Topic: Home automation
Vivint Smart Home Delivers on the Promise of Artificial Intelligence for the Home – Press Release (Jan 4, 2017)
Vivint is one of the companies that’s closest to my vision for what needs to happen in the smart home, a space that’s currently characterized by lots of disconnected islands and a retail DIY model that’s fine for early adopters but lousy for mainstream users. I wrote about Vivint’s vision a few months back after I was briefed on it, and they’ve now announced the actual product off the back of it. This, and not Amazon’s Echo/Alexa, is what a truly smart home assistant looks like.
via Vivint Smart Home Delivers on the Promise of Artificial Intelligence for the Home – Press Release
Here’s all of the Apple HomeKit stuff you’ll see at CES – CNET (Jan 3, 2017)
Most of the smart home coverage I’ve seen has given HomeKit short shrift, and rightly so – it took well over a year from the initial announcement for products to start shipping in any kind of numbers, and meanwhile Amazon’s Echo has grabbed lots of attention in the same space. However, HomeKit devices are now starting to emerge in larger numbers, and HomeKit as a platform is much smarter than Echo, which is essentially a dumb front end which merely passes through requests to the real brain, which lives elsewhere. HomeKit has some way to go, but it is finally starting to gain traction. However, see also this contrary take from the Verge.
via Here’s all of the Apple HomeKit stuff you’ll see at CES – CNET
Amazon Echo and the Hot Tub Murder — The Information (Dec 27, 2016)
This is one of those nightmare stories that appears to validate lots of people’s concerns about having always-listening devices in the home. As always, the real story is less concerning – Amazon’s Echo doesn’t store everything it hears, just what follows the Alexa prompt. More broadly, however, home automation gear and the data it creates has been used in this case, and will be used in others – a good reminder that if you use services that create and store data, that data may become available to others too, whether hackers or law enforcement.
via Amazon Echo and the Hot Tub Murder — The Information