Get ready to look out for a new name and logo as you shop for the smart home, with the Zigbee Alliance rebranding and launching a new name, Matter, for Project CHIP. The revamp sees the old alliance name retired in favor of the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), intended to reflect a broader array of ways for things like connected bulbs, smart locks, cameras, and more to talk among themselves.
The folks at Sengled brought a very vintage-looking piece of tech to Las Vegas this week, to CES 2020. This is the Sengled Smart LED Edison Filament Bulb, with a design that's decidedly old-school. Sengled also has a set of new smart (and not so smart) lighting and smart home solutions out at CES 2020, including Smart LED Candle Light Bulbs, a new Smart Hub, and a Smart Plug with Energy Monitoring.
Today Google, Apple, Amazon, and the Zigbee Alliance (which is comprised of various smart home companies) announced that they've all joined forces to create a new Working Group with a goal of creating a smart home standard. That standard will be called the Connected Home over IP project, and it seems to have two primarily goals.
With so many different smart speakers on the market currently, newcomers have to find some way of standing out. It isn't enough to release a smart speaker that supports Alexa anymore, because when the presence of a smart assistant becomes the standard, you need another hook to pull people in. Toshiba seems to realize this, launching a new smart speaker called Symbio that apparently wants to do it all.
Today NVIDIA SHIELD's latest update brought with it Google Assistant in full effect. The results are much like we saw and experienced earlier this year at CES 2017. This means "OK Google" Google Assistant support - along with NVIDIA's implementation of the full-on latest version of Google's vision of the ideal smart TV environment using Android. This is also the "first-ever hands-free access to an Assistant for TV" - so says NVIDIA.
Although not exactly present in all corners of the globe, the name Ikea is well-known for ready-to-assemble furniture, and sometimes overpriced products. It isn't, however, known for being on the cutting edge of technology. Although it has dabbled a bit in augmented reality and wireless charging, it has yet to jump on the home automation market. It isn't jumping yet, but it is now at least dipping its toes in that still young segment. And like any budding smart home product, it's Trådfri line is starting with the simplest one of all: connected lights.
Philips looks set to add hands-free smarts to its Hue lighting system, with word of a new Hue Motion Sensor sneaking out ahead of the gadget's launch. A mainstay of many smart home installations, Hue's wirelessly-enabled bulbs can be controlled by various means, including the company's iOS and Android apps, from a smartwatch, the Hue Tap switch, and basic scheduling, but if you wanted motion-triggers you had to look to third-party platforms.
Philips has reversed course on its controversial decision to block third-party connected bulbs from its Hue system. The company had found itself facing the ire of smart home enthusiasts earlier this week, when a firmware update for the Hue bridge prevented bulbs from other manufacturers from connecting, even though they use the same ZigBee wireless standard.
This week at MWC Shanhai 2015, ZTE revealed the ZTE SmartHome, a device they call their "first ever smart home gateway." This device works with wireless protocol, ZigBee, and 4G LTE connectivity for always-connected functionality. This device is set to be the center of your smart home, with an application for smartphones and tablets to control smart home devices of all sorts. In addition to a ZTE-made app for mobile devices, this device can also be controlled via web browser from Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Google Chrome.
In the very near future, LG will release a number of smart lights and a hub which will be compatible with Apple HomeKit. This LG Smart Lighting solution is not LG's first - they also released a Bluetooth-friendly bulb called LG SmartLamp, allowing you to connect - one at a time - to each bulb within range. This new line of bulbs will all connect to a single device called a Scene Gateway, a hub that requires only power and a connection to your internet router.
Philips has a new remote control for its hue wireless lights in the pipeline, along with a brighter version of its color-changing bulb. The new products, revealed during regulatory testing at the FCC, include an update on the original hue bulb with an 800 lumen version. However, it's the new Hue Dimmer Switch which is arguably more interesting, given how it potentially addresses a common complaint among those with the remote-controlled bulbs installed in their homes.
While the Almond 2015 and Almond+ have been bringing some smart functionality to the router game for some time now, today they get a big bump with home automation. The Almond 2015 has been out on the market for a couple of weeks and the Almond+ has been out for months now, but both will be getting this update from their makers at Securifi, giving them connectivity to both ZigBee and Z-Wave devices. This device doesn't work with IFTTT (at the moment), but it doesn't need to - all automation here is local.