Hiya!
Hope all is good; feels kinda ‘Summerish’ here in Ireland this morning, yep we got some sunshine in this part of the world finally ☀️☀️As always I have some interesting snippets of smart home news for the week:
New Google Smart Home Web-site 🔖
Here is another interesting snippit that emanated from Google’s recent I/O event – Google launches a site for consumers. The main aim of the new site is to showcase the various devices that work with its suite of Nest products. Certainly a helpful tool that will help people navigate the new Matter smart home product lines as they emerge.
Roku Smart Homes 📺
American based manufacturer of the famous Roku digital set-top box has some smart home aspirations. According to an article over at protocol, the company has published a series of job listings looking for smart home professionals. One of the cool jobs on offer is titled Director of Product Management, Home Technologies. Looking forward to seeing what Roku comes up with over the coming months.
This Weeks Blog Post
Ever since Apple launched Siri for the iPhone, more voice assistants have been unveiled. Amazon has given us Alexa for its smart hubs while Google has followed suit with Google Assistant. Microsoft and Samsung also have their own versions with Cortana and Bixby, respectively.. There is no denying that people with disabilities have been the biggest beneficiaries of digital voice assistants.
>> Read the complete article on the blog
This Week’s Words of Wisdom 😊
Fuschia and the Smart Home 🏠
No this is not the ‘Fuchsia’ that grows well in my native West Cork, this Fuschia is a new Google operating system. Although not overly relevant to end users at the moment; it is worth noting that this new OS is to power first-generation Nest hubs. According to the article over at 9to5 Google, the new OS won’t change any existing functionality and homeowners will not see any difference. But from a purely technology perspective; the move to using its own OS inside its smart home products is an interesting move.
A New Outdoor Smart Plug
Outdoor plugs seem to be getting popular at the moment. Hot on the heals of Lutron’s announcement of an outdoor plug in recent times, Ring has released its own model this week. According to the article over in CNN, the unit has two US style outlets and
Weekly Smart Home Voice Command! 🎤
OK, Google, brew coffee at 8 a.m
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– Gerard