automation News - Page 53 of 58 - CNX Software

September 8, 2014September 8, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

W908I & W908II Wi-Fi Smart Sockets Support US, EU, UK, or AU Plug Types, Up to 4400W Power

I’ve had a look at several Wi-Fi smart sockets recently. Broadlink SP2 comes with a Chinese plug and supports power monitoring (About $40), Kankun KK-SP3 is more basic but sells only for $20, and runs OpenWRT, and Orvibo Wiwo S20 does not support power monitoring either, but is available with US, Europe, United Kingdom or Australia plug (About $40). If you want a Wi-Fi smart socket with a EU plug, there’s another option: W908I selling for $32 on Chinavasion. Based on the manufacturer website (HaiDian Technology) however, there are four W908I models with US, EU, UK, or AU plugs, as well as four W908II models with a higher power ratings (4400W). Instead of just one socket like socket models, it features a 3-pin socket, a 2-pin socket, and a USB port for charging devices. W908I / W908II specifications: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n Sensitivity – 802.11b: < -84dBm; 802.11g: < -68dBm Output […]

August 20, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

$79 STACK Box Home Automation / IoT Gateway Supports Wi-Fi, Ethernet, BLE, XBee, X10, Z-Wave and More (Crowdfunding)

Cloud Media (Syabas) is better known for their Linux based “Popcorn Hour” media players, and last year I reviewed their FreeOTT streaming media player powered by a Cavium ARM11 processor. The company is now entering the home automation market with the STACK Box (aka XuanBox) also powered by a Cavium ARM11 processor, and supporting various connectivity options to interface with popular smart “things” such as Belkin Wemo and Philips Hue, as well as a Raspberry Pi Bus (26-pin header) to support add-ons. STACK Box specifications: Processor – Cavium ARM11 processor @ 640 MHz (possibly Cavium CELESTIAL CNC1800L. TBC) System Memory – 256MB DDR3 Storage – 512 MB flash + SD card slot Connectivity 10/100M Ethernet Wi-Fi 802.11n with WPS Bluetooth LE 4.0 (included) Z-Wave (included) Dust Networks (extra module required) XBee (extra module required) X10 (extra module required) Insteon (extra module required) RF433/315 (coming soon) EnOcean (coming soon) ZigBee(coming soon) DCLink(coming […]

July 31, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 69 Comments

Orvibo Wiwo S20 Wi-Fi Smart Socket Features US, EU, UK, or AU Plug Types

I’ve previously covered several Chinese Wi-Fi smart sockets including Broadlink SP2 also supporting power monitoring, and Kankun KK-SP3, a cheaper, more basic version that can only be turned on and off manually or via timers, and which runs OpenWRT. These plugs have one thing in common: they only come with Australian/Chinese plugs, so if you want to use them in Europe, the US, or United Kingdom, you’ll need an adapter, which may not the the safest things to do, and it’s also inconvenient. Orvibo Wiwo S20 is another model that appears to have the capabilities and a price similar to Broadlink SP2, but available in four flavors with US, EU, UK, and AU plug types. Orvibo Wiwo S20 is made of fireproof ABS, and is significantly smaller than Broadlink SP2, but the rest of the specifications are very similar: Material – ABC 94V-0 (fireproof) Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n Security – WEP, […]

July 28, 2014July 28, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Kankun KK-SP3 Wi-Fi Smart Socket Hacked, Based on Atheros AR9331, Running OpenWRT

Kankun KK-SP3 is a $20 Wi-Fi smart socket that can be controlled via iOS and Android app. But one person created a Kankun community on Google+ to try to hack the device and control it from a PC, or from outside the home network for example. Up to now, the device has been opened, found to run OpenWRT, and one the member wrote a Windows app to control the socket from a PC. It is a basic smart socket, without power monitoring capabilities, and unless you start hacking the hardware, all you can do is basically turn it on and off. The device is based on Qualcomm Atheros AR9931, found in many low cost routers supporting OpenWRT, and the socket indeed runs OpenWRT, which you can access via SSH or Telnet (username/password: root/admin). There’s 32MB RAM (Winbond W9425G6JH), and a 10A OMRON relay. The smart socket actually communicates with the […]

July 24, 2014February 25, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Immedia Blink Battery Powered HD Security Camera Lasts Over One Year on Batteries (Crowdfunding)

There are plenty of security systems with IP cameras selling on the market, but they can be a pain to install because you need to use long power cables or use power extensions. There are battery-free such as NETGEAR VueZone Home Video Monitoring System that cost $259 with 6-month battery life for normal usage, and $50 yearly subscription fee. Immedia Semi is providing an alternative with Blink, a wire-free (wireless + battery) HD Home Monitoring & Alert System that starts at $69 with one camera, and is said to last over one year powered by two CR123 batteries, without monthly fees, and can stream live views and video recordings to your Android or iOS smartphone or tablet, or any web browser. The one-year battery claim seems preposterous. How is that possible? The first reason it’s possible is because of the way typical usage is defined for home security cameras. They […]

July 21, 2014July 21, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Thread is a New IP-based Wireless Protocol Leveraging 6LoWPAN and 802.15.4 Standards

Wi-Fi is a neat way to connect devices to Internet, but it has two main inconveniences: relatively high cost and power consumption. Luckily there are standards that addresses the cost and power consumption issues. Radio chips based on IEEE 802.15.4, a standard which specifies the physical layer and media access control for low-rate wireless personal area networks, are common place and found in many existing devices relying on higher level wireless protocols such as ZigBee, ISA100.11a, WirelessHART, and MiWi. AFAIK, Zigbee is the most popular of the aforementioned protocols, but is hindered by the requirements of the license for commercial products (annual fee), Zigbee membership requirements conflict with many open source license such as GPL, and the standard suffers from lack of interoperability and IPv6 support, and power requirements that are too high for some applications. So a consortium of seven companies namely ARM, Big Ass Fans, Freescale, Nest, Samsung, […]

July 4, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Forlinx OK335xS-II is a Low Cost Linux and Wince Industrial Board Powered by TI Sitara AM335x Processor

Forlinx Embedded, a company based in Baoding, Hebei, China specializing in embedded systems design and manufacturing, has recently launched OK335xS-II single board computer powered by Texas Instruments AM335x SoC which they claim to be “the cheapest industrial Cortex-A8 board in history” as it sells for as low as 298 RMB or about $48. OK335xS-II board is comprised of a baseboard and a CPU module soldered to the carrier board with the following specifications: SoC – Texas Instruments AM335X ARM Cortex-A8 processor @ 800MHz with PowerVR SGX530 GPU System Memory – 128M DDR3 + micro SD slot Storage – 256MB SLC NAND Flash Display I/F – LCD interface with support for LCD to LVDS and LCD to VGA, and resistive touchscreen interface Connectivity – 1x 100M Ethernet USB – 1x USB 2.0 host, 1x mini USB 2.0 device Serial – 5x serial port (1x debug interface, 4x TTL port) Expansions headers […]

July 3, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Peek into the Smart Home of the Future with ARM Seamless Computing IoT Demo

We’ve seen lots of home automation being launched on crowdfunding platforms in the last year or so, and companies like Samsung, Archos, Google and Apple have launched, announced, or bought smart hone solutions. Recently ARM has hosted a demo for the smart home based on Cortex-M MCU mbed development boards, a single board computer gateway, and sensinode connected home software framework. Although some parts of the demo are unlikely to really have uses, e.g. you can look at the window to check the weather, I found the demo to be very interesting, especially with regards to the central role of the smartphone, and computing convergence. The list of different demos that can be seen in the video below is as follows: As you walk close to the main door, the system checks the weather, and if it rains, blinks a LED and emits a sound close to your umbrella, and […]