Tag: Bond

Episode 429: Why Roku wants a smart home OS

This week we learned a bit more about streaming provider Roku’s plans to build a smart home operating system. This is in addition to all of the new smart home devices the company has developed using Wyze hardware. Because Kevin Tofel is on vacation, I’m talking about all this with my co-host and the creator of the Lowpass newsletter Janko Roettgers, who is a smart TV expert. Janko explains what’s happening with this deal and the overall shift to control smart homes through televisions. We then talk about smart energy management options from SmartThings, and Josh.ai’s new JoshGPT service that combines traditional smart home control with a large language model. In smaller news bits we cover two new sensors from SimpliSafe, new Matter-enabled Wi-Fi light switches from TP-Link’s Tapo brand, a potential audio streaming device from Eve, and purported new sensors for IKEA’s smart home ecosystem. Nanoleaf also launched a reasonably-priced way to give your TV ambient lighting. We also hear from a listener about his review of the Bond IR device we recommended a few weeks back.

Josh.ai’s new generative AI model can answer many more questions than a traditional home assistant. And it can still turn on the lights. Image courtesy of Josh.ai.

Our guest this week is Scott Ford, the CEO of Pepper. Pepper recently teamed up with Embedded Insurance to create an add-on cyber insurance policy that Pepper can offer through its partnerships with service providers and consumer device makers. Pepper provides a smart home application and service for other businesses, for example providing a smart home interface for an ISP or providing cloud storage services for a connected camera maker. Much like adding on cloud storage can generate extra revenue, adding cyber insurance or other insurance policies can generate money. So customers of Pepper’s customers may soon get a notification asking if they want to pay $5 for cyber insurance that will offset some of the costs of identity theft, cyberbullying, cyber extortion, and more. Ford talks about the cyber insurance product and about how connected devices are changing the way that insurers market their products, and how they assess risk. Honestly, that risk assessment is both exciting and a little bit scary. Enjoy the show.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Janko Roettgers, creator of the Lowpass newsletter
Guest: Scott Ford, the CEO of Pepper
Sponsors: Blynk and Particle

  • Does Roku really want to build a smart home OS or just sell more gear?
  • Josh.ai brings generative AI to smart homes, and it’s nice
  • Nanoleaf’s 4-D screen mirror tech is pretty cool
  • Why your smart camera maker may soon offer you insurance
  • How connected devices change the way insurance is sold … and priced

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Episode 422: The Pixel tablet is a smart home let down

Google launched a new tablet and dock at the Google I/O event Wednesday, and Kevin and I share our thoughts on how it might fit in with a smart home. Will it replace your Nest Smart Displays? We also share some of the updates expected in the new Google Home app before moving on to discuss Roku’s new smart home security system. Then we ask questions about the new State Farm and ADT combined security and water monitoring plans that provide a 6% discount on your insurance premium. Will insurers see your ADT data? You do have to to share it. After this we talk about Qualcomm’s V2X acquisition of Autotalks, the return of Mirai on TP-Link routers, and more perspectives on the Aqara FP2 sensor. It’s not great at fall detection, but it is able to offer some unique automations based on where people are in a room and how many people are there. We then end the news section by answering a listener question about connecting IR devices to your smart home.

The new Roku security system has two sensors, a hub with a siren, a keypad, and an alarm. Image courtesy of Roku.

Our guest this week is Calista Redmond, the CEO of RISC-V International. She explains what RISC-V is and the why the chip world needs a new instruction set. She also gives some examples of RISC-V architectures used to design chips for the IoT. There are hearing aids and edge computing gateways that currently use the technology as well as automotive chips. We also addressed concerns about the lack of software that supports the RISC-V architecture and how the organization plans to handle fragmentation. Enjoy.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Calista Redmond, CEO of RISC-V International
Sponsors: Computex and Blues Wireless

  • The Pixel Tablet isn’t supposed to replace your Nest Displays
  • State Farm’s investment in ADT is now a real product. We have questions.
  • Qualcomm is still betting on vehicle-to-vehicle communications
  • What the heck is RISC-V and why would we use it?
  • How companies are using RISC-V for the IoT

 

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Episode 176: Why did Apple join the Thread Group?

This week Kevin and I kick off the show with our thoughts on the future of hearables before explaining why we think Apple joined the Thread Group and what it means for future HomeKit products. From there we talked about a new report suggesting that IoT will be a $520 billion industry by 2021 and how enterprise and industrial IoT has stalled. A reader tip led us to valuable security actions you can take with your connected devices from Make magazine and Kevin shares his thoughts on the new Anki robot.  We hit news from ARM, the feds, Control4 and Smarter before answering a listener question about IR in the smart home.

The new June oven is $499 for a limited amount of time. It will eventually retail for $599.

Our guest this week is Matt Van Horn, who is the CEO of June. This week June launched a second generation oven that is roughly a third of the price of the original. Van Horn shares how June made that possible, how the company is using data to improve the user experience and why he’s not going into meal delivery kits anytime soon. He also shares a recipe for S’mores. Enjoy the show.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Matt Van Horn of June
Sponsors: NETGEAR and Afero

  • We’re going to ditch screens for voices in our ears
  • Security tips for your Pis and IoT devices
  • Check out Bond for IR control
  • No knobs and scaled back sensors lower June’s price tag
  • Why June has 64 ways to cook bacon

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