In many ways Zigbee is technically superior to Z-Wave, but the lack of guaranteed compatibility with Zigbee devices is one of the main barriers to its adoption in the home. Their “All Hubs Initiative” could sort that. If it does, Silicon Labs should be worried, very worried. The Zigbee Alliance Announces the ‘All Hubs Initiative’ Driven by Leading Ecosystems to […]
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Details are still a bit thin on the ground, but Kwikset is bringing out a Wi-Fi enabled deadbolt lock. Wi-Fi is obviously a much lower bar to entry than a proper home automation hub/system, so I can see why they are doing it. But, if it’s just an isolated lock, with no chance of integration with other systems (even the […]
Read moreMore colors = more realistic photos. So just as HDR (properly applied) makes for a better viewing experience, I’m happy to see that Android will be receiving wide color photography with the next major release of the OS. The application is likely to be small at first, only one of the devices that I viewed the photos included in the […]
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When it comes to the 3.5″ jack I would like to be one of those “from my cold…” type of people, but frankly I love new tech too much to hang on to the old stuff, even when it works so damn well. Lightning and USB-C headphones solve two of the biggest issues I have with the euthanization of the […]
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The Lutron Aurora Hue switch controller is brilliant, just brilliant. Slap it over the light switch and you solve the usability issue with a Philips Hue installation. Power comes from a coin battery, and it uses Zigbee for effortless and reliable setup and configuration. But, $40 a switch, yeah, $40… I’d be shocked if there’s more than $2 in hardware […]
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Google Assistant has finally come to the Sonos One, and I couldn’t be happier. While it’s still a bit less-than-first-party (e.g. the same lack of room awareness as Alexa), being able to control Google Music via voice from the device makes it no longer a paperweight in the lounge. Enjoy voice control for Sonos from your phone, a Google Home […]
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Aside from the fantastically orange “Fire Dragon” SKU, the COROS VERTIX watch has a slew of very nice features/sensors. Including: heart rate, oximeter, altimeter, accelerometer, compass, gyroscope, and thermometer. As well as 45 (!) days of battery life, as long as you stay off the GPS (which is “only” 60 hours), & BTLE (phone connectivity) / ANT+ (sensors). It also […]
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Reviews for LG’s newest OLED are starting to arrive, and quite unsurprisingly, given their PQ dominance the last few years, it remains KOM. LG’s 2019 C9 OLED TV is the best-performing TV I’ve ever tested at CNET. In 2018 I said the same thing about the C8 and in 2017 I said the same thing about the C7. Year after […]
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I’ve never run across OpenZWave before so the specifics of what it does are still a bit fuzzy (if you’ve used this, and know exactly what it does please let us know). It looks like a C++ (with .NET wrapper available) library which allows anything that wants to interact with a Z-Wave network natively, to do so. If this is […]
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I can understand why streaming services, like Netflix, have focused more on improving resolution on the video side of things. More people have 4K TVs, than 5.1, 7.1, or full Atmos setups. But it is welcome news from Netflix has now turned their attention to sound, with the announcement that they are turning up audio quality as well. It will […]
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