Month: November 2017

Some of the CES 2018 honorees in the smart-home category, including lighting controls, security systems and this year’s class of home automation hubs.

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by Julie Jacobson · November 24, 2017

Each year, specialists in consumer electronics, smart-home, IoT, vehicles, robotics and other technologies review thousands of entries for the CES Innovation Awards. It’s a tedious task and many (most?) of the “winners” never make it to market. Even so, the honorees do at least give us a glimpse into the near-future of technology.

Here we look at some of the CES 2018 honorees in the smart-home category, including lighting controls, security systems and this year’s class of home automation hubs. For each one, I share my thoughts about the product and its prospects, including: Do I want it? and Will it make it?

The CES 2018 honorees in the smart-home category include some usual suspects like:

  • Amazon Echo Look
  • Arlo Pro 2 wirefree camera system
  • Nest Thermostat E
  • Ring Spotlight Cam

There are some other recognizable products from the past, like WooHoo from SmartBeings – one of the darlings of CES 2017, and yet another smart thing that tries to do way too much. In that same vein, we have another honoree, Ensembl from Ashley Chloe Inc., that tries to pack every single home-automation, audio, video, lighting and surveillance application into one tiny package.

And then, of course, there are the obligatory home automation hubs that profess to do everything, like Beak/IoT and SmartBeing’s WooHoo — ZigBee, Z-Wave, BLE, AI — and promise to “surely redefine the concept of Smart Living” (Beak) or deliver the “world’s first AI based interactive and affordable Smart Home Hub and Platform” (WooHoo).

Register for the Ultimate CES 2018 Preview Webinar

There are other more interesting and realistic products that we have talked about in Webinars but have not given a thorough writeup, like Samsung Connect Home Pro, Brilliant Home and Aura Home.

There’s this weird one called Ugo from Otodo, a “smart and soft pebble” that you tap against various surfaces to enact pre-programmed commands. Tap it on the door to unlock it. Knock it on the end table to turn on the light. It’s the “magic wand” accessory for Otodo’s home-automation hub.

In this installment, we look only at home-automation hubs and related smart devices. Later, we’ll take a look at award-winning cameras and other smart-home categories.

SEE THE SLIDESHOW to learn more about the smart-home honorees for CES 2018 Innovations, plus my own opinions on their prospects.

55% Of Consumers See IoT, AI As Risks To Privacy

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New connected technologies are continuing to cause serious concerns around privacy and security.

The two are really separate issues, as we continually document here.

For example, consumers have varying degrees of trust, based on who is providing the service, as I wrote about here earlier this week (Cybersecurity Study: 3% Of Consumers See Marketing, Advertising As ‘Trustworthy‘).

The same study that found a low level of trust from marketing and advertising businesses around cybersecurity, also examined privacy.

There are many technologies here and coming soon that pose serious privacy considerations.

These range from chips being embedded into people, which already is being done, to virtual and augmented realities.

The majority of consumers see the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence as a potential threat to their privacy. Here are the percentages of consumers who view each technology as a potential threat to their privacy:

  • 67% — Chips in human skin
  • 55% — Artificial intelligence, Internet of Things
  • 54% — Digital payments
  • 49% — Machine learning
  • 47% — Chatbots, self-driving cars
  • 45% — Drone delivery
  • 42% — Wearable tech
  • 40% — Bitcoin
  • 35% — Augmented reality
  • 32% – -Virtual reality

https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/309892/55-of-consumers-see-iot-ai-as-risks-to-privacy.html

Amazon Key’s big privacy test is now in your hands

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Amazon Key uses the company’s new Cloud Cam security camera, a smart door lock and the new Key app to grant someone temporary access. A delivery person can unlock your front door using his phone, slide in a package, then lock the door again. The idea is to prevent packages from being stolen from the front stoop or have them get soaked in the rain.

https://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-key-launch-privacy-home-deliveries-cloud-cam/?ftag=CAD-03-10aaj8j

Fine dining, with a side of tech

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A study published in 2016 in the Journal of Consumer Marketing shows that we mere mortals are highly suggestible. The line between our appreciation of how food looks and enjoyment of how it tastes can become blurred. Researchers discovered that our enjoyment of indulgent foods increases significantly when we take a picture before eating it, and can even boost our experience of consuming “less pleasurable” (by which it means healthy) foods.

I’d suggest that you read this article you if you fancy your tech and a good meal.

https://www.cnet.com/news/chefs-special-fine-dining-with-a-side-of-tech/?ftag=CAD-03-10aaj8j