The central hub of your connected smart home could soon be the Apple TV, as Apple’s latest beta software officially brings HomeKit support to its set-top box originally devised for streaming iTunes media. The beta reportedly includes support for Apple TV as a remote access peer, which would allow the user to automatically sync information from connected home devices to the TV accessory. With this update, Apple is one step closer to building a future internet of “iThings”.
Tag: IoT
Two Things That Windows 10 Learned From Apple
Microsoft has unveiled Windows 10, the next update of its operating system, oddly skipping Windows 9. Touted as the most comprehensive platform ever, Windows 10 aims to combine the familiarity of Windows 7 with the functionality of Windows 8. Looking closely, it seems Microsoft has learned a thing or two from Apple’s iOS.
Cross-platform continuum: While Apple added continuity feature in iOS 8 and OS Yosemite, helping users toggle between iDevices seamlessly with automatic sync-up, Windows 10 has taken it one step further, providing a unified user experience across platforms and devices ranging from the Internet of Things to servers.
Task View: Designed to help users navigate Windows’ multitasking feature (and looking suspiciously like the Expose Mode of Apple’s OS X), Task View allows users to set up different desktops for various usage scenarios and switch applications between them with ease.
Windows 10 is set to be released later next year.
How Connected Cars Are Giving Auto Lenders More Control
“Connected cars” can benefit car owners in a lot of ways, but in fact, connection can be a double-edged sword. As reported in the New York Times, many subprime borrowers must have their car outfitted with a so-called starter interrupt device. By simply clicking a mouse or tapping a smartphone, lenders can remotely disable the ignition and retain the ultimate control. Moreover, by using the GPS technology on the devices, the lenders can also track the cars’ location and movements. This has led to the subprime boom in car loans, as it offer the lenders more control over their vehicles. It will be interesting to see if such a trend will spread to other businesses dealing with connected devices.
Wink Aims To Unite Smart Home Appliances
With plenty of connected home appliance currently on the market, competing IoT connectivity standards hurt their further popularization. Wink is a small New York startup with products—a hub box, a mountable control center, and a corresponding app—that aim to fix the fragmented home automation and tie together devices across competing standards: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee. It is not the first company to attempt doing so, but what makes Wink stand out is the wide array of big-name partnerships that includes Honeywell, GE, and Philips.
UPS To Offer 3D-Printing Service Nationwide
Following the success of its 3D-printing pilot program that launched in 6 locations last year, UPS is now expanding 3D-printing service to 100 stores nationwide. With the 3D Printing Industry enjoying a healthy 21% growth last year, it makes sense for UPS to expand their partnership with Stratasys to further capitalize on the growing market, meeting the demands of small businesses and DIY enthusiasts across the States.
How Reflected Wi-Fi Could Help Wearables With Battery Life
Forget NFC and beacon technology. Future wearables could communicate via reflected Wi-Fi, according to researchers at UCLA. A team from Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the university has been developing a technology called ambient backscatter that allows small devices, like wearables, to communicate with Wi-Fi routers by reflecting the signals they send out. This new transmission protocol would cut down transfer rates, which means a longer battery life. Whether the technology is mature enough to be adopted by the industry remain to be tested.
Tech Wreck: Do You Need A Hug?
Every now and then, some innovator in the tech scene will come up with an idea that makes everyone wonder if technology has gone too far. This week, it’s The Hug, the dumbest smart-thing we have seen this month.
Created by Finnish start-up Caktus Inc. and currently on Kickstarter, The Hug is a two-part connected device that helps users stay properly hydrated. It includes a sensor band that wraps around your water bottle to track your liquid consumption, and an accompanying iOS app that sends you notifications when your hydration levels are low.
Noble as their efforts are, the geniuses behind The Hug forgot two simple facts in their pursuit of the Water Bottle 2.0. First and foremost, water intake is such a basic physiological need that everyone can recognize thirst without constant external nudges. Even worse, The Hug is simply too impractical to use: normal people typically use different vessels as their locations change throughout the day. Even though The Hug claims to fit “most existing bottles”, it’d still be a major hassle to carry a sensor around every day, put it on every time you decide to drink, and wait for the app to sync up and recalibrate, all before you could just lift up that cup and hydrate your body.
The Hug is just one of the many well-intentioned ideas that got carried away in the tide of Internet of Things. The health-related “value” it supposedly offers is disproportional to the effort it requires, which ultimately renders this product useless. At the end of the day, we all need to calm down, and ask ourselves: do we really need The Hug, or do we just need a hug?
Update: Their Kickstart campaign has failed. Hope everyone there is getting a hug.
This Glowing Sensor Can Track And Enhance Your Sleep
There have been several sleep-enhancing trackers and apps on the market, but few have been this sleek and unobtrusive. Invented by 22 year-old James Proud and currently on Kickstarter, Sense is an elegantly designed orb-shaped sensor that sits on your nightstand and monitors every environmental factor—temperature, light, sound, humidity, and even particles in the air—in your bedroom. It also comes with a clip-on motion sensor that you can attach to your pillowcase to track your sleep pattern throughout the night. All data gathered will be synced via Bluetooth to a corresponding app to give a detailed analysis about your slumber. As with many projects on Kickstarter, this idea looks great, but the execution could be off. Nevertheless, this connected device points to an inevitable future home life powered by the internet of things.
Update: Within 12 hours of its launch on Kickstarter, the Sense has crushed its original 100,000 goal with a near-doubled amount pledged.
Update #2: The campaign concluded with over $2,400,000 raised, almost 25 times of its original pledge goal.
Vessyl Smart Cup Recognizes Liquids In It
Although our Internet of Things week already happened, this new IoT offering is one of the more advanced on the market to date. Called Vessyl, this smart cup knows what liquid is in it – as well as its contents: want to know how many calories are in the beer you’re drinking, or how much caffeine is in your coffee? Vessyl knows, and it can recognize over one thousand different drinks. It’s available for pre-order now, for $99.
Edyn Will Make Your Garden Smart
Last week’s Internet of Things week tackled the Connected Home and the Connected Car, but what about the Connected Garden? Edyn is trying to make that a reality with a garden device that tracks everything from light and temperature to moisture to help you know when to plant, how often to water and more. Given the focus on sustainability, Edyn could offer brands some value on the platform with eco rewards, recommendations or even providing content that would bring a more human element to the automated notifications.
At the end of the day, all these devices bring the same promise of removing intuition to help you make data-driven decisions and change behavior. Is the world ready for the connected garden or is this high tech gadget incongruous with the natural gardener?
