Home Automation Nation

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Welcome to Episode 85 of Home Automation Nation! Reuniting lost loves Google and Nest, Megan has her birthday wish come true, and more hubs that control them all. Plus, a little bit about what’s next for us at Home Automation Nation. Episode Articles & Links: Where are people really getting their smart home devices? (Home Theater Review) Google & Nest, together again? (TheVerge) Google Home: making your smart devices play nice together (EnGadget) Apple fixes a HomeKit bug (TheVerge) Hilton Hotels plays with smart home comforts (TheVerge) Who is actually buying smart home devices? Survey says… (CEPro) Jim Beam delivers a smart home gadget after Megan’s own heart (JimBeam) Comcast’s new smart home router/hub, the answer to our smart home prayers? (BusinessInsider) Sonos & Ikea, smart home odd couple…or genius speaker invention? (Variety) Save Save Save

Welcome to Episode 84 of Home Automation Nation! Black Friday 2017 was all about Amazon and smart home gizmos, the new gadget that smartens up your dumb old security system, and more. Episode Articles & Links: Amazon rules Black Friday with smart home devices (Forbes) Google Home is getting smarter (AndroidCentral) How to clear all that voice data that your Google Home or Echo is collecting (LifeHacker) Get your (gently used) smart home gear for cheaper on Swappa (AndroidCentral) Automate your lighting WITHOUT getting all new bulbs (DigitalTrends) Apple HomePod will not, in fact, be out in time for the holidays (DigitalTrends) iHome now has an outdoor plug for your holiday lights (9to5Mac) Roundup of smart home devices that “learn” (CNET) The smart home holiday checklist to use if you’re going out of town (CNET) Save Save Save

Welcome to Episode 83 of Home Automation Nation! The creepy/cool new Moon security camera that does everything, Logitech is getting into a brick house, Alexa’s new routines, and more. Episode Articles & Links: The Moon camera floats, swivels, and…well, pretty much everything (CNET, Indiegogo). Honeywell’s new security system is out now, for you Honeywell fans (Indiegogo) Smart home adoption may not be as wide-spread as you think (DigitalTrends) Logitech bricks the Harmony Link system, pissing off customers (Gearbrain) Lowe’s opening 70 smart home mini-stores in it’s big box stores this holiday season (CNBC) Alexa’s new routines make her a little more useful (BusinessInsider, CNET) Save Save Save

Welcome to Episode 82 of Home Automation Nation! We will try not to scare you with our annual security edition. Also, Amazon is trick or treating inside your house and a couple of Echo Show imitators that may or may not exist in this scary Halloween episode. Episode Articles & Links: The IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act attempts to do SOMETHING about IoT security (InternetofThingsAgenda) On the one-year anniversary of the Mirai botnet, we celebrate with the Reaper (KrebsOnSecurity) Maybe CheckPoint can help with LG’s insecurity issues (NBCNews) Google, Sprint, Cisco, and other support Platform Security Architecture (Engadget, ZDNet) Amazon Key has launched! Now you can have a stranger leave your goodies inside your house (CNBC, Wired) Will DIY home automation go extinct? Maybe (CEPro) Google’s rumored Echo Show competitor could show us YouTube videos! But, is it for real? (BusinessInsider) Lynky attempts to beat Google to the punch with it’s own Echo Show competitor (CNET, Indiegogo) Yet another button that promises to make everything smart (Mashable, Kickstarter) Save Save Save

Welcome to Episode 81 of Home Automation Nation! The growth of smart home speakers may be the death knell for traditional audio, Google Home Mini is announced and already spying, spooky smart home Halloween tricks, surveys galore and more. Episode Articles & Links: Google announces Mini and Max Google Homes (USA Today) Google Home Mini might have been spying on you already (CNET, Business Insider) Amazon searches for new ways to foil porch pirates, get packages to you by leaving them in your trunk (CNBC) or via a smart doorbell (Business Insider) Use this breakdown of voice assistants to find out which is right for you, Amazon Echo, Google Home, or others (TechCrunch) Now Alexa can tell our voices apart! (CNET) That Harmon-Kardon Cortana-enabled speaker is FINALLY almost here. We think. (HotHardware) Windows 10 users can treat PCs like smart home hubs. But is it too late? And does it work? (TheVerge) Mattel scraps Aristotle; too creepy for your kids’ room (DigitalTrends) Number of U.S. homes with smart speakers more than triples since last year (NASDAQ) Fun and spooky Halloween tricks with your smart home gadgets (Wired) Save Save Save

Welcome to Episode 79 of Home Automation Nation! And you thought we couldn’t talk about Amazon Alexa/Echo anymore?! Google tries to get to the show, and LG is playing both sides of the appliances. Episode Articles & Links: Going smart in your home is getting cheaper. A little. (TheVerge) New home builders Brookfield and Lennar continue to embrace smart home tech (BuilderOnline) Google brings a competitor to Amazon’s Echo Show (TechCrunch) All the pretty new Echos from Amazon (Fortune) Will Echo Plus’s internal hub kill the smart home hub? (TechCrunch), (FastCompany) Call your mom from your Echo (CNET) Buy a fancy new smart appliance from LG, get a free Google Home! (TheVerge) SmartThings is releasing a dongle to connect to NVIDIA Shield (StarkInsider, SmartThings.com) Winner of HGTV’s smart home flips it, keeps the car, cash, and furniture (ABC15) Nest Labs to add facial recognition to Hello smart doorbell (USNews) Check out our Amazon storefront! Find cool stuff to buy and help us get that boat! Save Save Save

Welcome to Episode 79 of Home Automation Nation! South Park season premier wreaks havoc with Alexa and Google  Home, the new iPhone will save the world, and more. Episode Articles & Links: Apple users: is the iPhone X the smart home savior for you? (Twice) Sprint & Vivint team up to put Vivint products in Sprints brick & mortar stores (DigitalTrends) Smart light switch maker Deako raises a $2.1M round of funding, looks to expand across the nation (Geekwire) TP-Link Kasa cam pairs well with Echo show, offers 1 gig free cloud storage (DigitalTrends) Coming soon: Pick up your next Echo @ Kohl’s when you go shopping for winter sweaters (CNBC) Watch the FULL episode of South Park’s Season 21 premier featuring Alexa and Google Home (Comedy Central) Coasting Home update: We check out boats at Seattle’s fall Boats Afloat show on South Lake Union and check out even more boats at a local brokerage. (Thanks to broker Kirk Peterson for showing us around!) Save Save Save

Welcome to Episode 78 of Home Automation Nation! Smart home frenemies, why we should always be a little paranoid, and more. Episode Articles & Links: Microsoft’s Cortana assistant and Amazon’s Alexa, now besties? (CNET) Walmart and Google gang up on Alexa to deliver you stuff (Fortune) Green Canopy Homes gives us a little insight into how Alexa fits into their Net Zero homes Samsung smart speaker, coming soon? (CNET) Sony’s smart speaker uses Google assistant (Engadget) Google Home adds Z-Wave capabilities (CNET) Smart locks: Still not ready for primetime (Lifehacker) ISPs can spy on us. How paranoid should we be? (Techcrunch, ZDNet) Check us out on Amazon: InPeak Products Storefront

Welcome to Episode 77 of Home Automation Nation! A total solar eclipse happened! Also, LockState locks a bunch of people out, far-out underwater smart homes in Dubai, and more. Episode Articles & Links: LockState locks out a bunch of customers with a bad, bad update (ARSTechnica, BusinessInsider) Google Home let’s you make free calls (BusinessInsider) 10 smart home gadgets that are “most flexible” with other gadgets (Twice) Iris works with Nest now (Engadget) Cool smart night lights for the kids–and parents (CoolMomTech) Dumbest of the smart things (DigitalTrends) Smart homes under the sea (Metro.co.uk) Green Canopy Homes brings Alexa into their Net Zero project in Seattle (GreenCanopyHomes)  

Welcome to Episode 76 of Home Automation Nation! Roomba sucks up–and possibly sells–your floorplan, the U.S. gov thinks about setting some IoT standards, and more. Episode Articles & Links: Roomba maps your house, may share the floorplan? (CEPro) The U.S. government is trying to set some baseline security for IoT devices and more (KrebsOnSecurity) HUGE Luxembourg smart palace–er, home–vies for CEDIA award (CEPro) Why smart homes are still dumb (CNBC) Stuff that now works with other stuff: Honeywell + Google Echo + Fire TV Black Eyed Peas Will.i.am buys Wink. Huh? (CNET) ….and stay tuned to hear about our newest (new) venture, selling on Amazon. Plus, a little Coasting Home.

Welcome to Episode 75 of Home Automation Nation!

Welcome to Episode 74 of Home Automation Nation! The smart home that may have saved lives, yet ANOTHER digital voice assistant, our visit to Kirio, and more. Episode Articles &

Welcome to Episode 73 of Home Automation Nation! Apple doesn’t understand why Echo’s so cool, Alexa helps you break a sweat, and more. Episode Articles & Links: Apple doesn’t get

Episode Articles & Links: Amazon fixed that pesky flaw in Echo calls. Now you can block your crazy ex (CNET) The creator of Android thinks he knows how to fix

Welcome to Episode 71 of Home Automation Nation! WeMo and HomeKit finally work together (soon), IKEA’s new smart bulbs will work with your voice control, and more. Episode Articles &

Welcome to Episode 70 of Home Automation Nation! Amazon announces the Echo Show, Harmon-Kardon teams up with Microsoft’s Cortana, and more. Episode Articles & Links: Amazon introduces the Echo Show

Welcome to Episode 69 of Home Automation Nation! An IoT startup strives to make realtors obsolete,  Amazon’s looking at you, what to do with your smart home gadgets when you go

Welcome to Episode 68 of Home Automation Nation! Google could be extending your WiFi, Burger King tries to hijack your Google Home, is IFTTT taking over the world, and more