Signify just announced two new additions to its Philips Hue smart light family: Philips Play and Philips Signe. Both are light strip-style lamps that add colored accent light to your rooms by trowing light on the walls. The Play sits on tables or TV stands, and the Signe sits on the floor and are designed to look good in places where the Philips Lightstrip isn’t a good fit. The Play will be available in October for US$69.95, or $129.95 for a two-pack. The Signe will be available in September for $169.99 or $269.99 for a two-pack.
HomeKit support without a bridge device is coming to Belkin’s Wemo Mini Smart Plug thanks to a free firmware update rolling out on Thursday. The change comes thanks to the HomeKit software authentication feature Apple introduced with iOS 11.3. That means once the firmware update is installed you can start using your Mini Smart Plugs with Siri and the Home app. For your other Wemo devices, including the discontinued—and much bigger—Wemo Smart Plug, you’ll still need the Wemo Bridge. You can get the Wemo Mini Smart Plug on Amazon for US$29.99.
Wyze just addressed one of the biggest requests from Wyze Cam users: Alexa voice control support. Firmware updates are available for the Wyze Cam v2 and Wyze Cam Pan that add Alexa support, along with a few bug fixes. The cameras are great for monitoring your home or business and include a microSD card slot so you can record activity without relying on cloud servers. They’re also surprisingly inexpensive at US$19.99 for the Wyze Cam v2 and $29.99 for the Wyze Cam Pan. You’ll need the Wyze mobile app to install the firmware update. Unfortunately, there isn’t a Wyze Skill for Alexa yet, so we still need to wait for that.
Kelly Guimont and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to look at the issues smart home technology poses in domestic abuse situations.
The Ring Alarm DIY home security system is available for pre-order now and ships at the beginning of July.
Signify released its Philips Hue Sync app for Mac and Windows on Thursday, giving Philips Hue smart light users a new way to control their lighting experience. The app uses Hue bulbs to add lighting and color effects in real time to music, videos, and games playing on your computer. It also works with televisions if you use AirPlay or connect via HDMI, which is great if your computer and TV aren’t in the same room. The Philips Hue Sync app is free and available for download at the Philips Hue website.
The first, called Eve Aqua, is a smart water controller. The second, called Eve Flare, is a portable LED lamp.
Philips Hue smart light users got a nice surprise Tuesday morning with a big update to the Hue controller app for the iPhone. Hue 3.0 sports a new interface that’s easier to use, controls for individual lights instead of just groups, an improved color picker, new scenes, the ability to use the art in a room to create light scenes, and more. The Hue 3.0 app is a free download at Apple’s App Store.
You have questions, Dave and John have answers. Today’s topics include malfunctioning AirPods, setting Apple Pay addresses, restoring a Recovery Partition, email and iMessage encryption, and much, much more. Download, press play, enjoy, and learn!
Ring—which Amazon acquired in February—makes a smart doorbell that has a camera connected to Wi-Fi.
We’re still in the early stages of voice assistant technology so we can’t declare a winner yet, regardless of which you prefer. Based on what we’re seeing, however, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant are putting Apple’s Siri in a serious catch up position.
Bryan Chaffin and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to share their thoughts on the possibility of Apple designing its own Mac processors, plus Jeff explains how HomeKit failed for him.
HomeKit has some great features, but some of its problems are big enough to push me back to Amazon’s Alexa for my smart home control.
Apple released macOS 10.13.4 this week and, well, it changes some things. No worries, your two favorite geeks talk through it all. Then it’s on to managing duplicate contacts and properly migrating your data. There are other questions, too, as well as a few other Quick Tips and some Cool Stuff(s) Found. Press play and enjoy!
Dave Hamilton and Andrew Orr join Jeff Gamet to talk about getting started with smart lights now that Dave has some Philips Hue bulbs. They also share some smart home automation tips.
Philips is taking its Hue smart lights outside with its new HomeKit compatible luminary, spot, and pillar post products.
Your HomePod is also a HomeKit hub, so what does that mean, especially if you already have an Apple TV. Read on to learn what that means for your smart home setup.
LAS VEGAS – Xfinity wants to be at the center of your smart home and is using its xFi platform to that—along with voice control—simple for home automation newbies.
Dave Hamilton joins Jeff Gamet at CES 2018 in Las Vegas to discuss Xfinity’s plan to make smart home tech more accessible to the average person, plus they share more cool products they’ve found.
Dr. Mac got a smart kitchen appliance for Chanukah and he’s pretty impressed with it.
