CES 2017: Mixtile Hub Promises to Expand HomeKit to ZigBee and Z-Wave Smart Home Devices

[MacRumors]

Focalcrest, a Chinese company focusing on intelligent hardware solutions, today debuted a new HomeKit hub that promises to bring HomeKit connectivity to various connected home products that would not otherwise be able to interface with Apple's smart home platform.

The Mixtile Hub, which is MFi certified by Apple, is designed to connect to ZigBee and Z-Wave products and interface with HomeKit, allowing them to be controlled in via Siri and with Apple's Home app.

The hub plugs into a television set, which is used as a display to allow users to discover smart devices located in the home. From the television, the devices can be connected to the hub, and an accompanying smart phone app allows users to designate what a product does so that it can be used appropriately through HomeKit.

According to Focalcrest, it can interface with Z-Wave and ZigBee products, as well as connect to various smart home devices through Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Focalcrest did not provide specific examples of the kinds of hardware the hub can work with, so there are some unknowns with the product at this point in time.

The Mixtile Hub supports wireless communication protocols such as ZigBee, Z-Wave (optional), Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. It can also communicate with various other sensors (temperature and humidity sensors, optical sensors, door sensors) surveillance devices (monitors, alarms, intelligent locks) and smart home products (intelligent lamps, outlets and air conditioners), through ZigBee and Z-Wave.

Several existing hub-based HomeKit products work the same way as the Mixtile Hub, such as the Philips Hue. The Philips Hue base station is HomeKit enabled, while all bulbs connect to and receive commands from the base station using the ZigBee protocol.

ZigBee and Z-Wave are popular options for smart home products that don't support HomeKit. Many home security companies use Z-Wave, as do some major brands like Honeywell, GE, Schlage, D-Link, and First Alert. A wide range of connected home products use ZigBee, like the Logitech Harmony Remote, Cree lightbulbs, GE lightbulbs, and more.

Hardware wise, the hub is equipped with a quad-core processor, 1GB RAM, and 8GB of storage space. It has a built in 2,500mAh battery, dual microphones, an Ethernet port, an HDMI port, a micro-USB port, and a USB 2.0 port.

Focalcrest says the Mixtile Hub will be priced at approximately $150, and it will tentatively see a release sometime around March of 2017.

Article Link: CES 2017: Mixtile Hub Promises to Expand HomeKit to ZigBee and Z-Wave Smart Home Devices

 

[tasset]

I want this. REALLY BAD. I have been halfway surprised nobody has made this yet, then again not so surprising as it seems every manufacturer has an outsized value of themselves and think they are a platform. (Wink, Wemo, etc etc).

 

[RMo]

This might be tempting if I didn't just get HomeBridge working with SmartThings (very easy if you're even slightly technically inclined, BTW...and have a server or other computer you could run it on). I still like the ability to custom-code SmartThings to do just about whatever you want, not that it can't do a lot out of box as well, which I don't think I'd ever be able to match with a 100% HomeKit setup. HomeKit, however, is nice for being able to control things via Siri if my phone is handy or Alexa can't hear me.

 

[chriscrk]

I wonder how people in the comments are going to twist this article to make bad comments about Tim Cook.

 

[iapplelove]

I'm slowly moving backward with technology. The more I know the less I desire a "smart" life.

 

[AngerDanger]

I wonder how people in the comments are going to twist this article to make bad comments about Tim Cook.

Let me take a crack at it.

Mixtile Hub Promises to Expand HomeKit to ZigBee and Z-Wave Smart Home Devices

A third party device shouldn't be required to connect non-HomeKit devices with HomeKit. Maybe if Tim "bean counter" Cook would actually try to innovate or get fired, this wouldn't be the terrible, horrible, awful, bad, no good issue that it is. Also, Tim Cook killed my dog once! (He wasn't involved in the other killings.)

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

So am I reading this right? This thing basically makes the generally cheaper Homekit-like accessories work like Homekit devices?

If so, won't that jeopardize Homekit accessory sales at (generally) higher Homekit-enabled prices?

And if so, doesn't that hurt Apple's cut of those generally higher prices?

If all the is true, why does this thing get and, more importantly, KEEP Apple approval?

It looks like this would be a "poor man's" Homekit solution: good for consumers at Apple (Homekit licensing) profit-motive expense. I must be misunderstanding what this does.

 

[EdT]

I wonder how people in the comments are going to twist this article to make bad comments about Tim Cook.

Someone beat me to it, but:

1. It took a Chinese company to add on the functionality that should have been there out of the box.
2. Fire Tim Cook.
3. Samsung already did this. Apple has lost all innovation.
4. Someone should fire Tim Cook.
5. Google has already done this. Apple is years behind the competition.
6. So Fire Tim Cook.
7. Android.
8. Fire Cook.

I do have to admit I have taken part in some of the Apple bashing going on lately, although I blame the company as a whole and not one man.

 

[citysnaps]

Let me take a crack at it.

A third party device shouldn't be required to connect non-HomeKit devices with HomeKit. Maybe if Tim "bean counter" Cook would actually try to innovate or get fired, this wouldn't be the terrible, horrible, awful, bad, no good issue that it is. Also, Tim Cook killed my dog once! (He wasn't involved in the other killings.)

Dude...you left 20 bonus points on the table by not integrating the favorite mice-nuts tiny rants of those still in junior high school, "watchbands" and "courage," into your narrative.

 

[ChrisCW11]

So yet another 3rd party filling in the gaps of Apples lack of innovation or cooperation with the tech industry.

Don't get me wrong, HomeKit is a good idea, but promoting it as the only way your Siri enabled device will talk to home automation devices is short sighted. There are a lot of products that work together without licensing a proprietary sdk, Echo for instance can work with Philips Hue or Nest thermostats without Amazon imposing its own intellectual property on other companies and forcing them to work the way Amazon warns them to work. Instead Echo adapted to work with other products, even products that came out years before it like Nest.

Apple wants you to have to rebuy products to work with its platform, and I don't like that. I'm not in the habit of buying $300 thermostats whenever someone happens to support Apples platform. And Apple has a long history of deprecating technology to promote a new platform on a whim, I wouldn't be surprised if all HomeKit devices today no longer work in a few years when HomeKIt 2.0 comes out or Apple decides home automation is absurd because they failed to make it captivating.

While HomeKit might be the AAA solution for Siri support in the home today, there is no reason for Apple to not play nice with other platforms and protocols. I mean it can only be a win/win for Apple to empower more devices with Siri, even if they begrudgingly have to use a third party protocol, yet Apple's constant walled garden approach to innovation is why their platform has been slow to establish in the home while Alexa has taken off far more quickly.

So, the idea of a third party box acting as a mediator between Siri and the rest of the world is attractive, but it's a shame you need to, once again, glom on another box, dongle, or add-on to make Apple work better for you in the real world.

 

[toohectic]

Why would it need an internal battery? Doesn't seem like a necessary feature for an at-home hub.

 

[ChrisA]

Let me take a crack at it.

A third party device shouldn't be required to connect non-HomeKit devices with HomeKit. Maybe if Tim "bean counter" Cook would actually try to innovate or get fired, this wouldn't be the terrible, horrible, awful, bad, no good issue that it is. Also, Tim Cook killed my dog once! (He wasn't involved in the other killings.)

I hate to have to agree. Apple's death will be that they don't work with normal, common standards. Apple could be saying "No matter which door bell you have, it will work with your iPhone" Or "We are at the Center of home automation." Instead they are now just a minor player and like to remain they way.

There is NO WAY Home Kit will become the dominate world wide standard. I'm certain that in 20 years I can go to Home Depose and by a "Smart" light switch for $3 and it will be the one everyone uses and it will not be Home Kit. Someone else will "win" that standard.

 

[d21mike]

I thought the HUB Based Solutions were limited to certain devices for security reasons? I thought the true HomeKit products needed a HARDWARE CHIP for security. I.E. You could use these Hubs for things like Lights and thermostats but not for the front door lock. I say this because I could not understand why any company would not just create the Hub and not use the chip for anything.

 

[tasset]

I thought the HUB Based Solutions were limited to certain devices for security reasons? I thought the true HomeKit products needed a HARDWARE CHIP for security. I.E. You could use these Hubs for things like Lights and thermostats but not for the front door lock. I say this because I could not understand why any company would not just create the Hub and not use the chip for anything.

This also makes me skeptical it will be produced or maintain its Homekit certification, despite the claim of shipping around March. Their website makes me think this is a little not right.

 

[laurim]

I thought the HUB Based Solutions were limited to certain devices for security reasons? I thought the true HomeKit products needed a HARDWARE CHIP for security. I.E. You could use these Hubs for things like Lights and thermostats but not for the front door lock. I say this because I could not understand why any company would not just create the Hub and not use the chip for anything.

That fits with Belkin's claim that there's nothing they can do to make their Wemo products compatible via soft or firm ware and would need to create a separate line until Apple changes their requirements. Otherwise I assume they could add the processing to their hub that I use on a raspberry pi to get my wemos on HomeKit.

 

[Born Again]

eh why bother with home kit. Get an amazon echo or a google home

 

[AJ5790]

eh why bother with home kit. Get an amazon echo or a google home

Yeah, why does the security of a device IN YOUR HOME matter at all... meh, just go with the devices that can become great botnet candidates. Excellent choice.

 

[laurim]

eh why bother with home kit. Get an amazon echo or a google home

Because I already have interface devices I know how to use for HomeKit in every room between my iPhone, Applewatch and all my Macs.

 

[d21mike]

That fits with Belkin's claim that there's nothing they can do to make their Wemo products compatible via soft or firm ware and would need to create a separate line until Apple changes their requirements. Otherwise I assume they could add the processing to their hub that I use on a raspberry pi to get my wemos on HomeKit.

And this is from insteon-hub-homekit page:

*HomeKit-enabled garage door controllers not yet available but Insteon+ app will be ready when they are. For lock control we recommend August Lock. Insteon's door lock controller and garage door controller will not be able to be controlled from HomeKit as Apple restricts access control devices that are only exposed via a hub/bridge.

http://www.insteon.com/insteon-hub-homekit/

 

[cpfoto2005]

Let me take a crack at it.

A third party device shouldn't be required to connect non-HomeKit devices with HomeKit. Maybe if Tim "bean counter" Cook would actually try to innovate or get fired, this wouldn't be the terrible, horrible, awful, bad, no good issue that it is. Also, Tim Cook killed my dog once! (He wasn't involved in the other killings.)

Dude...you left 20 bonus points on the table by not integrating the favorite mice-nuts tiny rants of those still in junior high school, "watchbands" and "courage," into your narrative.

AngerDanger should be fired!

 

[douglsmith]

…there is no reason for Apple to not play nice with other platforms and protocols.

Actually, there is a very good reason: security.

ZigBee and Z-Wave have both been shown to have major security flaws. The technology was largely developed before our modern security concerns even existed. These old protocols, designed to turn lights off and on, are just not suitable for things like door locks. Sure, they're improving security in newer versions, but old devices aren't upgradeable.

The reality is that we're living in a world where lightbulbs can run code and be used as a foothold device to hack the rest of your devices and computer in your home or business. Apple may be the only company really taking this seriously even though it's costing them short-term marketshare.

 

[ebaauw]

The v2 (square) Philips Hue bridge provides HomeKit access to Philips Hue lights, connected to the Hue bridge over Zigbee. While the Hue bridge also works with Zigbee connected lights from other vendors, these lights are not exposed to HomeKit. Neither are the Hue switches nor the Hue motion sensors. On their developer forum, Philips claims this is because Apple has only certified the Philips lights for use with HomeKit. If that's true, the Mixtile Hub would run into the same issue, and would only expose to HomeKit Zigbee or Z-Wave devices certified by Apple. I hope Mixtile will provide an API for my next homebridge plugin...

Have Mixtile annouced what Zigbee protocols they'll support? The Philips Hue bridge is limited to Zigbee Light Link. Philips uses ZLL for their switches and sensors, but most other vendors use Zigbee Home Automation for these.

To be certified by Apple, HomeKit products (at least the bridges) require a hardware chip for security. Technically, HomeKit works without that chip, see e.g. Apple's HomeKit Accessory Simulator or homebridge. When adding these, HomeKit bitches that the device is not compliant, but it does allow you to connect to it anyway.

 

[Jeaz]

So yet another 3rd party filling in the gaps of Apples lack of innovation or cooperation with the tech industry.

Don't get me wrong, HomeKit is a good idea, but promoting it as the only way your Siri enabled device will talk to home automation devices is short sighted. There are a lot of products that work together without licensing a proprietary sdk, Echo for instance can work with Philips Hue or Nest thermostats without Amazon imposing its own intellectual property on other companies and forcing them to work the way Amazon warns them to work. Instead Echo adapted to work with other products, even products that came out years before it like Nest.

Apple wants you to have to rebuy products to work with its platform, and I don't like that. I'm not in the habit of buying $300 thermostats whenever someone happens to support Apples platform. And Apple has a long history of deprecating technology to promote a new platform on a whim, I wouldn't be surprised if all HomeKit devices today no longer work in a few years when HomeKIt 2.0 comes out or Apple decides home automation is absurd because they failed to make it captivating.

While HomeKit might be the AAA solution for Siri support in the home today, there is no reason for Apple to not play nice with other platforms and protocols. I mean it can only be a win/win for Apple to empower more devices with Siri, even if they begrudgingly have to use a third party protocol, yet Apple's constant walled garden approach to innovation is why their platform has been slow to establish in the home while Alexa has taken off far more quickly.

So, the idea of a third party box acting as a mediator between Siri and the rest of the world is attractive, but it's a shame you need to, once again, glom on another box, dongle, or add-on to make Apple work better for you in the real world.

I think you are making a too big deal out of this.

For what it's worth, Apple have pretty much always focused on their own protocols, and it's has mostly served them very well. "It just works" has been an established sentiment for Apple and it's products in the past. Granted, I think this has been shaken up a bit in the last few years, but it's part of their core strategy and there's not a compelling reason to change that strategy when they have the strong market position they have today.
Sure, they can build support for other protocols, but what if there are feature-mismatch and all the extra work required. It's also a reassurance for me as a customer, if I see that HomeKit logo, I know it's been and works with my iPhone etc.

And sure, there may be a HomeKit 2.0, but there's no reassurance there's not going to be a ZigBee or Z-wave 2.0 either.

 

[44267547]

eh why bother with home kit. Get an amazon echo or a google home

Why? Did you see any of the articles from CES regarding Home Kit this week? One could make the same argument about using not using the Echo or Google Home. Home Kit is expanding into plenty of homes with more products everyday.

 

[Alexlfm]

Let me take a crack at it.

A third party device shouldn't be required to connect non-HomeKit devices with HomeKit. Maybe if Tim "bean counter" Cook would actually try to innovate or get fired, this wouldn't be the terrible, horrible, awful, bad, no good issue that it is. Also, Tim Cook killed my dog once! (He wasn't involved in the other killings.)

If only Apple made some sort of device that connected to your internet connection and acted as a kind of wireless base station of some sort. Then they could build in other radio support like Z-Wave, Zigbee and maybe even Bluetooth support. It could then allow you to access these devices and anything else plugged into it from anywhere, like some sort of wireless, air, base station...