Amazon's Fire TV platform was launched in response to Google's Chromecast. Its first device was an HDMI dongle, but it quickly outgrew that form, expanding to a more traditional set-top box and eventually to actual TVs. Smart TVs powered by Fire TV are still far and few in between, but now they're getting two of the most coveted features for any smart TV: Apple AirPlay 2 and HomeKit support.
This week Apple took their Home category out a whole new door. They revealed that they'd be allowing HomePod mini to pair with Apple TV 4K. Apple added Apple TV controls to HomePod (Hey Siri, watch Ted Lasso). They expanded the ways in which Siri can be used with Apple TV. Apple promised that their smart home universe would be easier to use, better together, and will have a focus on privacy.
Eero has announced a new update is available inside its app that also brings new firmware for the Eero 6 and 6 Pro routers. The big feature of the new firmware update is the addition of Apple HomeKit support for both router models. By adding HomeKit support to the routers, they can now be managed via the Home app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac computers.
Sometimes, only a button will do. The smart home and the rise of connected devices like lamps, speakers, locks, and more have brought complex automations within reach of a mainstream audience, but sometimes you don't want to have to pull up an app - or talk to a smart speaker - just to switch on the lights. For those in the Apple HomeKit ecosystem, then, the Wemo Stage Scene Controller remote could be the answer.
Wemo has added a new remote control to its smart home line-up, with the Wemo Stage Scene Controller designed to make controlling HomeKit devices easier when you don't want to pull out your phone or talk to Siri. The three button remote can trigger up to six different Apple HomeKit scenes.
Roku OS 10 is coming, and it promises to be a big deal when it comes to finding, navigating, and playing content whether you've got a Roku TV or a set-top box. It's a timely update, too: Roku says viewing hours are soaring year-on-year, as we spend more time at home and a greater percentage of that time in front of the TV. That means we often need some help figuring out what to watch.
A currently dormant new sensor in Apple's HomePod mini could help make the Siri-powered smart speaker a more useful part of the smart home, should the company decide to enable it in future. Launched in November 2020, the HomePod mini was initially a smaller, more affordable sibling to the original HomePod. Now, with that bigger version officially discontinued, the $99 model is the only smart speaker Apple offers.
Eve Systems has announced that it is continuing to support HomeKit over Thread by rolling out three new products in the United States. One of the products is the Thread version of its popular Eve Energy smart switch. The company is also launching a smart weather station called Eve Weather and is announcing a Thread-enabled firmware for the second-generation Eve Aqua.
Its smartphone business may be tanking but LG's TVs still enjoy a mostly stable position in the market. In fact, some might say that LG treats its TVs better than its phones, pushing out more features faster even on older sets. That, however, almost didn't come to be for owners of its older 2018 smart TVs, at least until it received quite a massive backlash. It eventually changed its mind and the promised AirPlay 2 and HomeKit support for these two-year-old smart TVs are finally rolling out.
The explosion of smart home products from various manufactures pretty much mirrored a similar scenario when mobile phones landed on the market. Each one communicated only with others from the same brand unless some third-party platform tries to orchestrate the communication between different devices. Apple HomeKit is one such smart home platform and brands like ecobee are only too happy to boast support for such a big name, even if this new capability for its SmartCamera with voice control almost seems like a loss for the home automation company.
The Nanoleaf Shapes HomeKit-enabled line of flat shape lights for your wall expanded in a big way today. Or rather, it shrank. The latest set of shapes includes Triangles (with upgraded abilities beyond Triangles released in the past) and Mini Triangles. This latest update allows the shapes you create to expand to a whole new universe, complete with touch-panel controls, voice control, and a Music Visualizer.
Most consumer electronics come with a two-year warranty, some even just one, and those often apply to software updates for smart devices. That's true for smartphones, which consumers seem to change just as often, but most probably expect larger and more expensive products like smart TVs to get updates and at least promised features beyond that time frame. That is most likely why owners of LG's 2018 TVs are irked by the company's sudden and silent U-turn in rolling out AirPlay 2 and HomeKit support that it promised months back.
Despite being mostly an Android and partly a webOS house, LG was particularly proud that it was the first to add support for this exclusive Apple features on its TVs last year. AirPlay 2 would have allowed owners of Apple devices to stream their content to their TVs while a HomeKit app would let them control their connected smart home devices from their couches.
While such new features are often promised to current-gen and future TV models, LG promised in April that it will bring those same premium goodies to its 2018 TV lineup. Excited 2018 LG TV owners were then surprised by the revelation that LG apparently no longer has plans to do that.
https://twitter.com/LGUK/status/1298586491543859200
It isn't unusual for a company to renege on promised features but often those do inform affected users of changes beforehand. That or they put a footnote that the feature may or may not be implemented as promised to keep consumers from putting faith in those promises.
The 2018 LG TVs are barely two years old and, even then, would still be eligible for such updates. LG already has a souring reputation for updates on Android, which it does not control, it certainly doesn't need to gain the same rep for webOS, which it mostly does.