Episode 57 - Cut the Cord with Tablo's Grant Hall

If we've said it once we've said it a dozen times: 2015 is the year of the cord cutter. With new over-the-top offerings coming to market at an increasing pace, consumers everywhere are finding it increasingly easy to tell their big cable providers to go pound sand. While services like Netflix, Hulu, and the newly released SlingTV provide consumers with a great deal of content to chose from, they are all missing one thing - access to local, live, high-definition programming available free to anyone with an OTA antenna.

Enter Tablo, a whole-home OTA DVR that allows users to record and stream free HDTV programming to any screen in their home. This week we sat down with Grant Hall, CEO of the Ottawa-based company behind Tablo. In addition to taking a deep-dive into the product's design and function, we also discuss some of the broader trends currently disrupting the traditional TV service provider model. 

2015 is no doubt a year full of exciting prospects for cord cutters everywhere. Tablo is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this growing market. Tune in to learn more... 

PS - As you'll hear us explain at the start of this episode HomeTech now has a Patreon page. We'd love for you to check it out. You can also read more of our take here. We hope you will consider showing your support for the show. It would be tremendously appreciated! 

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Episode 56 - Listeners' Corner feat. Jonathan Horvath

It's been a little over a year since we launched the hometech podcast. During that time we've been fortunate enough to hear from many of you with suggestions, comments, questions, and loads of positive feedback. Without fail this correspondence has led to inspiration and ideas for future episodes. In light of this fact we had a thought: why not take the correspondence itself and make a show of it?  

With that by way of introduction, we are excited to present to you the first edition of "Listeners' Corner". We were joined by Jonathan Horvath, who has been one of the most active members of our budding community. You may recognize his name from another recent episode and / or from a guest review he was kind enough to send us on the Yale smart lock. Jonathan has a interesting background in the commercial access control space. He is also working on some very unique projects in his own home, using open source tools to create his own Z-Wave based home automation hub. Tune in to hear all about it.

At the risk of sounding clichéd we often like to remind you that without your listenership this show may as well not exist. As podcast creators we obviously like to hear ourselves talk. But, after all, if we knew no one was listening the production would surely lose its luster in a hurry.  

Thank you for being a part of the show! If you are interested in joining us on a future edition of "Listeners' Corner" please don't hesitate to reach out on twitter or through our feedback page.

See you next week!

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Episode 55 - NEEO: The Thinking Remote with Raphael Oberholzer

About a month ago, February 12th to be exact, one of the most successful smart home Kickstarter campaigns  in recent memory came to its glorious end. Initially setting out to raise $50,000 for their nascent "thinking remote", the team at NEEO had obliterated their goal, ending the campaign at an astonishing $1.5 million. Clearly the NEEO remote has struck a chord with smart home fans. 

As we discussed in last week's show, 2014 marked a tipping point in the smart home. Countless products have since hit the market as companies rush in to stake their claim in this modern day gold rush. It would seem however that by and large control of consumer A/V devices in the media room has been overlooked.  In this week's show we chat with NEEO's founder, Raphael Oberholzer, to find out exactly why that is. More importantly we discuss what NEEO plans to do about it. Tune into this episode to learn about this exciting new product, and to hear about NEEO's plans to dominate the smart home, starting with your media room...

 

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Episode 54 - "The Silent Intelligence" with Daniel Obodovski

As the name of our show implies we consistently strive to keep a tight focus on technology in the home, and the home alone. On this week's show however we wanted to zoom out and look at the connected home as part of a larger context, namely the broad phenomenon knows as "The Internet of Things". Our featured guest, Daniel Obodovski, is perfectly suited to facilitate the conversation. 

Daniel is the co-author of the "The Silent Intelligence", a book that explores in great detail the ubiquitous connectivity making its way into our daily lives. Daniel is particularly qualified to speak on this topic. He has nearly 20 years of experience in the high-tech sectors where he has helped various companies come to market with connected devices. Daniel's book is packed full of insights, helping its readers understand the broad-reaching implications of the next revolution in computing, which is well underway as we speak. Join us for a fascinating conversation as we discuss the Internet of Things, and what it means for the connected home of the future.    

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Episode 53 - Special Guest Richard Gunther