Hiya,
Hope all is good, wherever you are in the world, all well here, the weather has been miserable all week, however, did get delivery of our new Tesla this week! and looking forward to learning how the new toy will integrate with our various smart home devices!
So back to business, here are this week’s noteworthy stories:
HomeKit and IKEA
I can’t remember the exact date but do recall the endorsement of the smart home space when the world-famous IKEA announced they were releasing a line of smart home gear to the world. Since then, IKEA has made steady progress in improving, curating, and marketing its ever-expanding collection of smart home products. And in recent times the company told the world that they were ‘homekitifying’ two smart devices, namely Trådfri shortcut buttons and motion sensors.
Have not introduced any IKEA gear into the O’Driscoll household yet, but am planning to do so over the coming months. Did read through some of the reviews online and there does seem to be a little science involved with integrating into your existing setup, but once up and running, the sense I am getting is that it could be worth the effort. Plus these items are pretty low cost compare to other HomeKit motion sensor and button options out there.
You can check this post over on the Verge for all the details if you want to read more.
Alexa comes to Xbox
Madam A is on its way to X-Box gamers, such as our son Gerard. The new voice capabilities will be enabled through a new “Alexa for Xbox” app that is rolling out as we speak. The move will represent another step towards the gradual reduction in the relevancy of Microsoft’s own voice assistant – Cortana. Not much more to say on this one, but if you are looking for some more takeaways, check out this blog post over at Geekwire.
Smart Home Bacteria!
Yep, even the smart bulb suppliers are getting into the bacteria-killing business…
No seriously a pretty reputable supplier of smart lighting products is shipping a bulb that apparently disinfects surfaces and the air.
Weirdly enough this might turn out to be an interesting feature for those that want to go the extra mile in terms of Covid protection.
Unlikely to become a mainstream product, but it could have some application, I can’t think of one right now, but who’s to say this might be the next big thing making its way to a smart home near you. If you’re looking to dig in deeper, perhaps in the technicalities of this, head over to yet another Verge article right here.
Smart Weather Stations
To be honest we don’t own a smart weather station and it never really came lodged in my mind. Since reading up some more on them, I might just add one to the complex mix of smart devices already installed in the O’Driscoll household. Based in Ireland, which sees its fair share of rain, wind, and the odd bit of sunshine! which brings me to an announcement from Eve this week that they will be shipping their latest connected smart weather station on March the 25th. The device is called Eve Weather and here are some key points to note:
- Will connect nicely with HomeKit enabled smart homes.
- Will include support for up and coming upstart smart home protocol – Thread
- Tracks outdoor temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure
And of course, it’s water-resistant. If interested, take a look here.
Weekly Smart Home Voice Command! 🎤
Hey Google, cancel my scheduled actions
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– Gerard
P.S. Busy at the moment getting ready version two of my flagship program Make a Living as a Smart Home Automation & IoT Installer.