New Thread wireless standard in the works for home automation

Nest, ARM, Samsung and some other companies have joined forces to try to create a new wireless standard dubbed Thread that is aimed at smart home devices. According to the newly formed group, existing wireless technologies like Wi-Fi are too “power hungry” and are aimed at moving large amounts of data. Smart home devices typically demand much less power and data. The new Thread standard will also be built using mesh network technologies to handle the growing number of devices that may be deployed in a typical home in the future.

Rather than start completely from scratch, the Thread group plans to base the new standard on ZigBee devices (802.15.4). Already some devices on the market have ZigBee radios built in, like some Comcast set-top boxes. Until manufacturers start adding ZigBee radios to their devices, it is likely some kind of gateway or hub will be needed, especially for consumers’ smartphones or tablets to connect and control devices since mobile devices usually don’t have a ZigBee radio built in. That could change though as several manufacturers are considering the addition of ZigBee radios, including Samsung which is part of the new Thread Group.

In addition to the hardware, the Thread Group will also have to create the standard and convince manufacturers to comply with it. They plan to follow a path similar to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi certifying groups in providing testing and certification services. The group will be fighting some negative momentum as even ZigBee allowed its own standard to become fragmented, so there might be some suspicion about interoperability and whether Thread is a true standard.

Currently Nest is already running a version of Thread. The new group hopes that their new standard will be ready later this year for manufacturers to start incorporating it into their designs, with the first devices hitting the market in 2015.

Do you think the Thread Group will succeed in getting the industry to adopt a new standard for for smart home devices or will it face too much manufacturer resistance and consumer confusion to succeed?

source: Gigaom

Come comment on this article: New Thread wireless standard in the works for home automation

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Find My Phone (Android Wear) – Indie app of the day

What is Find My Phone?

Find My Phone is an application designed for Android Wear. As the name implies, this is an application that will help you find your phone. Since your phone and your watch are connected and always in sync, this app takes advantage of that connection to ring your phone when you’ve lost it.

The interface is incredibly simple because really all this app does is ring your phone. On your phone or tablet you have a menu that lets you configure what kind of notifications you can set and how the phone responds when the app goes to find your phone. You can set notifications, ringtones, and even have your flashlight turn on if you prefer to help you find it in dark places. It’s worth noting that some features like custom ringtones and the flashlight feature are only available in the pro version which will run you $0.99USD as an in app purchase.

Since I don’t yet have an Android Wear device, I made our own Josh Vergara check it out and he can confirm that it does, in fact work. It’s very colorful and perhaps too much so for some people but the design is solid and everything appears to work as you would expect it to work. Thanks to the deep Google Now integration on Android Wear, you can also use voice commands to start the application on your phone. Simply say, “Okay Google, start Find My Phone.” The app will take care of the rest.

Easy as can be, useful as can be.

PROS

• Takes advantage of your Android phone and Android Wear device connection to help find your phone.


• Google Now voice command to open the app works.


• Various options for ringtones and you can even turn on your flashlight.


• You can stop the alarm from your watch or your phone.

CONS

• We're sure there will be bugs for some people.


• It's very, very colorful which may annoy some people.

8.0

We are now just seeing Android Wear start to come out and that means this is one of the few apps available right now that can do this. For the time being, this is a must have app for any Android Wear owner because it allows you to find your phone using the connected device on your wrist instead of the old way which was using a web browser. Whether or not it’s worth the $0.99USD for the pro version is entirely at the mercy of your personal tastes but we can’t see a reason not to recommend that too. If you have Android Wear, you should have at least the free version of this too. At least until something better comes along.

Check out the last indie app of the day: Now Browser

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ASUS C300 Chromebook Now Available on Amazon for $249

ASUS has finally launched the C300 Chromebook on Amazon. This is the bigger brother to their C200 Chromebook. Their C200 is the 11.6-inch model which is currently going for $244 on Amazon, and the C300 is the 13.3-inch model and is going for $249. The C300 Chromebook is only available in black while the C200 is only available in grey. The black C300 definitely looks slick. Probably one of the better looking Chromebooks out there.

Other highlights of the Acer C300 Chromebook include; 10-Hours incredible battery life, 802.11 A/C wireless for incredibly fast network connection, Intel BayTrail-M N2830 Dual Core 2.16 GHz processor (turbo up to 2.41 GHz), 16 GB solid state storage. 13.6″ HD LED display, 1.2MP camera. 1x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0, HDMI, SD card slot(SDXC), and Bluetooth 4.0.

It’s not a bad Chromebook given it’s price, of course we’d like something with a bit more RAM, as I think Chromebooks should have around 4GB of RAM, but that’s just from my own experience myself. But if you don’t want a 13.3-inch Chromebook, there’s also their 11.6-inch version which is spec’d exactly the same. So you’re not giving up any specs by going with the smaller model. Which is always nice, and something these phone manufacturers need to learn. Although, if size doesn’t matter that much, I’d go for the C300 as it’s only $6 more and gives you roughly 2 more inches of display, which will matter more than you think. In my opinion, 13.3-inch laptops, or Chromebooks in this case, are the perfect size. Not too big and not too small. So it’s great for productivity and portability.

Are any of you looking to pick up the ASUS C300 Chromebook? How about the C200 Chromebook? Let us know in the comments below.

ASUS Chromebook C200MA-DS01, 11.6-Inch

ASUS Chromebook C300MA-DB01, 13.3-Inch

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Video: Google IO 2014 in under 2 minutes, and all the developer sessions you can handle

Google IO was a two-day developer conference jam packed with tons of stuff that developers and users alike can get excited about. In case you weren’t there to attend it or missed all our coverage during the show itself, Google is giving us a rundown of all the event’s happenings in under 2 minutes. It won’t provide the full rundown, but it gives you a sense of the excitement of the show and all the goods that came from it.

What we do get an extensive archive of, though, are all the developer sessions Google held at the Moscone West this year. There are more than 70 in all, and they’re all available for your viewing pleasure online right here. Whether you weren’t able to attend the show or you were there in person and too busy to zip around to each one, this should ensure you didn’t miss a single beat. The only problem will be finding the time to watch all of it. Settle in and press play!

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Xiaomi Mi 3 launched in India, will ship from July 22

After a short hype building campaign, up and coming Chinese company Xiaomi officially launched in the sprawling Indian market today.

Xiaomi will offer its flagship product, the Mi 3 smartphone, from July 22, with online retailer Flipkart as the exclusive channel. The Xiaomi Mi 3 will cost INR 13,999 (around $230), not INR 14,999, as was initially announced.

Present at the launch event in New Delhi, CEO Bin Lin and chief on international expansion Hugo Barra promised that Xiaomi would bring more of its products to the Indian market. The entry-level Redmi 1S (INR 6,999) will launch sometime in early August, while the affordable phablet Redmi Note (INR 9,999) will become available later next month, according to a tentative schedule shared by Barra.

As part of its effort to establish itself in India, Xiaomi will open 36 service centers in 20 major cities throughout the country, including two that it will operate exclusively in New Delhi and Bangalore. For these two centers, Xiaomi promised turnaround times of as little as two hours.

Xiaomi Mi 3

The star of the launch show, the Mi 3, packs a 5-inch Full HD display, a Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 3,050-mAh battery. The device, which runs MIUI v5, based on an Android 4.4, is in a class of its own when it comes to the quality per price ratio. The device will be available in Flipkart’s store on July 22 at noon, probably in a limited batch that will sell out in minutes, as it usually happens with Xiaomi’s products.

India is the latest large market that Xiaomi is setting shop in, following countries in SE Asia, like Indonesia and the Philippines. In a recent exclusive interview, Hugo Barra told Android Authority that Xiaomi will begin making initial preparations for expanding into North America from next year, though the executive declined to provide a more precise timeline.

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Google teams up with Novartis to bring smart contact lenses to market

Google’s futuristic smart lenses are not just a research project.

Google and Switzerland-based pharmaceutical giant Novartis announced a partnership to bring smart contact lenses to market, with an initial focus on patients suffering from diabetes and nearsightedness.

A product of the secretive Google X research labs, smart contact lenses were revealed as one of Google’s famed moonshots back in January. At the time, Google said it would be working with healthcare partners in order to obtain regulatory approvals and bring its smart lenses to market.

Novartis, through its eye care division Alcon, will contribute “expertise in physiology and visual performance of the eye, clinical development and evaluation, as well as commercialization of contact and intraocular lenses.”

The first two focus areas for the project will be developing a contact lens that can measure glucose levels from the lacrimal fluid on the eye in the benefit of diabetes patients, and a contact lens that can provide “accommodative vision correction to help restore the eye’s natural autofocus on near objects in the form of an accommodative contact lens or intraocular lens as part of the refractive cataract treatment.”

Smart lenses, which incorporate tiny sensors, chips, and antennas between layers of clear material, get their power wirelessly and communicate wirelessly with a mobile device.

“Our dream is to use the latest technology in the miniaturization of electronics to help improve the quality of life for millions of people,” said Google’s Sergey Brin. “We are very excited to work with Novartis to make this dream come true.”

Google and Novartis have not revealed a timeline for bringing smart lenses to market, and the official press release suggests this is just a “first step for Novartis to evolve technology to manage human diseases and conditions.”

Incidentally or not, the father of the project, Babak Parviz, recently announced he would be leaving Google for a stint at Amazon. Parviz had worked on the smart lens concept for years and collaborated with Microsoft Research before joining Google.

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Huawei Tease Honor X for Their July 22nd Launch

With Xiaomi making quite a bit of noise in India and a product launch lined up for July 22nd in China, it’s no surprise that big player Huawei isn’t going to let Xiaomi hog the limelight. They recently announced that they were going to hold an event on July 22nd as well, but didn’t give any more detail than that. Now though, they’ve taken to social media in China to give us a little tease as to what’s coming from Huawei.

The Honor website is listed at the bottom of a new teaser from the company, along with the letter X. So, it’s safe to say that the device launching soon is the Honor X, right? Well there’s a possibility of such a thing for sure, but if Huawei wants to upset Xiaomi’s big day then they’ll need to bring more than another mid-range Honor device. The X could be a reference to the X1 that was announced earlier in the year, a 7-inch smartphone that was more tablet than phone, and this could mean that a follow-up is already on its way. Software is one way Huawei might be able to make a little bit of a splash next week, with rumors of Android 4.4.2 devices running their new Emotion 3.0 UI ready to hit shelves. Still, taking on the well-established MIUI – especially for the Chinese customer – isn’t going to be easy.

If so, it’s possible that Huawei will be using their new octa-core Kirin 920 chipset which they claim to be faster than the Snapdragon 805. Right now though, all we could is guess as to what Huawei has in store for us all over the next week or so. No matter what though, we’re sure the Chinese giant wouldn’t schedule a device launch at the same time as Xiaomi unless they had something pretty good to upset their new rivals with.

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