google home News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

SmartWings Smart Shade Review – An outdoor, solar-powered Matter shade tested with Apple HomeKit and Home Assistant

SmartWing shade review

Recently, we received a custom-made-to-order smart shade from SmartWings for review. We never heard about SmartWings before, but the company claims to have been in the smart blind/shade and home automation industry for over 15 years. Their standout feature is the high degree of customisation they offer—whether it’s the type of shade, custom size up to almost 3 meters in width and height, various fabric styles, and compatibility with major Smart Home platforms like Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple HomeKit, Samsung SmartThings, Home Assistant, and Hubitat. SmartWings asked us to select a location in the house where we wanted to review the smart shade. We wanted to review a solar-powered outdoor shade, so we selected a windowed door with direct sunlight. We carefully measured the dimensions following the instructions on the company’s website to understand the process. We had to select the shade type, privacy level of the fabric (openness), […]

SONOFF MINI-D Review – A Matter-enabled dry contact WiFi switch tested with eWeLink, Home Assistant, and Apple Home

SONOFF MINI-D Review

SONOFF sent us a sample of the MINI-D Wi-Fi smart switch with a dry contact design for review. If you’re familiar with the larger SONOFF 4CH Pro model, which features four channels, the MINI-D operates similarly but is smaller in size and comes with the latest software features. The principle of a dry contact is that the relay contacts are not directly connected to the device’s power supply circuit. Instead, the contacts are isolated and require an external power source to supply power to the load. Make it flexible to use the SONOFF Mini-D in various scenarios such as controlling garage doors, thermostats, or high-current electrical devices through a contactor, like water pumps. It can also manage low-power DC devices such as solenoid valves or small electric motors (<8W). Because the power supplied to the MINI-D and the power passed through its relay can come from different sources, it offers […]

Firefly NVIDIA Jetson products