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When it comes to wireless protocols for the smart home, there's a plethora of standards from the well-known Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to the lesser known Z-Wave, Zigbee and ISM 433 MHz. Most smart home hubs only support a subset of these, typically Z-Wave and Zigbee, but Cozify's Hub is different, with hardware support for all five. Andrew finds out a
I've been enjoying Samsung SmartThings for a couple of weeks and it's been an interesting time. The technology is a key factor in a smart home but let's not forget that a home is often inhabited by a family and a smart home has to be used by a family. It can't just be one geeky member (Dad!) who knows
While researching the Philips Hue Android apps, I discovered that currently there is a single Hue app for Chrome. It's called Hueful and while it's fairly basic, it deserves a mention as (a) it's the only app on Chrome but (b) it shows that Chrome can support this kind of hardware-oriented app. Previously I would have discounted Chrome from being an
Last week, I had a first look at the Hue "Personal Wireless Lighting" kit from Philips. As I mentioned in the review, Philips has opened up the lighting system to developers via an API and this week, I'll take a look at some of the apps available, both from 3rd party developers. As you'd expect, they run the gamut from
Kevin Ashton coined the phrase "The Internet of Things" back in 1999, but a decade later most of the on-line gadgets in my house are still recognisable as being technology. My fridge is still a fridge, my front door still needs a key and my house doesn't talk to me. That was the situation until a couple of weeks when
Andy and Tom interview Elizabeth Kurfess, Product Manager for General Electric on GE Nucleus, a home energy management system. As utilities start to install smart meters on the outside of homes, the Nucleus unit wireless communicates with the smart meter to bring information on power consumption and tariffs into the home, allowing the homeowner to make intelligent decisions about the
Andy talked to Kevin at the Zigbee Tech Zone. Zigbee tries to help people centrally and remotely control the devices in their homes and businesses. Zigbee creates a wide range of devices that work together intelligently to help you control your world. The devices work wirelessly together in a mesh network and are made to work in most western homes.