The 21st century has brought us some incredible pieces of technology. From smartphones to smart TVs, our lives are filled to the brim with gear and gadgets that make our lives easier, more efficient and often more enjoyable. Of course, there is a price to pay for the new world we live in. Are you concerned about smart devices spying on you? Read more
You don’t often find “Walmart” and “cool” written in the same sentence, however, this time around Walmart has done something really cool. They’ve teamed up with smart home lock system August to disrupt the home delivery industry.
Amazon already tried it a while back by announcing Amazon Prime Air – a 30 minute delivery service using drones. Although they launched a trial here in the UK, the concept may take a few years to be introduced widely. It’s more of a “pie in the sky” idea, no pun intended. Mainly due to the potential of abuse such drone delivery service is open to. Read more
Today, smart home is already an industry of a considerable size and it is on a brink of a major expansion. We’ve tried to incorporate the most important smart home facts in an infographic, and here’s what we came up with. A couple of years ago the cumulative revenue of home automation products and services reached $20 billion per annum. It’s set to hit $59 billion by 2020, however, as it is with everything, we can only judge the true amount of something through comparison. Read more
Currently, one of the main limitations of developing gadgets and sensors for smart home is the fact that they’re hungry for energy and are completely reliant on an external energy source. This explains why all sensors available to the retail market today are so big and clunky. Read more
It’s no secret to any budding smart home enthusiast that a successful home automation system is fully dependant upon good quality sensors. Without being able to detect the amount of light, temperature or motion, it’s impossible to create devices that would provide sufficient response to external factors. Read more
We’ve been watching LG’s journey within the IoT technology advancements for a while. They have already confirmed they would offer a range of Google Home compatible devices including fridges, ovens, air quality management devices, washing machines and even robotic hoovers. However, it seems they have much more than that up their sleeve. Read more
If you look at the advertising efforts of the big brands of smart thermostats, you will have noticed that the main USP of their smart gadgets is that they help you save energy. Yet the question is, do we really know how average people are using their smart thermostats and does the industry use this data to improve the future editions of thermostats and to model energy use with an aim of reducing the consumption even further? Read more
At the beginning, Google Home – the smart speaker – was just a gimmicky gadget that could give you (not so) clever answers to questions like “what’s the weather today”. However, it is trying to be much more than that. The device has a potential of becoming a smart home hub – a central gadget that will integrate with other IoT devices and become the heart of your smart home.
As it stands, the things are going the right direction. Google is opening up its system to new partners; and tech startups have begun building their smart devices with cross-system integration in mind. Read more
Recent announcements made by LG and Geeni technology firms offer encouragement for consumers who think that the current range of smart home appliances is limited to smart thermostats and CCTV cameras. Read more
Although it takes time for the Internet of Things (IoT) to establish itself in our homes beyond the conventional smart thermostats and multi-coloured LED lamps, constant developments in the smart home sector mean that new and exciting gadgets keep popping up from time to time. What’s more important that high adoption rate means the prices of these smart gadgets are relatively reasonable. Read more