Smart Homes

Amazon is finally turning its Echo Show into a proper digital photo frame, but you have to pay extra for the privilege. Announced at its fall hardware event this week, the new Echo Show 8 Photos Edition costs $10 more than the standard edition of the new smart display but lets you make your photos the “primary home screen content.”

The Show 8 Photos Edition is coming this Fall for $159.99 and has all the same features as the new Echo Show 8 (third-gen). But for the extra $10, you get a six-month subscription to Amazon’s new PhotosPlus service, which enables this new “enhanced photo mode.”

Amazon announced the Echo Hub ($179.99) at its fall hardware event on Wednesday. Designed specifically as a smart home controller, the Echo Hub is a slimline version of an Echo Show 8 or a shrunken version of a Show 15. It should sit flush on your wall or could be propped up on a table or shelf with a desktop stand.

An eight-inch touchscreen device, the Echo Hub shares the same DNA as an Echo Show smart display, but it is fundamentally a new device. Its slim look resembles a tablet, and while it runs the same OS as the new Show 5, Dave Limp, Amazon’s SVP of devices and services, says the Echo Hub has a different processor, and there’s no camera.

Specifically billed as a smart home hub because it contains Zigbee, Thread, Bluetooth LE, and Amazon Sidewalk radios and functions as a Thread border router and Matter controller, the Echo Hub connects to Wi-Fi or ethernet with a compatible power over ethernet (PoE) converter. It is a full Alexa device with a speaker and mic array.

Instead of a camera, the Echo Hub has an IR sensor that it uses to wake up as you approach, so there’s no need to tap once and then tap again to activate any of the smart home widgets on the touch screen — such as turning on the lights or viewing a security camera.

Whether you're a smart home expert or just starting out, it’s always a good idea to check out what the essential products are. You may have already heard about some of the best smart plugs or the best smart sensors, but many people also assume that adding smart products to your home can be a pricey task. Yes, they’re not wrong, but there are also a lot of options out there that don’t cost the earth. A lot of well-known companies such as Philips Hue or Amazon have cheaper alternatives, meaning accessing smart home products doesn’t have to be as expensive as you think.

This is going to be the first part of our building a smart home series, and we're starting off low on a budget of £50.

That's £50 each, not total. They have a companion piece: How to build a smart home for under £100 also per item.

In 2022, Hue's parent company Signify committed to adding Matter support, but it was then delayed from its promised March 2023 debut. Then in August 2023, Hue again committed to the standard, and said that its support would go live in September.

Now according to the German tech site Hueblog, that support is live. Reportedly, the update is rolling out worldwide.

Hueblog says that the release comes with an update to the iOS Hue app. Where it previously had a setting for Voice Control, there is now a "Smart Home" option which includes all the Matter-related settings.

The Matter connectivity and interoperability standard was launched with great aplomb in November by Amazon, Apple, Samsung, Google, and hundreds of other companies. It’s designed to solve the issue of connectivity among smart home devices and platforms once and for all, offering a single communication protocol that everything, and I mean everything, was supposed to work with. Supposed to, anyway.

Yet In the year since the smart home standard was released, adoption has ground to a halt, and improvements and iterations on the standard have not materialized. In early September, I met Chris La Pre at the enormous IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin. Chris is head of technology for the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), which steers the Matter standard and herds the cats responsible for its development. He acknowledged that, while there are about a thousand “certified” devices listed on the CSA site, there are perhaps 30 on the market today. And that includes the dozen hubs sold by Google and Amazon.

Apparently, Matter simply doesn’t matter.

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Matter’s invisibility is partly by design: thanks to cross-brand compatibility with the spec, everything is supposed to just work. Your light bulbs and doorbells will talk to your security cameras and stereo seamlessly and smoothly. Hence there’s no need to market or even mention the spec. If it’s Matter, it’ll work. In reality, Matter devices today rarely speak to each other, instead requiring a hub like the Samsung Station or a Google Nest Hub.

And the CSA noted that standard is built to allow founding companies like Google and Apple to endorse their own platforms, rather than a Matter smarthome app. The end of the Google Blog post from last December is telling, handily advising you that “to make sure devices from other brands have been tested to work well with Google devices, also look for the Works With Google Home badge.”

With no visibility to consumers – no app on your phone, no settings in your iPhone or Android device, no options to tick in Windows, no logo anywhere in the Windows, iOS, or Android software – Matter is purely behind the scenes.

Amazon is at a crossroads with its devices. At the end of the last decade, Amazon’s ambition was to include Alexa in as many devices as possible. And that meant throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. Echo Buds. The strange Echo Frames smart glasses. The cute Echo Input. And in 2021 the still niche Amazon Astro robot and drone-based Ring Always Home Cam, both of which have had limited releases since. There was even an Alexa microwave.

In short, Amazon seems like it would try anything. And it had the money to do so, of course, But such frippery can’t last forever and last year Business Insider suggested that 10,000 jobs were being axed at the company, with the Alexa unit one of the worst affected under new chief executive Andy Jassy.

It was suggested that the Worldwide Digital group was on track to lose $10 billion during 2022, with a lot blamed on the failure of Alexa to become a cash cow. Not that it ever would have been able to, of course. It doesn’t make additional revenue. Voice shopping? Doesn’t really happen. Apps? Free. Alexa devices? Sold at a loss or break even. It’s no wonder the cash didn’t come.

for the last decade, Home Assistant has been the go-to software for privacy-focused nerds who want all the benefits that Apple, Google, and Amazon products provide with infinitely better flexibility and fewer security risks. And now, for the software’s 10th birthday, the people behind Home Assistant are introducing a new product in the hopes of extending it beyond the domain of nerds: the Home Assistant Green.

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Priced at $99 and planned as a permanent item alongside the Home Assistant Yellow, what makes the Home Assistant Green novel is not that it has powerful, high-end hardware, although the RK3566 quad-core CPU is fast enough to run the software without issue. What makes the device unique is the 32GB eMMC storage that’s preloaded with Home Assistant’s platform. It’s a more affordable and much easier entryway for people who want to dip their feet in the water without having to flash a memory card from another PC. The unit also comes with 4GB of LDDR4x RAM, a few USB 2.0 slots, an HDMI out, and a microSD slot for expansion.

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“Currently we’re aiming for the audience we call the ‘outgrower,’” Schoutsen explained via Discord. “It’s the one that uses Amazon / Apple etc., runs into the limitations and wants more. Searches the web and finds Home Assistant. At that point users already know they want a smart home and are looking for solutions to their problems, which Home Assistant generally can solve. We believe that with requiring a Raspberry Pi to get started or the relatively high price of the Yellow (you don’t know if your problems will get solved for $200), we were missing out on a good chunk of outgrowers. So with Green, we’re trying to offer a way for anyone to get started with Home Assistant.”

Sensors are some of the most important components homeowners consider when piecing together their smart home system. These little gadgets may not look like much, but smart home sensors help to watch over motion, entry into your home, temperature, humidity, flooding, and even the detection of glass window breakage.

No one company services all of your smart-home needs. My lightbulbs are from Philips, my plugs are from Meross, my watering system is from Hunter, and my air conditioners are from Midea. In some cases, these products require you to purchase a separate hub from them, which acts as the controller, and almost all have an app you need to download as well. They use a few different connectivity standards like Zigbee, Z-wave, Ha-low and others, and no one standard dominates the market share.

Once the products are up and running, you can simply add them to a home control hub, like SmartThings or Google Home (and, in limited cases, Apple HomeKit or Alexa). The majority of the time, you interact with the home control, so you don’t need to think about the jumbled spaghetti of tech underneath it, but you still need all those random apps on your phone and extra hardware hanging out in your house. When your power goes out, it’s notification chaos, and it’s an extra hurdle when shopping to ensure the device you’re buying uses a standard that’ll be accepted by your home control hub.

In a Matter standard future, there are no separate hubs and apps—just one accepted standard used by everyone. No more having to decide between Apple or Google for home control: You can use whatever you want. The universality of Matter means you choose one home control hub and stick with it, aggregating everything else to it. Most importantly, any company can build a Matter home control hub, and it will work with all Matter devices. The devices work over wifi, ethernet and Thread, but you may need a bridge for Thread. (Some Matter home control hubs have that bridge, but some don’t—yet.)

You'd be lying if you haven't heard of Philips Hue, and I'd also be seriously surprised if you haven't got at least one of its products. Known for its incredible range of smart lighting, Philips Hue has been a driving force for the entire smart home industry. It really is no surprise that it holds top spaces in our best smart light switches and best smart bulbs buying guides. Philips Hue also recently announced the launch of several new products at IFA 2023, as well as a significant Matter update. Exciting times, right?

Well, John Lewis must be in the same celebratory mood as it has announced a huge 3-day sale across most of the Philips Hue range. It has discounted a huge amount of products by 20%, particularly across some of Philips Hue's bestsellers.

The Xiaomi Dafang IP camera is a indoor motorized WiFi camera capable of 1080P resolution and decent night-vision, its price is cheap but in exchange you are tied to the Xiaomi’s Mi Home App & Cloud.

The Xiaomi Dafang IP camera is the successor of the $15 Xiaomi Xiaofang Camera and continues the line of Xiaomi’s range of quality inexpensive IP cameras. The new model comes with a set of new features: better image quality, MicroSD Port, a rotating gimbal, on the back a USB port which can ¹be used to charge other devices, and a variety of alarm sensors and more. In this post, we take a closer look at camera CFW alternative open source firmware install.

I've got one but the house move seems to have made it shy (keeps turning to the wall), so it looks like nothing will be lost by trying this.

1. Best smart lock overall: Level Lock+
2. Best smart lock for a range of options: Yale Assure Lock 2
3. Best smart lock for Apple home key: Schlage Encode Plus
4. Best smart lock for existing deadbolts: August Home Wi-Fi Smart Lock (4th Generation)
5. Best value smart lock: Wyze Lock
6. Best smart lock for renters: SwitchBot Lock
7. Best smart lock for Airbnb: Lockly Vision Elite

In the context of the numerous announcements this week, one little thing has unfortunately been somewhat overlooked. However, in case of an emergency, this little thing could be worth its weight in gold for all of us. From October, Philips Hue will finally offer spare parts for its products.

“Lose a power cable in a move? Need new mounts for your Play gradient lightstrip? ” writes Philips Hue on its website. “Find the replacement parts you need to extend the life of your Philips Hue products.”

The consumer champion Which? found companies appear to be gathering far more data than is needed for products to function. This includes smart TVs that ask for users’ viewing habits and a smart washing machine that requires people’s date of birth.

Rocio Concha, director of policy and advocacy at Which?, said: “Consumers have already paid for smart products, in some cases thousands of pounds, so it is excessive that they have to continue to ‘pay’ with their personal information.”

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For smart cameras and doorbells, Which? found Ezviz devices, sold by major high-street retailers including Argos, had by far the most tracking firms active. This included TikTok’s business marketing unit, Pangle, Huawei, as well as Google and Meta.

Every single smart camera and doorbell brand Which? assessed used tracking services from Google, while Blink and Ring also connected to parent company Amazon. Google’s Nest product demands a user’s full name, email, date of birth and gender.

I'm looking for a smart power strip, which allows me to remote control and schedule on/off.

Last year I bought Hey!'s smart power strip. Hey! is a UK brand, but turn out its products are just branded Chinese products. I used it anyway but it just bricked itself last month.

For quality, safety, and security reasons, I would prefer a non-made-in-China smart power strip.

Compatibility with Home Assistant is prefered, but not 100% required. I'm interested in switching to Home Assistant but I haven't yet.

Thanks for any suggestions!

cross-posted: https://lemmy.world/post/4556320

Home Assistant integration for energy consumption data from UK SMETS (Smart) meters using the Hildebrand Glow API.

This integration works without requiring a consumer device provided by Hildebrand Glow and can work with your existing smart meter. You'll need to set up your smart meter for free in the Bright app on Android or iOS. This will only work when using the Data Communications Company (DCC) backend, which all SMETS 2 meters and some SMETS 1 meters do (more information). Once you can see your data in the app, you are good to go.

My partner and I are getting a cat and consider getting a robot vacuum cleaner for our apartment to help keep it clean. Up until now, I've been against getting one due to privacy concerns and negative reports about certain manufacturers (e.g., iRobot/Roomba). Now I'm reevaluating, because my partner is sensitive to dust, and regular vacuuming will be a must.

Does anyone have any experience or recommendations about manufacturers or models with a light privacy footprint or good reputation on that front?

I am aware that most robots that actually work will also gather data, and newer models even incorporate photo/video to improve pattern recognition performance. Still, I would be more comfortable with one that does that within reason (e.g., collects as little data as possible, transfers as little as possible to remote servers, encrypts data for transfer and storage).

Self-described technologist and "dreamer of optimistic futures" Danilo Campos has put together an open source Espressif ESP32-based controller and home automation terminal for heat pump systems: the ThermTerm.

"I love my heat pumps. They're energy efficient and the fastest way to heat or cool any room," Campos explains. "But I've always hated the remote controls that come with heat pumps. They're clunky and hard to read, especially in low light. In theory, you can program schedules for your heat pumps, but in practice the remotes are too frustrating to use for that. ThermTerm solves all the problems I've had with these physical controls, while integrating the heat pumps into Home Assistant via MQTT."

cross-posted from: https://radiation.party/post/94095

Nest Aware prices have increased to $8 a month or $80 per year, up from $6/month or $60/year, as first reported by 9to5Google. This is the first price hike for the video recording plan since 2020. Users still get 30 days of event video history, which records when the camera detects something.

Nest Aware Plus, the higher tier subscription, now costs $15/month or $150/year, up from $12/month or $120/year. Users still get the same 60 days of event history and 10 days of 24/7 video history.

The best home security systems constitute a series of interlinked devices that users can remotely manage through their smartphones or computers. The typical UK home would have two or three cameras with motion detection and at least one door or window sensor. SimpliSafe’s The Tower package, for example, includes enough components to cover an three-bedroom semi-detached home and offers an affordable, user-friendly home security solution.

Our researchers have considered 61 different packages from 17 providers, and refined these down to leave ten best home security systems suitable for a range of homeowners.

The other approach is to buy smart light switches that replace your existing wall-mounted switches. These attach to the existing wiring of your home and act as regular switches, but also connect to a smartphone app via your Wi-Fi network for enhanced lighting control. With such devices, you can install a regular-looking switch, but one that has smart functionality baked in.

Things are looking brighter for smart home owners. After months of delays and uncertainty, the Philips Hue Bridge is finally being updated to support the new smart home standard Matter. A software update will roll out in September, letting users connect their Hue systems with other Matter devices and apps. This means that every existing Philips Hue product will now work with Matter, all the way back to their original bulbs launched in 2012.

cross-posted from: https://radiation.party/post/93465

[ sourced from The Verge ]

As we're trending, I thought I'd lean into it and see what everyone is using.

If you have Hive products, as far as I can tell, when they stop working they cannot be hacked or repurposed, so they are just landfill.

So this is a general thread for people to seek alternatives for their soon to be defunct kit and offer suggestions. There will likely be more general threads about Home Assistant and other more general matters which will also be relevant.

So what do you need replacing?