Schlage has announced Alexa support for two of its smart locks, the Sense Smart Deadbolt and the Connect Touchscreen Deadbolt. With this support, smart lock owners can use voice commands to unlock their door, a feature that uses a PIN for extra security. Access is also available through the maker's iOS and Android apps, though a WiFi Adapter is necessary.
Digital marketing agency Stone Temple has released a study detailing the accuracy of the four big personal assistants: Google Assistant (via Phone and Home), Amazon Alexa, Microsoft Cortana (via Invoke), and Apple's Siri. The team tested the services with 4,942 queries, monitoring the accuracy of the results to determine which assistant is the most accurate. Spoiler: Google won, but second place is surprising.
Charging up an electric car looks set to get a whole lot easier, with a new Plug&Charge system promising to do away with membership cards, apps, or swiping a credit card. The system turns the electric charging socket on the EV itself into an authentication system, enabling it to communicate with the charger it's plugged into.
Nest is helping address the energy burden in America with Power Project, an initiative that earmarks 1 million Nest Thermostat E units for low-income homes. The devices will be provided to needy homes in partnership with energy companies, non-profits, and housing agencies over the next five years, says Nest. Recipients are promised them "at little or no cost."
Amazon has announced Alexa Skill Blueprints, a new way for users to vastly personalize their Alexa experience. With Blueprints, users can create their on personalized skills and responses using templates, with a total of 20 Skill Blueprints being offered initially. The process is said to be simple enough for anyone to use, no coding skills necessary.
Facebook has decided to postpone the launch of its hardware products, including a home speaker, until later on this year, according to sources. The decision follows the Cambridge Analytica revelation and ongoing criticism over Facebook's handling of user data. The sources claim Facebook had planned to introduce the rumored smart speaker this May during its developers conference, but has since changed those plans.
Electric is the future. smart CEO Annette Winkler already said so last time we talked with her about the smart vision EQ fortwo concept EV. Now Mercedes-Benz is echoing that slogan as well. At the Geneva Motor Show, smart and Mercedes-Benz showed off the power their combined passion for pushing the electric campaign forward. The result is the smart EQ fortwo and forfour. For those in the US, these are the familiar all-electric cars that have been silently rolling in cities. For Europe and for the future, these two are the heralds of Mercedes-Benz’s dreams of an all-electric world.
Moleskine has expanded its smart writing system with the addition of its new Pen + Ellipse product. The smart pen combines traditional ink with tech to make handwritten content compatible with modern gadgets. Anything created with the pen is automatically detected, converted, and sent to a related tablet or smartphone where it can be accessed and used digitally.
Voice control is the latest fad in consumer tech and that reality is underscored by a new announcement from HP: it will soon offer voice-activated home printers. By doing so, the company explains, it will be the first printer business to offer "intuitive voice commands" via major smart speaker products, namely through Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Microsoft's Cortana.
Swann, the company best known for its video surveillance products, has announced the Swann Video Doorbell, a connected lock for your home or office. As with other connected smart locks, the Swann Video Doorbell allows users to view and talk to their visitors anywhere in the world, as long as there's a decent Internet connection. The Video Doorbell boasts multiple features, including night vision.
Amazon has patented a smart mirror that uses virtual clothing and mirrors to help consumers decide what to buy. This isn't the first time we've seen the idea of a smart mirror for modern shopping; it is, however, a bit unique from the others. The mirror doesn't just show virtual clothing overlaid onto the potential buyer's body -- it also puts virtual scenes in the background, helping the customer visualize what they would look like on, for example, the beach.
Roku has announced several big changes that underscore the company's own push into the smart home market. The company has officially unveiled Roku Entertainment Assistant, its own voice assistant for verbally controlling Roku OS devices. In addition, Roku has launched a new licensing program for "whole home entertainment" that will allow OEM brands to make smart home entertainment devices that work with Roku OS.