As always, lots going on in both the smart home and wearables space this week. Here are some of the news items that caught our attention :
WHAT’S GOING ON AT HOMEMENTORS?
Very much holiday season here at HomeMentors 🙂 – away for last few days with family down in West Cork – so productivity has been slow 🙂
It looks like it’s going to be a busy year in the smart home space.
In particular, there are lots of plans here for new educational products related to smart homes, so keep tuned!
NEW SMART HOUSE PRODUCT TO MINIMIZE WATER LEAK DAMAGE
Water leaks are every homeowner’s nightmare, and Yes Smart Home devices can give you some peace of mind.
A water leak can cause thousands of Euro, pounds, and dollars worth of damage.
There are various smart home devices out there on the market that will alert you via text message or indeed an email once any type of moisture of excess water is detected in specific problem areas near to sinks, kitchen appliances, pipes, showers, and baths.
Wallyhome is an interesting new product that will monitor your home for leaks while away.
In addition to keeping tabs on water damage, Wallyhome also includes sensors that will track mold levels. Important if you suffer from breathing disorders such as Asthma.
Anyway, the Wallyhome system only appears to be shipping to US customers at the moment.
YET ANOTHER SMART HOUSE STANDARD RELEASED THIS WEEK!
Not only are we seeing a plethora of smart home products coming to market in recent times, but a number of Consortiums have emerged in recent times to promote new standards and technologies for the smart home space.
This week, we saw the emergence of a new group styling itself the ‘Thread’.
According to the press release, arch-rivals in the smart home space NEST and Samsung are among the founding members.
The remit of Thread is to create a whole new wireless smart home networking protocol from the ground up that will negate the need for well-established technologies such as Bluetooth and WiFi.
Will it succeed? Not sure, lots of challenges – will monitor developments and report back later in the year – stay tuned!
SAMSUNG TO BUY SMART HOUSE COMPANY SMARTTHINGS
Techcrunch is reporting that Samsung is in talks to buy Smart Homes startup – Smartthings!
Yet more evidence that the DIY market for smart home systems is on the verge of exploding.
According to the article, Samsung is prepared to pay up to $200 million dollars to get their hands on Smartthings!
INTERESTING SMART BULB PROJECT ON KICKSTARTER
The thing about smart bulbs is that you need to replace your existing bulbs around the house.
That’s not going to break the bank, however, what if you had the option to ‘smartify’ your existing bulbs?
Well, a new project called emberlight running over on Kickstarter is hoping to raise some money to you control any existing dimmable bulb with an app.
Similar to other smart bulbs from Philips, Lifx and emberlight bulbs will support features such as notification alerts and mood lighting at the tap of a finger.
SOME INSIGHTS INTO APPLE’S UPCOMING iWATCH
Crunchwear reports some further thoughts on how Apple’s upcoming iWatch might evolve. The article tracks down an Apple patent, which points to a device that will primarily be used to tracking health and wellness.
At this stage, the much revered ‘iWatch’ is shrouded in secrecy, and realistically speaking it may be the end of 2014 or indeed early 2015 before finally decides to show its hand of cards in the Wearables space.