If there’s one furniture maker that will keep up with time, it would be IKEA. The Swedish flatpack furniture maker is progressive, getting into wireless charging and connected lighting products early on, and now, it is dishing out smart home-ready blinds too. Called IKEA FYRTUR Smart Blinds, it features an opaque fabric to effectively stop sunlight from penetrating into the room, but more importantly, it is smart. The blind is motorized, but it requires no electrical installation. Instead, it draws power from a lithium-ion battery pack that recharges with the included USB power bank. Continue reading Introducing IKEA Smart Home Enabled Smart Blinds, FYRTUR
Tag Archives: Home Automation
Relationship Apocalypse Begins With Gateway Virtual Home Robot
It has been a while. It was on pre-order started two years ago and it is now finally available to the masses. We are talking about the kinda sad gadget from Gatebox called Gatebox Virtual Home Robot. The name sounds harmless enough, but this ‘robot’ is in fact a virtual wife of sort (yes, you heard that right!). You see, while this device does home automation, let you in on news, weather and whatnot, it is capable of even more. Something more, well, humanly. Continue reading Relationship Apocalypse Begins With Gateway Virtual Home Robot
Microsoft Brings Cortana To Thermostat Via Johnson Controls
Windows Mobile which originally touts Cortana may have died, but this voice control technology from the Redmond software giant continues to live on, more recently, on a la-Amazon Echo Harman Kardon speaker. Prior to that, the software juggernaut has also introduced Cortana to another home IoT device and it was a climate control system, AKA smart thermostat. Like the speaker, Microsoft did not dive into it on its own; it has collaborated with long-time thermostat maker Johnson Controls to realize the other home for Cortana. Continue reading Microsoft Brings Cortana To Thermostat Via Johnson Controls
These Smart Switches Will Save You The Hassle Of Changing To Smart Bulbs
I will be honest here. I am not very familiar with smart lighting, but one thing I know is, if you are going to replace every single bulb in your home with smart bulb, it is going to cost you, like a lot. That’s not including the inevitable blown light bulb down the road. This is why Noon exists. It is a solution to getting smart lighting without having to invest in the tiny details, AKA the bulbs. In other words, Noon are smart light switches that add “smartness” to your home’s lighting without switching out the bulbs. The real draw is immediately apparent. It could save the hassle of switching out bulbs, but it may not necessary save your bank balance. More on that later. Continue reading These Smart Switches Will Save You The Hassle Of Changing To Smart Bulbs
A Zelda-worthy Home Is One That’s Zelda Ocarina Controlled
No. This isn’t a Zelda edition of the Amazon Echo. Though it will be cool if it was. This is the heart to the Zelda Ocarina Controlled Home Automation by Allen Pan AKA Sufficiently Advanced, and yes, Pan is the same man behind the ‘real’ working Mjolnir hammer and the real-life light saber. As you can see, Zelda Ocarina Controlled Home Automation is not a weapon, though I am sure you can hook it up to unleash your own private army (don’t ask me how, though), or you could just use it to help you achieve more peaceful and mundane tasks like turning on the humidifier, lamps and whatnot, simply by playing the appropriate Legend of Zelda tune. Continue reading A Zelda-worthy Home Is One That’s Zelda Ocarina Controlled
Gatebox Virtual Home Robot Has The Potential To Be Like The Real-Life Her
Spike Jonze’s sci-fi drama Her (Annapurna Pictures, 2013) offers a grim insight into how tech can affect us emotionally. It tells of a story about a lonely writer who develops an unlikely relationship with an highly intelligent operating system and eventually falling in love with ‘her’. The notion behind Her sounds farfetched, but sadly, nothing could be further from the truth. The time where humans could be ‘hooked’ on a virtual person like Joaquin Phoenix’s character did is on the horizon and we think Gatebox Virtual Home Robot is the gadget that will start the ball rolling. Continue reading Gatebox Virtual Home Robot Has The Potential To Be Like The Real-Life Her
Elgato Eve Light Switch Lets You Use Siri To Turn Your Lights On And Off
Forget about clapping your hands to turn on the lights. That’s so passé and so impractical. Seriously, can you imagine clapping becomes forbidden in your own home for fear of turning on or off the light for no reasons? Well, with the Elgato Eve Connected Light Switch there’s no such worry because you will be using voice to turn single or multiple-bulb setup, which is obviously the better way. Eve Light Switch, a creation of Munich-based outfit, is the world’s first light switch with Apple’s HomeKit technology that, when set up, allows you to control existing bulbs through Siri. And you know what that means? It means you are in the future where you can just speak into your Apple Watch and ask Siri to turn the light(s) on. How cool is that? We think it is super cool. Continue reading Elgato Eve Light Switch Lets You Use Siri To Turn Your Lights On And Off
This Is Zenbo, ASUS’s First Robot Who Wants To Be Your Family’s Butler
ASUS is well known for computers and mobile devices, but little did we know that the Taiwanese company has plan beyond run-of-the-mill consumer electronics, or should we say, going beyond inanimate products. Over the weekend, at Taiwan’s biggest computer and electronics show, Computex, ASUS shown off its very own robot, a cute little thing called Zenbo. First off, Zenbo is adorable and at some angle, looks a little like the 2002 Apple iMac, except that this thing is more intelligent and it moves. Beyond the kid-appealing look, what ASUS proposes that Zenbo will do is nothing groundbreaking. It has been proposed by other makers, including UBTech’s Alpha 2, Toyota’s Kirobo, Sharp’s RoBoHon and the likes. Continue reading This Is Zenbo, ASUS’s First Robot Who Wants To Be Your Family’s Butler
LG Unveils IoT Hub, K Series Handset and Eye-watering HDR 4K TV
We try to avoid CES every year. Why? Because, a show like this never fail to remind us that we have to work triple hard to own all the delightful gadgets and as you might have guess it, LG is one of the biggest “culprit” that would make us exclaim ‘this is why we are broke!’ Besides the robot vacuum/security guard, the other South Korean electronic biggie also announced the newest flagship 4K HDR-enabled OLED TVs for 2016 (77/65-inch G6 and 65/55-inch E6), a handsome Internet of Things hub that comes with a built-in speaker (SmartThinQ Hub), and K Series smartphone, which is the newest mass-tier handset set to replace the L Series. Continue reading LG Unveils IoT Hub, K Series Handset and Eye-watering HDR 4K TV
Savant Remote: a Uber Sleek Universal Remote For Both Home Entertainment and Home Automation
And we thought we have solved our too many remotes woe, then home automation comes along. If this sounds like a problem you are facing, then Savant Remote might just be the answer you have been looking for. Savant Remote is a universal remote that covers all your entertainment and home automation needs, and it is one heck of a looker too. Designed by award-winning design studio Ammunition, leverages on both hard buttons and high-resolution touchscreen to enable control over 380,000 of today’s most popular entertainment devices. Continue reading Savant Remote: a Uber Sleek Universal Remote For Both Home Entertainment and Home Automation