Author Archives: Chris Davies

Nest has done a solid job of filling in gaps in the company's connected home and security line-up today, unveiling Nest Secure, the Nest Hello doorbell, and Nest Cam IQ Outdoor. Joining the Alphabet company's existing smart thermostats, cameras, and smoke detectors, the new models are just as ambitious with their promises as their predecessors have been. Namely, delivering home security that people will actually go to the effort of switching on.

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Nest has launched Nest Secure, a new home security system that pulls together the company's cameras and more into a whole-home protection platform. Revealed today in San Francisco, CA, Nest Secure comprises three main parts. Nest Guard, a hub; Nest Tag, a keychain-dangling fob; and Nest Detect, a motion sensor that also works as a door sensor.

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Google may be working on a smaller Google Home Mini for October 4, but Ninety7 has the fix if you want to cut the cord completely. After the VAUX, a clever battery-powered speaker dock for the Amazon Echo Dot comes LOFT, a way to turn Google Home into a portable assistant. It also has the added benefit of making Google's smart speaker look even more like a little Dalek.

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Gogoro's electric ambitions just got $300m in new funding, with the tech company announcing the completion of its Series C investment round. Opening their collective wallets are Singapore investment fund Temasek, Al Gore's Generation Investment Management, Japanese heavyweight Sumitomo Corporation, and French energy company ENGIE. Together, they'll be handing over $300m to Gogoro. I caught up with founder and CEO Horace Luke ahead of today's announcement to find out what that might get spent on.

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Millennials are the fascination and frustration of the auto industry, and now Toyota has a new scheme to try to encourage young drivers into its dealerships. Having killed off Scion last year, arguing that the sub brand had lost its relevance as Toyota's own line-up was more encompassing, now it's time for a new sub brand. This one, though, focuses even more explicitly on motorsports.

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Tim Cook was put on the spot about iPhone X pricing, with Apple's CEO questioned as to whether the new flagship smartphone was too costly for the typical American user. It's the culmination of several months of iPhone pricing controversy, after wide speculation about just how much Apple could afford to charge for the iPhone X. The worst fears of many came true last week, with Apple confirming that the new handset would start at $999, but according to Cook we're thinking about it all wrong.

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You're nobody in tech if you don't have a smart speaker, and it seems Roku may be planning to enter the fray with a home companion of its own. The company is best known for its streaming media sticks and set-top boxes, easy ways to add services like Netflix, Amazon, and Showtime straight to your dumb TV. Now, though, it's looking like Roku wants to take on Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and the upcoming Apple HomePod.

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The tablet segment may have stalled, but Amazon believes there's still room for an impressively potent, surprisingly affordable Android model. Welcome, then, the Amazon Fire HD 10, the newest update of its 10.1-inch slate, with a 1080p Full HD display and quad-core 1.8 GHz processor. The headline specs might be speed, but the price is just $149.99.

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When it comes to connected locks, August is rightly one of the first names that comes to mind, and now there's a new flagship aiming for a spot on your door frame. The August Smart Lock Pro may look like its predecessor, but inside it's all-change with faster components, along with Z-Wave Plus support for pro-installation alarm systems. It'll even tell you whether you've left the door ajar. Question is, does that make it worth $279?

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August has rolled out a trio of new devices, including a pair of connected locks that can tell whether your door is actually closed or not, and a smarter doorbell camera. Offering features like Apple HomeKit support, integration with Amazon's Alexa, Google's Assistant, and Apple's Siri, and the same straightforward installation that made their predecessors so popular, the new IoT gadgets also offer more usable remote security monitoring.

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Some European car brands long absent from the US could make an unexpected return to North America, it's been revealed, with PSA Group confirming it's considering taking on homegrown stalwarts like GM and Ford. The automaker, which counts Peugeot and Citroen among its brands, has long been the subject of speculation about a renewed attempt on the competitive US market. Now, it seems that some actual work has gone into making it a possibility.

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Parrot's newest drone promises to be its smartest, with the Bebop 2 Power packing longer flight time, easier photo and video capture, and more straightforward flying. Based on the Bebop 2, the new Power version can run for up to 30 minutes on a full charge, Parrot says. With the two batteries included in the box, that means an hour of droning per session.

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