automation News - Page 55 of 56 - CNX Software

January 6, 2014January 6, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Samsung Unveils “Samsung Smart Home” and Smart Home Software Protocol (SHP) at CES 2014

2014 could be the year where home automation becomes mainstream, as after Archos Connected Home, Samsung has now announced their own “Smart Home” service enabling users to control and manage their home devices, as well as Smart Home software Protocol (SHP) to enable connectivity between Smart Home products from Samsung and other manufacturers. Your smartphone, smartwatch (Galaxy GEAR), or smart TV will be the control center of your home, and you’ll be able to manage refrigerators, washing machines, smart TVs, lights, and more. Communication between your phone and the appliance will go through the company’s cloud-based Smart Home Server. At launch, Samsung will provide three main service features as shown in the illustration above: Device Control – Mobile devices or Smart TV can be used to monitor or control home appliances via Smart Home app from nearly anywhere. Voice control is also available so you could say “good night” to […]

December 31, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Archos Unveils “Connected Objects” Home Automation and IoT Systems

There has been many home automation and Internet of things projects featured on crowdfunding sites this year, and IoT products such as smartwatches, fitness bands, smart sockets, connected lights… have started to take off. Archos plans to leverage this trend with their Connect Objects offerings divided in two parts: Connected Home and Connected Self. Archos Connected Home Archos Smart Home is a system that let you monitor and control your home via your smartphone or tablet using the company’s Smart Home App and Connected Objects. The set will come with a 7″ tablet, a mini cam, a USB data cable and documentation. It’s not clear right now if others objects: motion ball, weather tag, movement tag, and smartplug, will be part of the set or need to be purchased separately. Key features of Smart Home Tablet: SoC – Rockchip RK3168 dual core Cortex A9 processor with Mali-400MP4. System Memory – […]

December 24, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Crowdfunding Report 2013 on CNXSoft Blog

Crowdfunding has really took off in 2013, with sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, as they enable start-ups to launch new and innovative products, and some established, even large companies, I’m thinking Canonical with Ubuntu Edge here, have also tapped into that market, actually shifting part of the risks from shareholders, to customers / individual funders. In this post, I’ll go through all the crowdfunding projects, 16 Indiegogo and 25 Kickstarter campaigns, featured on cnx-software.com between the beginning of December 2012 till the end of November 2013, to find out which ones have been a stellar success in terms of funding and on-time delivery, and those that have failed in one way or another, with some being close to looking like scams. There was a wide range of products with dealing home automation, the Internet of things, wireless Arduino compatible boards, Linux development boards, media players and more. Let’s go straight […]

December 16, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Xiaomi MiWiFi 802.11ac NAS Powered by Broadcom BCM4709 SoC

Last month, Xiaomi teased the public with pictures of a new device, but gave very few details. The company have now provided further details, and the box shown below turns out to be an 802.11 NAS (Network Access Storage) powered by Broadcom BCM4709 dual core Cortex A9 Wi-Fi 802.11ac SoC. Xiaomi provided the following technical specifications for MiWiFi NAS: SoC – Broadcom BCM4709 dual-core Cortex A9 processor @ 1 GHz System Memory – 256MB DDR3 Storage – SATA interface with 1TB Hard drive Connectivity 2x Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 ports Dual band WiFi 802.11ac (2.4/5GHz) NFC (at the top of the device) USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port Misc – Fan for cooling The company will launch a sale for Beta units on the 19th of December, for the Chinese market only, and the NAS will come disassembled in a wooden case with a TB harddrive, a power supply, cables, […]

December 10, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Smart Power Strip Controls and Monitors your Electric Appliances with Android or iOS Devices (Crowdfunding)

Broadlink SP1 and Plugaway are smart sockets controlled by your mobile device(s) via Wi-Fi, but they only support one appliance at a time. Smart Power Strip will fix that thanks to 4 sockets with independent power consumption meters that are controlled via Wi-Fi by Android or iOS devices. The power strip is comprised of 4 independent relays, 2 USB ports, a 120V or 230V circuit breaker, and a dual 2.4 GHz module for Wi-Fi and Home Automation (MESH) technology. It supports 100-250V AC, with a maximum of 15 Amps. The smart power strip will be available for US, EU, UK, and AU standards. That’s about all we know about the hardware. The mobile app will allow you to turn on/off devices manually, monitor each appliance’s power consumption individually, set timers, and monitor which device is on/off. As long as you have Internet access, the smart power strip can be accessed […]

December 5, 2013June 18, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

$27 Plugaway Wi-Fi Smart Sockets Support Australia, China, Europe, U.K. or U.S. Standards (Crowdfunding)

Until now, Broadlink SP1 was the cheapest ($32) Wi-Fi smart socket I found. It supports Australian and Chinese plugs, and Android and iOS smartphones. The two main downsides is that the application is in Chinese by default (English can be installed via a firmware upgrade), and although the top of the socket support international plugs, the plug of the device only support Australian / Chinese standard, and you may need an adapter to connect the device to your wall socket. There’s now a similarly priced option in Kickstarter called Plugaway that supports Australia, China, Euro, U.K. or U.S. standards, can measure power consumption, dim lights, and comes with Android and iOS apps, with Windows planned for a future release. Specifications: MCU – Atmel ATmega128 up to 16MHz with 128 KB flash Wi-Fi – Marvell 88W8686 Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g chip, to be upgraded to support 802.11n for longer range Current sensor […]

November 24, 2013November 25, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

AlmaDom.us Home Automation System Fits into Your Walls’ Gang Boxes

Almaware, an Italian IT company, has recently launched an Indiegogo campagain for AlmaDom.us, an home automation system with a 4.3″ touchscreen screen that replaces your wall switch, and fits in your wall’s gang box. Almadom.us specifications: SoC – ARM Cortex A8 720Mhz ARM Processor with PowerVR SGX530 GPU (Texas Instruments AM3354) System Memory – 256MB or more (TBD) Storage – 128Mb Flash or more (TBD) Display – 4.3″ resistive touchscreen (5 points). Resolution: 480×272, 256K colors Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.0, Z-Wave and WiFi 802.11b/g/n with antenna on external cover Relays – 3 relays compatible with 110V and 230V (US and European Standard), with a maximum of 10A for single electrical equipment Misc – Temperature sensor, Infrared proximity sensor (to turn on/off screen), microphone and speaker. Power consumption – Active: 0.2 – 2W, Standby: 20 – 100 mW Operating temperature range – 0° to 70° C Board dimension – About 70×30 […]

November 14, 2013November 14, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Ninja Sphere Home Automation and Monitoring Platform

Ninja Blocks is an company providing open source hardware solutions for home automation. Their first product was called Ninja Blocks Kit which includes a Ninja Block (Beaglebone + Arduino based gateway, but they now also support the Raspberry Pi), sensors, sockets, cables, and a power supply, and works with Ninja Platform, an open source software framework. The goal was to simplify the process of developing automation applications by taking care of all low levels tasks such as electronics, embedded programming, network protocols.., and letting “end users” / developers focus on their application. The company is now working on a new version called the Ninja Sphere, including a “Spheramid” gateway, location waypoints (Bluetooth low energy tags), and smart power sockets. Here are the key features of the gateway: Processor – ARM Cortex A8 (probably Texas Instruments Sitara) Color LED Matrix Connectivity – Bluetooth, Bluetooth LE, Zigbee, and Wi-Fi USB Port – […]