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Apple Said to Be Developing Smart Home Products for HomeKit Integration
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Yes, accessible in that the computer gets out of your way. But not without the ability to do more with it, if you are so inclined and have the ability.
Sprry but thats just laughable, on what day ever would it be exciting for crap overpriced hyped up headphones now even more hyped up and overpriced by Apple..
Well, we know a rumor that it's just an API and I would support that strategy if there are enough decent hardware makers who see the value in partnering. But the same API-only argument could have been made for phones, movie streamers and music players before Apple came out with their own. I still have my Apple iSight camera to tell me it's not beyond possibility that Apple would create their own devices, if only to make sure they actually work properly and don't damage the Apple brand. There's a very good reason for the dreaded "walled garden" approach. Quality control.
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I'm the only one who doesn't want his home/apartment connected to the Internet?
I can't think of anything I'd enjoy more than coming home and having to debug the Home Automation System which is no longer unlocking the door because the power went out and the router reset itself and then re-programming the timer settings for the washing machine which failed to start because an unsaved document was blocking the automatic software update restart warning dialog.
Ugh!
http://www.wired.com/2014/06/the-nightmare-on-connected-home-street/
I've never even managed to get wireless sync'ing working on my iPhone (it either fails to connect or connects and then drops out straight away), so I don't want to even think about having a 'smart' home (where 'smart' is in no way actually smart, that's purely a marketing term now right).
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I think there is a huge market for this...
I want a cradle, or wireless system that recognizes when my iPhone is in the house, that makes all of my home phones work and ring. I'd love that.
I want a cradle, or wireless system that recognizes when my iPhone is in the house, that makes all of my home phones work and ring. I'd love that.
Thermostats
Serious question - does every house in the USA have thermostats? Also, does everyone own houses, or do land lords allow for modifications to leased properties?
In my country we dont have thermostats - i think - we just have a remote control for a split cycle air conditioning. I dont think I have ever seen a central, hard wired control for heating and cooling here. Usually people use small electric fans, seperate heating units and combine it with several split cycle air conditioning units. Every time I read about people enjoying this device, I wonder exactly what it does, and why its important and if I can connect it to my air conditioning.
The other thing I think about is how all this connected house works with rented properties. Many, if not most, people in my city rent and there are very strict regulations for what you can do to the apartment (basically, nothing).
Perhaps the connected house will pass me by.
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Automatic flush has been around for some time.
Many toilets in Japan sense you entering the small room, switch on some LED lights if its night, lift the cover automatically (you can press a button to lift the seat too), wash your behind, auto flush and then close when you are done. Basically hands free, with no touch screen required.
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Is that true? As long as Ive used Apple things they were always about taking something which already exists, but exists in an overly techincal and difficult to use form, and simplifying it down, removing options and bulk, so it will appeal to the mass consumer. I think Apple has more been for bringing current generation technology to the masses.
Serious question - does every house in the USA have thermostats? Also, does everyone own houses, or do land lords allow for modifications to leased properties?
In my country we dont have thermostats - i think - we just have a remote control for a split cycle air conditioning. I dont think I have ever seen a central, hard wired control for heating and cooling here. Usually people use small electric fans, seperate heating units and combine it with several split cycle air conditioning units. Every time I read about people enjoying this device, I wonder exactly what it does, and why its important and if I can connect it to my air conditioning.
The other thing I think about is how all this connected house works with rented properties. Many, if not most, people in my city rent and there are very strict regulations for what you can do to the apartment (basically, nothing).
Perhaps the connected house will pass me by.
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Automatic flush has been around for some time.
Many toilets in Japan sense you entering the small room, switch on some LED lights if its night, lift the cover automatically (you can press a button to lift the seat too), wash your behind, auto flush and then close when you are done. Basically hands free, with no touch screen required.
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Is that true? As long as Ive used Apple things they were always about taking something which already exists, but exists in an overly techincal and difficult to use form, and simplifying it down, removing options and bulk, so it will appeal to the mass consumer. I think Apple has more been for bringing current generation technology to the masses.
This whole home automation concept will be a lot more interesting when the price of the technology involved comes down. The few things I've seen have been @#$&% expensive. I'm not sure it's worth spending my kid's college money so I don't have to get up to turn off the hall light.
There's a bluetooth version of that. I used to use it but the voice quality wasn't perfect and the home phones would do another ring after I picked the iPhone up, which was a little annoying when I tried to start talking.
I put an automatic flush on my basement toilet. Not for the motion sensor but for the once every 24 hr feature. It helps keep the bowl from getting moldy from not being flushed.
Yes, most American homes (houses and apartments, owned or rented) have thermostats that operate at least the heating and the air conditioner if they have central air from the same unit. Some have simple thermostats that you set one temperature and have to physically reset it every time you want to change it. But many people nowadays have programmable thermostats so that the set temperature automatically changes based on the time of day so that energy is conserved when no one is in the house or sleeping. My thermostat has 4 available settings per day and separate settings for the weekend days.
I quibble with your words "simplifying it down, removing options and bulk for mass consumer". What Apple does well is building something that SEEMS easy and simple but has all the capabilities of the products other companies make and more. Maybe you needed to be around in the '80s pre-GUI era to understand this.
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I don't think car play is a valid comparison. Does car play control your car? No. It's really just a way to access the features of your phone but perhaps I don't understand it.
Home kit can't be that or it's essentially useless since you already have access to all your Apple devices. It's about connecting to and interacting with <stuff> in your home. It remains to be seen what and how but climate is a big part of being comfortable in your home. One could argue that security is, too. These existing products mostly suck. It would be great to see a company like Apple start to bring the pieces together in a much more intuitive IFTTT way.
It would be easy for me to stay silent, but hard to keep a straight face when all I would want to do is smirk when they spout incorrect info.
Lmaooo you've probably never even listened to a pair of Beats .
Their deal isn't just about headphones you fool .
I'd enjoy that. Especially if CarPlay and HomeKit interact so that as I exit my car (and its audio system) the music I'm playing seamlessly continues inside the home (with its audio system).
Even better, as I move about the home, the audio seamlessly transfers to play only where I am, not where I am not. A few well-placed iBeacons could help manage that
Just dreaming...
Yellow card for you!!
So you think Sennheiser Cans are not overpriced? Their arguably better, but all premium headphones are overpriced if your looking purely at cost plus mark up.
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Red Card!
Okay lets pick on Google today......Last quarter search/advertising on their freeware made up 95% of total Google sales (fact). Everything you read about the wonders of Google are public R&D projects, nothing generates any appreciable sales. Don't get me wrong, I like some of the stuff their doing but really as a business its going nowhere and its starting to become obvious. So Apple late to the party? Nah, just a lame party with a bunch of dweebs and no babes (sorry ladies).
I'm spending thousands on a Honeywell evohome fully automated home heating system and I have no idea if it'll work with HomeKit. It's so frustrating that Apple have released zero information on how HomeKit will work and which devices are compatible.
Because it's Apple. If Apple have shown products in very very early development, made people believe it will change the world and after they fail to develop it act like nothing and announce another vaporware, they would be Google not Apple.
Why is Apple copying Google again
Has Apple lost its innovation fully, nothing new since Steve and now they trying to catchup with Google on home automation
They never learn, they can't beet Google when Google is on the move, look at Apples maps, so so sad.
I think by the time that the new Apple spacecamp is ready, Apple has started to decline and after 5-6 year Google takes over the building
Has Apple lost its innovation fully, nothing new since Steve and now they trying to catchup with Google on home automation
They never learn, they can't beet Google when Google is on the move, look at Apples maps, so so sad.
I think by the time that the new Apple spacecamp is ready, Apple has started to decline and after 5-6 year Google takes over the building
It's not really a rumor, the framework that is HomeKit is already out: https://developer.apple.com/homekit/
And I would argue that there are enough decent hardware makers. I have Logitech Alert CCTV cameras they are brilliant, 720p video with sound, power over ethernet using homeplug technology. That's CCTVs covered. Logitech even have iOS apps for these cameras.
Nest and Honeywell both have really good thermostats and also have iOS Apps. Even British Gas my own electric and gas company has their own smart thermostat with an iOS App.
The hardware is already pretty great it just doesn't talk to eachother. I cannot say to Siri "turn the heat up" or "What's that outside?". With HomeKit that kind of integration is now possible if those hardware manufacturers choose to use it.
HomeKit is merely a way for developers and hardware manufacturers to deepen their integration with your iOS devices. Allowing Siri to control heating, lighting, cameras, motion detectors and so on.
It's a framework to make your iOS devices aware of what is around them and give you a single way to control them all.
It is not an indication that Apple is going to release their own hardware for this sector of the market. I cannot see them releasing Thermostats, external CCTV cameras, air conditioners, window and door sensors, home alarm systems etc
They would instead rather build the software in iOS that makes it simple for all these devices to be used from an iOS device and that is what HomeKit does.
I put a Mi Casa Verde VeraLite Z-Wave hub on my Xmas list the year before last, and have bought a couple of Z-Wave light switches and Trane thermostats. But I still haven't gotten around to installing any of it, and I was on the fence about asking for it in the first place because I knew that the technology was still in its infancy and that a better solution would come out later. The VeraLite has a lot of users/fans, but my understanding is that setup can be a bit tedious and the software/UI side of things leaves a bit to be desired. I don't remember what, if any, official iOS app they had at the time I bought mine, though I do see them touting the iOS/Android apps on their website now, so perhaps they've made some big strides.
More recently other hubs have been released (e.g., Revolv, SmartThings, WeBee) which appear to have more user-friendly and iOS-focused software. And now Apple has announced HomeKit.
My hope is that Apple releases its own hub (possibly to be integrated into the next generation of AirPort Extreme as well) which supports Z-Wave, ZigBee, and obviously Wi-Fi, and whatever other established protocols/radio frequencies that may be out there. It looks like the hubs from the three companies I mentioned above take this multi-protocol approach, which sounds great. SmartThings and WeBee (the latter not available yet, it seems) are about $100 for the hub, while Revolv, for some reason, sells its hub for $300. My VeraLite costs $180. It's Z-Wave focused, but there are some community plug-ins which provide support for Nest, and official support for ZigBee is supposed to be in the works (I imagine that will require a dongle of some sort for a ZigBee radio).
For now, I think I'm going to leave my VeraLite in the box and wait a bit longer to see what Apple does/doesn't plan to do.