TimeMachinerMatter, a common language for smart home tech, faces issues with Belkin pausing adoption. Belkin’s devices don’t offer anything unique and can become commodities, making it hard to stand out. The company plans to differentiate its products, but it is unclear when.
Smart home devices are great until they’re not. The earliest device to get smart and go mainstream is the thermostat, thanks to Nest. The device is sleek and easy to use. Over time many others have come to the market. But now we see the downside: a power company in Colorado locked out their customers from adjusting their thermostats during a heat wave. Justine Calma at The Verge has more. When the utility adjusts a customer’s thermostat, the customer typically has the option to opt-out. But, “On rare occasions, system emergencies may cause a control event that cannot be overridden,”…
There are so many gadgets and ecosystems and companies providing services these days and it’s inevitable that some (or many) will fail. Going out of business is part of doing business. Most companies don’t last forever. However, there is a glaring problem with this: companies that make products that depend on the company still operating. Enter Insteon, one of many home automation platforms out there. Stacey Higginbotham over at Stacey on IOT provides details on how the Insteon automation platform may have been permanently shut down. I’m getting reports from dozens of Insteon users that as of Friday their smart…
Smart home or “home automation” has pushed to become mainstream, yet constantly falters at the same spot: it’s frigging complicated. Normal people are not going to spend hours inside an app writing rules for every scenario to turn a light on. There are too many competing platforms and standards for home automation to even list. But that hasn’t stopped Home Depot from entering the fray. Called Hubspace, the free app is available in Android and iOS app stores, and “enables light bulbs, smart plugs and ceiling fans to be controlled from anywhere,” according to a press release from Home Depot.…