation/security service when it can't handle commonplace smart bulbs? That changes today. Comcast and Philips have formed a partnership that brings Hue support to the Xfinity Home app. On top of direct control, you can create automated rules that link your bulbs to your security system and any other smart home devices. Your lights can switch on when you disarm your security after work, for instance.
Comcast home security exploit could let burglars in (updated)
Comcast's Xfinity Home system is supposed to keep your whole house secure, but a recently published vulnerability could leave things wide open. Researchers at Rapid7 report that you can use a quirk in the 2.4GHz wireless frequency to break communications with security sensors, forcing them to fail open and take a long time (several minutes to 3 hours) to reconnect. As the system doesn't even recognize the lost connection, that gives intruders free rein -- you might not know that anything's wrong until it's too late.
Comcast's home automation app links with Nest, Lutron and more
Earlier this year Comcast said its Xfinity Home service would start connecting to more automation gadgets you probably already own, and now it does. Right now, its app (iOS, Android) connects to Nest thermostats, August Smart Locks, Chamberlain MyQ garage controllers, and Lutron's Caseta light controls. The plan is to eventually make all of these services controllable via the new X1 set-top boxes and voice remote controls (now available in Spanish), but that's not ready yet. Comcast is also bringing an SDK that should make it easier for other home automation platforms to build links to their own setups -- with Comcast's approval, of course. Is a cable set-top box really the right place to put the brains of your smart home? With the TV business rapidly becoming just another part of the internet, Comcast sure hopes so.
Comcast's Xfinity Home works with automation tech you already own
Comcast's Xfinity Home has been automating living spaces for a while, but now the company is opening up the cloud-based system to more gadgets. Starting this summer, customers can add devices from August, Automatic, Cuff, Leeo, Lutron, Rachio, SkyBell and Whistle to the kit that already wrangles motion sensors, connected outlets, cameras and more. We're talking about things like August's smart locks, Automatic's car tracker and Cuff's smart jewelery. What's more, Comcast is teaming up with Nest as part of the Works with Nest effort to bring that smart thermostat into the fold, too. In addition to those new partners, Comcast will open up an SDK later this year alongside a Works with Xfinity Home certification program to make sure approved devices can be used with minimal headaches.
