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Lights, Set-Top, Action
What happens when you mix a home lighting system with a set-top box? Clark Stevens of CableLabs demonstrates this unlikely convergence of the so-called Internet of Things and how CableLabs envisions being able to help cable operators create applications that marry these two disparate “things” into a better experience for the consumer (e.g. viewer hits…
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A New Definition of Smart Water
Given the historic drought in California, finding ways to reduce water use is critical for homeowners and businesses alike. Products like the ones that Kevin Meagher, VP & GM Smart Home of Lowes, discusses a way to automatically detect water leaks and, if the leaks are really a flood, automatically shut off the water to…
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Monitoring the Man Cave
Vampire appliances are often the cause for excessive electricity usage that catapults a consumer’s bills to an expensive tier. In this video, we learn about how one man’s children were vampires of sorts, sneaking into his man cave and using his electronic gizmos while he was away. Jay Kenney, Vice President of Marketing for Alarm.com…
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The Refrigerator that Is a Speaker
At first blush, a refrigerator that is Bluetooth enabled and has a built-in speaker would seem like the ultimate in feature-creep. Tanu Greywall of Whirlpool explains part of their job is to simplify and unclutter things for their customers. In that context, a connected refrigerator that plays music and, perhaps provides other messages (e.g. recipes),…
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A Holistic Approach to Home Management
At the 2013 Smart Energy Summit, Kevin Meagher gave the scoop on Lowe’s home management system, Iris. In the above interview, Meagher talks about the motivation for Iris, what makes Iris unique and how they are using this cloud-platform to learn how people will interact with a managed home. As the first national retailer to…
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A Global Reach of People and Machines
The on-again rumor that Verizon Communications is attempting to purchase Vodafone’s 45% stake in Verizon Wireless is front page news in today’s Wall Street Journal. With the purported difference of $30B between what Verizon is offering and what Vodafone wants, it is unclear whether this time a deal will be reached. What may not be…
