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Voice Enabling the Connected Home
Voice as a key enabler of smart home success was a common theme of CONNECTIONS™ 16. Brett Sappington, Senior Director of Research for Parks Associates, cites presentations from companies, such as Amazon and Rovi, that focused on how the voice-machine interface is becoming an important way of communicating with smart home devices. He points out that…
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What Do Customers Want?
Knowing what customers want is the universal quest for service providers and manufacturers. Emily Hossellman has a first row seat to the frustrations and excitement that customers feel with new products in her role as Director of Marketing for Centercode has garnered some valuable insight into how people feel about smart home products. As background,…
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Smart Energy Opportunities in the Smart Home
“The analytics, just like the network and all the technology, should just fade away into the background,” says Tom Kerber, Director, Research Energy and Home Controls of Parks Associates. Kerber was speaking to the idea that customers want smart energy features to work in the background, providing comfort and efficiency without having to be in…
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Smart Homes Means Smarter Cars
Home used to be where we slept at night. But with the rise of the connected car with entertainment options aplenty, will the car someday become almost like a mobile extension of one’s domicile? In the above interviewed, filmed at the Internet of Things World in Santa Clara, CA, Parks Associates’ Jennifer Kent talks about…
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Erector Set + Smart Phone = DIY Robot
Turning the original “maker” kit, the Erector Set, into a smart phone operated robot is what Spin Master (the company behind the popular Air Hogs brand) has done with its Meccano- brand, Meccanoid G15 and G 15KS. As would be expected for this type of iconic brand, a big part of the enjoyment is the…
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Smart Home Starts with a Wink
In the 60s era show Bewitched, Samantha, the young-looking witch, could do some amazing things with just a twitch of the nose. It is getting to the point where the magic powers she displayed, are almost reality. Now, with a Wink and maybe an Echo, a mere mortal can command their home to adjust to their…