Episode 39 - Kēvo Smartlocks with Phil Dumas of UniKey

We opened the show this week giving our thoughts on the very sad news of Crestron founder George Feldstein's passing. George was a pioneer in the truest sense of the word. Through his work he did volumes to push the systems integration industry forward. Without his passion and diligent efforts it is hard to say what our industry would look like today. We want to extend our deepest condolences to his family.

We also covered recent news that both Walmart and Target will be rolling out smart home displays in time for the holidays this year. By our count this brings the list of big box retailers dabbling in the smart home up to 6 (Lowes, Home Depot, Staples, Best Buy, Walmart, and Target). We give our thoughts on what this means not only for the market at large, but also for home technology professionals. In a similar vein we cover the recent unveiling of Verizon's new router, which features a built-in Z-Wave radio. Clearly managed service providers are also keenly interested in the smart home. Tune in to get our take. 

For our guest this week we are joined by UniKey founder Phil Dumas. UniKey is the technology behind the Kēvo smartlock, which is produced in conjunction with Kwikset. Phil has a long history in, and a clear passion for access control. The backstory behind his company and the product very interesting. In fact, Phil is our second guest to have previously been featured on ABC's hit show The Shark Tank (Jamie Siminoff from Ring was the first). While Kēvo is undeniably a well thought out product which more than stands on its own, Phil feels it's only the beginning for what UniKey is capable of. Check out our conversation to learn more.

As always we thank you for listening. If you enjoy the show, please take a moment to tell a friend and to leave us a review on iTunes or on Stitcher. We greatly appreciate any feedback you might want to offer as well, which you can do on our feedback page. 

UniKeyonHomeTech.jpg

Episode 38 - Button Calisthenics for Crestron Pyng with Evan Ackmann

This is an episode that we have been excited to bring you for quite some time. Ever since CEDIA 2014 there has been tremendous buzz in the industry surrounding the announcement of Crestron's new home automation platform Pyng. This product represents a major evolution for Crestron in that the entire system can be programmed and configured using only the app, no laptop necessary. The price point of the system is also garnering attention, coming in at a low starting point of only $599. This week we bring in Crestron Technology Manager Evan Ackmann to dive deep into the new offering, covering the key points and hoping to clear up some of the misconceptions around the product. 

Before we jump into the interview we cover a few of the top stories from the week in smart home technology. This week the networking company Ruckus announced an exciting new product line called Xclaim. The product is a more affordable offering than traditional Ruckus hardware. While the price points warrant attention, what makes the offering really noteworthy is the tie-in with Google (more on that in the episode). We also discuss the news that LG has officially pulled the plug on plasma TV technology. It would appear that this news sounds the death knell for this once coveted technology.

All this and more in this week's episode. As always, thanks so much for listening and we hope you enjoy!

CrestronPyngHomeTech.jpg

Episode 37 - Revolv Acquired by Nest

This week we are bringing you another news-only episode, and there was no shortage of big news to talk about.  On the personal side of things Jason discusses the continual process of readying his home for the 'new addition'.  That's right, if you haven't heard, Jason and his wife are getting ready to welcome to their first child (a baby girl) in a few short weeks from now! And like any true gadget geek, he's been looking for ways technology can help.  In fact at the time of this posting he just finished installing a new Ecobee3 thermostat to help more accurately monitor the temperature in the nursery.  We look forward to sharing his thoughts on the product in a future episode.  Seth also has big news brewing with the pending purchase of a new home.  In fact he's looking to make some HVAC-related upgrades of his own.  Which led to a discussion of Ecovent, a previous show guest of ours, who is now taking pre-orders.  Lots cooking on the home front!  More to come, so stay tuned!

On the industry side, there were a few huge stories to cover.  The first being the acquisition of the smart home company, and previous show guest Revolv.  We were as surprised as anyone to hear of this news.  Founder Mike Soucie joined us recently and really left us with the impression that Revolv was a long term contender in the home automation hub space.  However part and parcel of the acquisition news was that Revolv (as a product) would cease to exist.  Very interesting indeed.  Tune in to get our take. 

We also discussed news that broke recently about Sonos suing D&M holdings (parent company of Denon) over alleged patent infringement related to the new product line Heos.  To close the show we covered the recent integration of Harmony Home products with IFTTT.  

As always, thanks so much for listening!  We hope you enjoy! 

Show Notes

Revolv_Nest_Acquisition.jpg

Episode 36 - All Quiet on the HomeKit Front

Another Apple event has come and gone.  And sadly it's all quiet on the HomeKit Front.  While many of their recent announcements are indeed exciting, new iPads, new iMacs, and new Mac Minis (finally!), we're not an Apple show, we're a home technology show.  So we have to admit to being a bit bummed about the lack of public news since the initial announcement of HomeKit back at WWDC. 

Even with the lack of HomeKit news, there was still plenty to cover in this week's show.  We opened the show talking about a few home technology buying decisions that we are facing in our respective personal lives.  At HomeTech, we both live and breathe this stuff in our daily work, so it's always a pleasure when we can put a more personal touch on things by discussing practical uses in our own homes.  In terms of recent news, we discuss the announcement by The Thread Group that they are officially accepting applications for membership.  To wrap up the show we have a chat about UHD / 4K TV Technology.  4K is all the rage these days.  As with any new technology however, there is more to it than meets the eye.  HDTV is not a topic we've spent much time on in the past, but with all the changes taking place in that landscape it may be a topic we revisit more moving forward. 

As always, we thank you so much for listening!  If you enjoy the show be sure to tell a friend or share it on your favorite social media channel.  If you have any comments, or suggestions feedback is always welcome!  Just head on over to hometech.fm/feedback and drop us a line!

Show Notes

AllQuietOnTheHomeKitFront.jpg

Episode 35 - Ted Schremp of SmartHome Ventures

On this episode of HomeTech we were joined by Ted Schremp.  Ted is the CEO Smarthome Ventures, the recently formed company behind the Peq Home Automation line of products.  Peq is intriguing to us for a number of reasons, and we were very excited to welcome Ted onto the show to discuss.  

Peq made headlines recently when rumors of the product first started circulating.  Speculation at the time centered around this product being Best Buy's answers to the likes of Staples Connect and the Lowes Iris.  While there is truth to the fact that the retail giant will carry Peq products, Smarthome Ventures operates as its own entity with ambitions above and beyond their deal with Best Buy.  With an impressive executive team, a polished lineup of products, and a business model aimed at long term sustainability, the Smarthome Ventures teams looks like they are playing for keeps.  We had a great chat with Ted.  As always we hope you enjoy and thank you for listening!

Show Notes