Straight after the announcement by a Netherlands base company of their forthcoming ‘Proline’ doorbell cam, complete with HomeKit compatibility no less, Netatmo have announced their own doorbell cam. As with all existing doorbell cams, like Ring and August, it features an integrated doorbell, speaker, microphone and camera that can notify you of doorbell presses, visitors or any unrecognised movement, via Netatmo’s ‘People detection’ feature, or allow you to converse with anyone at your door via the intercom, wherever you are in the world. The Smart Video Doorbell, as it’s known, will replace any standard hard-wired doorbell, and uses wi-fi for connection. You can also store recorded video in the same way you can with their HomeKit Welcome camera, via an SD card or via Dropbox or a FTP server. The Doorbell camera supports 1080p video quality, but also includes an HDR function to cope with sudden changes in brightness. Infrared night vision is also built-in, so you’re able to see in the darkest of conditions, along with anti-theft and tampering detection as well as being fully weatherproof. Although this product is not slated for release until the second half of 2019, the fact that this is in a product class that was widely (mis)reported as dead last year as far as HomeKit was concerned, it seems to have re-energised a lot of HomeKit fans, who’d all but given up hope of seeing a suitable video doorbell, following the dashed promises of some of the larger names.

With the most recent update to the Mi Home app, users now in effect, have the opportunity to control their non-HomeKit Mijia or Xiaomi devices using Siri and Siri Shortcuts, which, thanks to Apple, is a major breakthrough in tying up what are for the most part smart home products that speak different ‘languages’. In fact you could almost liken Siri Shortcuts to the ‘Universal Translator’ used in Star Trek (uh-oh, geek alert…)! Initially it seemed that the iOS Shortcuts functionality (found the Mi Home app under Profile > Settings> Lab Features > iOS Shortcut) was only working if you had the app set to Mainland China, but today I found that it also works for me under the Taiwan Server, which I have to use for certain Taiwan specific products, so if you have some things that have to be under a specific server other than Mainland China, like the EU, it might be worth checking to see if this functionality is available to you. On the subject of different server regions, it’s also important to note that if you create shortcuts under one server, then swap over to another server in the Mi Home app, the Shortcuts will not work until you switch back to the server connected to the shortcuts you created. So in my example, I created a Shortcut whilst connected to the Taiwan server. If I then switch to the Mainland China server (as I often do), these shortcuts will not work. So, today I’ll show you a step-by-step guide on how to use the Mi Home app and Siri Shortcuts to control a non-HomeKit device – in this case the Mi Air Purifier 2. NOTE: Before starting, you must enable the ‘iOS Shortcut’ option in the aforementioned location. 1. Starting on the Home Page, click on the Automation tab at the bottom of the screen 2. In the Automation page, click on the ‘+’ icon in the top left corner 3. In your automation, first select ‘Complete manually’ in the IF section, which will bring you to the ‘THEN’ section 4. In the ‘THEN’ section, choose your device – in this case I’m choosing the Mi Air Purifier 2 5. Select the specific action you require for the automation – in this case I will choose ‘Switch to sleep mode’ 6. Once you’ve selected your action, you’ll return to see the complete automation. If you want to restrict the automation to certain times of day, adjust the ‘effective time period’ accordingly. Click Save… 7. Once you’ve clicked on ‘Save’ you must name your automation. The app will create one for you, but you can use anything you like 8. Once the name is saved, your automation will appear alongside any other automation you’ve previously created. My new automation appears under the ‘Manual’ header. Click on the ‘Add to Siri’ button at the top of the screen… 9. Once you click on ‘Add to Siri’ you will then get the option to rename the automation, remove it, or proceed to Siri Shortcuts. Click on ‘Add to Siri’ again 10. Now you are ready to Add the automation to Siri, but if you want to change the phrase to something simpler for when you say it to Siri, you can do it here, by tapping on the ‘Type Phrase’button. 11. Enter the phrase you prefer, in this case I’m simply calling it ‘Sleep Mode’, which is easier than the standard phrase taken automatically from the automation itself. 12. Click Done, then your Siri Shortcut has been created! Now with this set of instructions you’re now able to say ‘Hey Siri – Sleep Mode’ and the automation will take place. Unlike a standard Siri Shortcut that you create in the Shortcuts app however, you don’t automatically have it generate a tab. This can still be done in the Shortcuts app, so if you want to continue, just follow the additional instructions below. 1. Go into the Shortcuts app, where you’ll see tabs for the shortcuts already created. Click on the ‘Create Shortcut’ tab. 2. You will then be able to start adding actions, but for this process we’re simply going to click in the search bar to find the automations we just created. 3. Once in the search section, click on the Siri Suggestions option. 4. You’ll then see a series of suggestions from various apps on your iPhone/iPad. Scroll until you find the Mi Home section, which will have your previously created automations. Select the required automation – in this case, ‘Run Scene “Mi Air Purifier 2 Switch to sleep mode” (note that it isn’t using the Siri Phrase you created earlier, but the automation name you first created in the Mi Home app). 5. Once you’ve selected your scene, a simple ‘recipe’ will be created with just the one step. Click on the settings tab, just below where it says ‘Done’. 6. Here you can give a name to the shortcut, along with choosing an icon and a colour, all of which will show up on the tile that is created for the Shortcuts app. 7. With all that done, you will then have your automation as a tile in the Shortcuts app. As you can see below this will allow me to change the mode of my Mi Air Purifier to either ‘Favourite’, ‘Auto’ or ‘Sleep’ mode, all without having to open the Mi Home app. The shortcuts tabs are also available on the ‘today screen’ section, by simply swiping from left to right when you’re on the home screen (although you will have to add ‘Shortcuts’ to your shortcuts…). As you can with the final two screenshots, what you can do in an automation is all dependent on what is available in the Mi Home app as it relates to a particular smart device; The Air purifier has 7 options, whereas the Mi Standing Fan has many more. Finally, don’t forget that you can still just say ‘Hey Siri’ along with the appropriate phrase without opening anything, but with the addition of being able to use it in the Shortcuts app, you then expose a simple non-HomeKit automation to a whole world of other possibilities, that can be part of a larger sequence of automations.

Reviewing products can be either fun, or a chore, depending on whether the product in question has a lot to offer, especially over similar devices, but it’s always nice to be able to examine a product that offers something different. Even if the particulars of the device are already covered, as long as they’re implemented in a new or interesting way, or combined with other sensors in ways that make it of interest, then it makes it all the more fun. In this case, we definitely have something that fits the bill in terms of fun – the Awareness Switch, by Xiaoyan (xiaoyan.io). In essence, this is a switch with two different actions (single and double press at the moment), dual motion sensors, a temperature sensor and an ambient light sensor. Before I begin, even though Xiaoyan are new to many readers, it’s important (for me at least) to let you know how the name is pronounced! so, the first part is Xiao, pronounced “shao”, which means small or little. The last part – yan means Swallow, as in the bird, and it’s actually pronounced as though the ‘a’ is an ‘e’, so “yen”not “yan”. Good to get that out the way, seeing as I pronounced it wrong in my overview video… Ok, so let’s get into a quick unboxing; As you know, if you’ve read my other reviews, I like the packaging to be decent – both sturdy and well designed. This packaging is on the understated side, but I like that, and if you see the current complete range, you’ll see that they have a consistent theme of white boxes, with green and blue print (with black for small text) which I’m a fan of. The box isn’t the strongest I’ve encountered, but as long as it has a reasonable level of protection and the device is held in place, that’s good enough, and it is held in place really well. There’s not a lot on the box itself other than some basic info on the back, most of which is in Chinese (given that this is from China, and for the Chinese market currently). The contents of the box consist of the Awareness Switch itself, a manual (also in Chinese) and a circular double-sided sticker for adhering the switch to a surface. It already comes with one sticker already attached to the back of the switch, so this is a spare, should you want to relocate it after you’ve already stuck it in place initially. I must state from the outset, that this and the other Xiaoyan devices that will be reviewed later, aren’t HomeKit compatible in and of themselves as such. Only the Xiaoyan Home Center is HomeKit compatible, and all child devices go through this hub, and then go on to be exposed to HomeKit, much the same as the Philips Hue Bridge, and in the same way, these devices communicate with the hub via Zigbee, whilst the Home Center connects to HomeKit via a connection to your router/modem via an ethernet cable, just like the Hue Bridge. So, all devices will have to be added via the Xiaoyan app initially before appearing in the Home app. Getting onto the Awareness Switch itself, it’s certainly not massive, but you’re also not in much danger of losing it down the back of your sofa, coming in at 88 x 88 x 23mm. It also has a bit of weight to it, but not unduly so, feeling like it can take a bit of use without any real trouble. The same also applies to the main part of the device, the switch itself, which has a bit of resistance, making it feel quite high quality, with no movement or ‘wiggle’, like you tend to get with the Hue Dimmer Switches. The two different actions can be programmed as with any HomeKit based switch, and if you use a 3rd party app, like the Eve app, then you can get more out of the two actions. As this has an ambient light sensor built-in, it can also detect if it’s dark where the button is placed, and emit a green ring if colour around the switch for roughly one second once pressed, so you can not only see the switch in low-level light (once it’s been pressed), but it also acts as confirmation that your press has been registered. The base of the device doesn’t really feature much other than the adhesive ring that allows you to stick it to the surface, although personally, I prefer it freestanding at present, but with the presence of the dual motion sensors (which we’ll look at later), you may well need to stick it to a wall for some use cases. When you first get the device unpacked, there’s a small strip of plastic that needs to be removed to make the batteries active. You can see the slot on the base where the strip of plastic is removed from. Looking at the edge of the device, you have a small slot that allows entry to the inside of the switch. Now this was the one thing I wasn’t so keen on, as I found it difficult to get into the switch without making some superficial marks to the plastic case. I used a thin dinner knife to slowly prize it open and it wasn’t difficult, but if it simply twisted off, then it would have been a lot better in my opinion. Once seeing the inner workings, it may not be possible to do it this way, but it still should be easier to get into it than I found it. Happily, the batteries last at least 12 months, so it’s not something you’d have to do often. The device is powered by two standard AAA batteries, so you’re not going to be struggling for replacements, thankfully. Onto what else is on the edge of the device and firstly you have a small LED indicator light. This is normally only in use when initially pairing the device to the Xiaoyan Home Center, as previously mentioned. When you first go into pairing mode the indicator should flash green fast to show it’s attempting to pair to the home Center. A short but slow green flash will indicate a successful pairing. If it flashes yellow at a medium rate continuously, then pairing has failed. Besides the indicator, we get to the main unique feature of this device, which is not one, but two motion sensors. Just so you know, these are two separate sensors that appear in the Home app individual devices, and as such can be used separately for triggers and automations, although Xiaoyan inform me that they’ve been working on special algorithms to make them also work together intelligently if need be. It should be noted, that the timeout/reset for these motion sensors is set to 15 seconds, and there’s currently no option to configure the timeout length like you can with the Eve Motion sensor. From my rudimentary tests, the motion sensors are pretty fast, and have a reasonable detection distance, even in low light, so it only remains for me to figure out what I can do with these sensors to work in tandem. One obvious use would be for use in a long corridor, where one sensor detects someone coming from their bedroom and turns the corridor lights on, so then the person heads down the corridor to a bathroom at the other end. When the person passes by the Awareness switch, they would then trigger the second sensor, which would turn lights off behind them. If anyone can think of other instances, then ‘answers on a postcard’ as they say! The sensors have been cleverly angled, so that in the situation where they’re placed on a wall, you’re not losing some of the motion sensors’ potential ‘field of detection’ that would otherwise be covering a static wall if the motion sensors were pointing straight out. This leaves the two other sensors, which is the ambient light sensor, that I touched on before, where it’s used to detect the light levels in order to let the switch emit the green ring of light if it’s dark enough, but as with the Philips Hue Motion Sensor, you can get quite creative with using the light sensor in automations or triggers, although only 3rd party apps have this ability at present, not the standard Home app. The other sensor is the one that measures temperature, which once again can be cleverly deployed in automations, should you need it. Wrapping up, we’ve got ourselves a programmable switch, two motion sensors, an ambient light sensor and a temperature sensor, all of which are represented in HomeKit with their own tiles, so you’re going to have to accommodate five different tiles in your Home app. This review hasn’t been a chore in this case, as I find it intriguing to think of the potential with a device that packs in so many things, and although it might seem to some that these sensors aren’t somehow useful to each other, they’d be wrong, because all of these can and will work together to make sure that wherever it’s placed, you’ll get light (from the ambient light and motion sensors), and warmth (via an automation linking a thermostat to the temperature sensor), as well as special functionality from the switch, depending on what you program it to do. As it’s based on Zigbee, there’s no problem with it communicating to the hub, even if the internet is down, and I’ve always found Zigbee to be very fast and reliable in other devices, whilst also not bogging your wi-fi strength down. You can currently purchase this switch and any of the other sensors separately via AliExpress, but you’ll have to search for yourself I’m afraid, as I don’t want to point to stores there that I can’t verify as reliable. That being said, Xiaoyan have said they’re working on getting their devices onto amazon.com, so hopefully buying them will be very straightforward soon. In fact Xiaoyan are already on the shelves of a few official Apple Stores in China, so this bodes well not only for the quality of the products, but also their availability. You can check out more information on Xiaoyan and their products at xiaoyan.io

Niko design supports the Philips Hue ecosystem With the new dimmer switch from Niko you can not only turn on and off smart lighting from Philips Hue, but you can also call up or dim pre-programmed light scenes at the touch of a button. The switch is easy to program via the Philips Hue app. As Friends of Hue, the Niko switch is fully compatible with all Philips Hue solutions. The Niko dimmer switch integrates seamlessly into your interior and fits perfectly with your other switch material. The dimmer switch is available in Niko Intense White and Niko Intense Antracite. Thanks to the wireless control you can mount this dimmer switch on the wall without caps or breakage. The dimmer switch also works on kinetic energy and therefore you do not need batteries. You can connect up to 25 Niko dimmer switches per Philips Hue bridge. Main features of the Niko dimmer switch: *Cordless and battery-free switch, easy to install by means of screws or double-sided tape *Can be set to your size. Thanks to the four push buttons you choose: – Or imagine your 4 favorite light scenes – Or combine your 2 favorite light scenes with the dimming function *You can connect up to 25 Niko dimmer switches to 1 Philips Hue Bridge *Available in 2 colors: White and anthracite

Chinese smart home company LifeSmart, have released a new video on YouTube, showing of their latest piece of tech, in the form of what seems to be a modular lighting device, similar in form and function to the Nanoleaf Aurora, although on a smaller scale. As this video has only just been released, there seems to be no other mention of this particular product on their own international website, so for now, the video is the only thing we have to go on as to what it is capable of. For those unaware of LifeSmart, they make a whole raft of smart devices, including  air purifiers, locks, motion sensors and cameras amongst many other products. If you’ve also been following our site from the beginning in April, you will be aware of their hubs and smart IR blaster/night-light, which at the time of reviewing them, were actually HomeKit compatible, albeit unofficially. This was done via some beta software within their app that generated a HomeKit code for one of their hubs that you could then be used to bring many (but not all) of their devices to HomeKit and the Home app. They’ve since removed this piece of software, presumably at the direction of Apple, so currently unless you’ve already got one of their hubs set up with HomeKit, new users can’t connect to HomeKit, which brings us to this device, which probably won’t be HomeKit compatible – unless like me, you’re one of those people who still has their hub connected to HomeKit! LifeSmart have already launched the companion app for iOS, with dedicated iPad and iPhone versions, simply called Quantum. All this being said, assuming LifeSmart go down the Software authentication route, or simply update their app to be compatible with the new Siri Shortcuts, I would predict, that at the right price, there will definitely be room for this product in many homes – certainly mine at least.

Madrid, September 17, 2018 - Spanish consumer electronics brand SPC presents a revolutionary line of IoT (Internet of Things) solutions for the Digital Home that stands out for its ease of use and compatibility. This new range of products consists of 17 intelligent devices interconnected to each other and managed from anywhere easily thanks to the SPC IoT application available on Android and iOS. It is estimated that by 2020 there will be more than 50,000 million devices in the world ready to connect to the Internet, equivalent to an average of 6 devices per person. These objects collect information, process it and relate to each other to anticipate our needs. In this context, SPC is committed to offering a truly differential solution that can mean a new vision of the intelligent home from the hand of a strategic partner: Tuya, a powerful Asian startup that has developed technology capable of turning any element of our day to day into intelligent. In this connected world, SPC is committed to being at the forefront of technology in the Internet of Things in order to help us live more productively and efficiently, healthier, safer and fun. SPC's new Smart Home product line solves the main impediments that have hitherto slowed down the implementation of the intelligent home (perception of "luxury", lack of security, incompatibility between devices, the existence of many different apps for management, etc.) giving priority to safety, ease of use and comfort. In addition, it not only allows remote control and programming of our devices, but also makes it possible for them to interact with each other. Within this framework, SPC presents 17 intelligent solutions that are distributed in four different areas: security, energy, lighting and comfort. Lighting: light in the home is a vital element that completely transforms the environment and mood of people. Now, with smart bulbs developed by SPC you can activate, modulate or transform the lighting to easily create light scenes to your liking. SPC has designed 7 models of bulbs and LED strips with different colour temperatures that can be adjusted to any type of location to create warm, relaxing, inspiring or fun spaces. Power: imagine the possibility of controlling your electrical appliances from anywhere. The smart home is now a reality. With SPC's Power products, you can conveniently turn on or off devices connected to the power supply remotely, so you won't have to worry about forgetting something plugged in again. Save time and energy with the Clever Plug and Clever Power Strip. Security: The Internet of Things takes a big step toward keeping people connected. SPC's range of intelligent security products is made up of video cameras that give you the peace of mind of seeing that your loved ones are doing well, especially for the most vulnerable, such as children and the elderly. The Lares and Teia cameras keep your home under control, while the Angel baby monitor keeps an eye on the little ones while they sleep. Comfort: The comfort product collection takes care of household chores to make your life more comfortable and simple. SPC has created new home automation devices such as aroma diffusers, infrared controls and vacuum robots. Baamba and Baamba Gyro 4.0 sweep, vacuum and pass the mop. They have several intelligent cleaning modes and have a cliff sensor to avoid stairs and other falls. You can program the cleaning of the house with a single touch of the screen from the application SPC IoT to find an ideal environment when you return. The possibilities of interaction with technology are increasing and the Internet of Things has come to transform people's lifestyles. The benefits that SPC brings with its new Smart Home line based on IoT are infinite. The advantages derived from this innovation will be visible in our work, in our leisure time, in the management and enjoyment of the home and even in the environment. For more technical information on the different devices that make up SPC's new IoT range, please consult the complete catalogue here. About SPC SPC is a technological brand specialized in the development of mart products for people and companies. Their objective is to respond to the needs of a society that wants to be connected, that looks for mobility, that has a smart vision on technology, using it with intelligence and way of knowing, with the objective of making their lives better. SCP has more than 25 years of career in the IT sector and nowadays they are launching a wide range of smart products as tablets, smartwatches or Bluetooth speakers. Their objective is to place technology in the rage of everyone, designing products that combine quality, functionality, price and design for current trends. About Tuya Smart Tuya Smart makes technology solutions for OEMs, turning traditional devices such as lighting sockets into IoT-connected devices for the smart home. Tuya Smart has developed thousands of software and hardware products for companies including TCL and Archos, and currently serves over 10,000 clients across the globe, reaching millions of consumers with over 20 billion daily device requests and more than 6 million daily AI interactions. Tuya’s cloud service, which has accumulated data upwards of 1PB (petabyte), complies with high-level encryption technology to guarantee its client’s data security with GDPR certification. Founded in 2014, Tuya Smart has offices in Silicon Valley and has data centres in Portland (Oregon, US) and Frankfurt (Germany). Tuya Smart is the first global platform that fully works with Amazon Echo, Google Home and IFTTT. (Original link: https://en.tuya.com/news-details/0000000032)

August 29, 2018. Tuya Smart, the world’s leading AIoT (AI+IoT) platform, today announced at IFA 2018 in Berlin its Global Brand Empowering Project. With the aim of bringing internet connectivity to mainstream B2C brands that would otherwise not have the technological know-how to transform their products into smarthome compatible devices, Tuya Smart is continuing its mission to help more than 10,000 enterprises make their services and products smarter across the globe. From September, Tuya will begin strategic collaboration with German, Spanish, Italian and American manufacturers, OEMs and brands, to create a “Powered by Tuya” label that will turn traditional consumer electronic brands into leading references in the AI+IOT industry. Tuya Smart is already collaborating with brands such as TCL and recently announced a new partnership with French multinational electronics company Archos. Smart Interconnected Platform Innovation Award Also at IFA, Tuya Smart announced that it has been awarded a prize by IFA and IDG for its innovative solutions in the smart platform sector. The IFA Product Technical Innovation Award 2018 for Smart Interconnected Platform Innovation will be presented to Tuya Smart founder and COO Alex Yang on September 1 at 10.45am, between Hall 5.2 & 6.2. Speaking of the award, Alex Yang said: “Tuya Smart is honoured to have been awarded this prestigious prize at Europe’s biggest tech tradeshow. We firmly believe in our ambition to revolutionize the smart home market through our AI+IoT solutions, so it is very encouraging to be recognized by IFA and the International Data Group, who we thank enormously.” Going to IFA? Join Tuya Smart in Hall 26 – Stand 226 If you will be at IFA, don’t forget that you can discover for yourself the amazing Smart Home Experience Zone with Tuya’s Alexa-controlled lights, curtains and security cameras, at Tuya Smart’s stand: Hall 26 - Stand 226. On the stand, product managers and technicians will be at hand to explain the devices’ respective functions which can be set and controlled via app or voice. Tuya Smart Co-Founder and COO Alex Yang will also be available for interview on the stand to discuss the future of Tuya Smart as well as the role of AIoT in our daily lives. A special cocktail for the press will be held on August 31 and on September 1 from 3pm to 5pm. About Tuya Smart Tuya Smart makes technology solutions for OEMs, turning traditional devices such as lighting sockets into IoT-connected devices for the smart home. Tuya Smart has developed thousands of software and hardware products for companies including TCL and Archos, and currently serves over 10,000 clients across the globe, reaching millions of consumers with over 20 billion daily device requests and more than 6 million daily AI interactions. Tuya’s cloud service, which has accumulated data upwards of 1PB (petabyte), complies with high-level encryption technology to guarantee its client’s data security with GDPR certification. Founded in 2014, Tuya Smart has offices in Silicon Valley and has data centres in Portland (Oregon, US) and Frankfurt (Germany). Tuya Smart is the first global platform that fully works with Amazon Echo, Google Home and IFTTT. (Original link: https://en.tuya.com/news-details/0000000034)

Koogeek have been churning out quite a few products over the last couple of years, and if you follow their progress, you’ll see there’s plenty more to come, with a smart padlock, camera, a new white bulb and an air quality monitor, so do start saving! As for the current batch of products they have already available, this is one product I find really useful – in fact I’ve got two of them – and they’re really handy when you’ve got a set of regular lamps that need that automated touch. In my case they’re used for a corner tall lamp, and two floor lights on either side of our sofa. Starting off with first impressions of the box itself; now ordinarily you wouldn’t need to concern yourself with the box that the device comes in, but considering a lot of people buy online these days, which in turn means these are shipped – in many cases, long distances – it makes sense to know that the box that your device comes in has at least a modicum of protection. This box doesn’t really provide a lot of said protection to be honest, and although both of mine arrived without any damage, you could see the bashing that a delivered item can sustain, even when surrounded in bubble wrap, so not great in terms of protective packaging. The design itself is very ‘Apple’ though, so that’s something if you’re into the aesthetic side of things. Importantly You have the ‘Works with HomeKit’ branding on the front, with a few bullet points on the back, listing some of the features of the Power Strip, like Independent Control, USB Charging, Energy Monitoring and more, which we’ll touch on later. One you’ve opened the box, it’s clear there really isn’t a lot of protection provided, being that the Strip itself comes in a simple latex bag with elastic bands to keep everything in place. Despite this, once unwrapped, the Strip feels really ‘tough’; I’ve owned a lot of power strips over the years, and this definitely feels a lot more substantial than any of those. The power cord feels very thick and durable too, so this soon leaves you feeling a lot more confident. Setting up the device is super easy, if you’re used to installing devices via HomeKit; All you need is to plug the device into the mains, and have your HomeKit code at the ready. This is provided inside the accompanying booklet (not pictured) and on the device itself, but seeing as you might be placing this in a more difficult to reach place, the code inside the booklet suddenly becomes very handy. As is standard with a HomeKit device installation, it’s a breeze, with the now familiar ‘Add accessory, Scan Code’ scenario. Once you’ve gone through this simple process, you’ll have to name each of these outlets, starting with the 1st outlet, being the one nearest to the ‘Koogeek logo (or the one furthest from the USB ports). As all three outlets are on one device, you can only choose one room for all three outlets to be in, obviously. Once the outlets are named, they are ready to use. The Power strip allows for three individually controlled outlets, along with three physical buttons with corresponding LEDs to control the power and indicate the power state. All fairly straightforward. Along with these outlets you get three USB ports, two of which are labelled ‘iPhone/iPod’ along with a third, more powerful port labelled ‘iPad’. The ports themselves provide 1 amp of power for the first two ports, and 2.1 amps for the iPad port. These US ports cannot be individually or collectively controlled, so they’re as dumb as it gets in terms of ‘Smarts’,  however they do free up sockets that otherwise might be used solely for a USB charger, so in that respect they’re very welcome. The iPad port is powerful enough for me to power my basic 3m LED light strip, so this also saves me finding a USB plug and the use of an outlet to plug it into. On the back of the device at the bottom, you have the details of what the device is capable of and what kind of power it’s designed to handle. At the other end, the HomeKit code along with serial number and MAC code are also provided. At the side of the device there’s a circuit breaker, useful in the event that the device is overloaded, it would cut the power, allowing you to use this button to reset the device to receive power again, which you tend to find on most power strips these days. On the subject of power, the Power Strip does protect against power surges. The rated current is 15 amps, with a total rated power of 1800 watts. Finally, it should be stressed that this is designed for indoor use only. Overall, this is a really great piece of kit, which not only provides three outlets for just a little more than the price of one smart plug, in some cases, but as the power plug itself is standard, it doesn’t take up two wall outlets. This being the US version, its input is rated for 120v AC and 60Hz, but Koogeek have since released a version suitable for the EU, with a UK version in the works, allegedly.

Chris Young from homekitgeek.com takes a look at the Belkin WeMo Mini Smart Plug, the very first Smart Home device to take advantage of Apple’s recently introduced Software Authentication protocol.

It has been an extraordinary year for Tuya to witness both Series B and C rounds within a short time of nine months since last October. The lately closed Series C funding consists of Australia’s sovereign wealth fund Future Fund, NEA, CICC Silicon Valley Fund, China Broadband Capital, Quadrille Capital, C.M. Capital and other financial institutions, with the generous capital injection of which Tuya would further its journey in piloting the smart manufacturing in China. There was a time when the Internet industry was in full swing but intelligent hardware still not popular. Since the year of 2014, Tuya has been developing its own IoT OS developer’s platform. We set up an AI team, which focuses on integrating AI technology with IoT devices, and helping clients make their products and services smarter. We also came up with the first Plug and Play solution in IoT, which can be seen as the operating system in IoT. In addition to AI technology and IoT OS product, Tuya’s Global IoT Omni Channel developed a four-layer mechanism in order to solve the last-mile problem concerning the distribution of smart products. With the determination to promote the overall industrial ecosystem, Tuya Smart has been making great endeavors, including establishing the Intelligent Academy and initiating the Intelligent Business Investment Alliance. With the new funding, Tuya will continue to promote technological innovations in AI+IoT, materialize Smart Home, Smart Business, Smart City, create new IoT’s consumer scenarios, and help more than 100,000 enterprises make their services and products smarter across the globe. In the future, Tuya Smart will recruit more talents and make full use of its unique advantages in AI+IoT to reconstruct the interaction between manufacturing brands and consumers, adding value-added services to traditional purchase, such as product upgrade, after-sales and customized service. We would exert ourselves in enabling consumers to experience “Smart Life, Smart living”, a smart platform connecting everything around the globe. (Original link: https://en.tuya.com/news-details/000000002m )

*Control your Philips Hue lights from the comfort of your couch or bed. The battery-powered Wireless Dimmer Switch with Remote smoothly adjusts the intensity and color of your Philips Hue Lights, and switches them on and off. *When using your Philips Hue Smart Dimmer Switch with Philips Hue Smart Bulbs, you can use the on-button to switch between 4 light recipes without the Philips Hue app, or use the Philips Hue app to configure your 4 favorite scenes. *Control up to 50 lights using the Philips Hue bridge, or use the Dimmer switch without the Philips Hue Bridge to control up to 10 lights. The Philips Hue Dimmer switch doesn’t require an Internet connection to work. *Installed in a minute. Simply follow the instructions in the Philips Hue app. Our default settings give you immediate control over your smart lights. Customize the scene settings in the app to fit your needs. *When you use the Philips Hue Dimmer switch with a Philips Hue bridge, the dimmer switch can be used to control any HomeKit compatible appliance via the Apple Smart Home app.

Packed with all the features you need and nothing you don’t, the CommandKit Wall Switch revolutionizes in-home lighting. The CommandKit Wall Switch engages built-in light fixtures with an integrated motion sensor, manual, timed or location-based options; it’s your choice. Easy to install and even easier to sync with the CommandKit App, it’s capable of communicating with all of the CommandKit accessories in your home so you can stop living in the dark and open your eyes to the light of CommandKit.