584 episodes
The dust is settling in Dallas after another busy CEDIA Expo. With the housing market at its strongest in years, and exciting new technologies continuing to gain traction, the show floor was buzzing. Three solid days spent canvasing the exhibits turned up far more interesting news than we could cover in a single episode. So this year we have decided to break up our post-show special into two parts!
The dog days of Summer have come and gone. But while temperatures may be cooling, the home technology scene is heating up in preparation for another CEDIA Expo. This years' show, dubbed "Hello, Future" is being held in Dallas, TX. Whether you're a professional integrator, an end-user, or a hometech hobbyist the smart home industry's largest stateside event promises plenty of products and services to get excited about.
A proliferation of entry-level and DIY smart home products has integrators and manufacturers alike grappling for ways to maintain market share. Providing down-market solutions without cannibalizing existing business is, after all, a very difficult balancing act. The good news for those trying to crack the code is that it can be done. For proof look no further than Lutron.
Think of this week's episode as a delicious breakfast scramble. Ok, it may not be quite as satisfying as a hot plate of hash-browned potatoes adorned with a couple of fried eggs and covered in melty cheese. The best that we can offer is our own tasty trifecta of HomeTech business ramblings, new product news, and general smart home mayhem.
This week's HomeTech show is chalk-full of updates. We start out with some follow-up points on the not-so-rosy outlook for the KNX Association as they gear up to make a push into the US market. Following that conversation we discuss a number of recent updates on Crestron's Pyng, no doubt aiming to bring the platform back into the spotlight for CEDIA 2015. Speaking of Crestron, and of CEDIA, we also give a quick nod to Vincent Bruno, the former Crestron exec who was recently named CEO of the trade organization.
Home technology fans anxious to see HomeKit in the spotlight at Apple's recent 'Hey Siri' event were once again let down. While we could easily rant about the continual lack of movement on Apple's smart home initiative, who wants to kick a dead horse? We decided instead to focus this week's show on what Apple did unveil, and there was plenty.
This week's episode of HomeTech features a guest well-known within engineering and technology circles, Peter Hoddie. Having once served as Chief Quicktime Architect at Apple, Peter boasts a very impressive resume. Peter currently serves as VP of Kinoma, a division within the giant semi-conductor company Marvell. Back in 2002 he co-founded Kinoma, producing a virtual software platform widely deployed by companies like Palm, Sony, and Sling Media. While Kinoma has since been acquired, in many ways they continue to proudly demonstrate their startup roots.
Ever wonder what the how the rest of the world perceives home technology integrators? Wonder no more. We kick this week's episode off by sharing the audio from a YouTube clip we think sums it perfectly. Not sure if we should laugh or cry, but a little levity never hurts either way.
In what has become a bit of a rare occurrence lately this week's show actually features both of your regular hosts. No interview guest, but plenty of interesting news and opinion pieces to discuss. First we provide a wrap-up of the CEPro Summit, an event recently attended by Jason. Focused primarily on the professional integrators in our audience, the conversation provides an interesting peek behind the curtain for end-users and enthusiasts as well.
Many tech companies are quick to use the word "security" when describing features such as mobile alerts and remote access to cameras. While certainly convenient these technologies are necessarily limited by their reactive nature, likely affording you little more than a front row seat to the violation of your home. Lost in all this marketing hype is the fact that a true security system's biggest benefit lies in it's ability to proactively prevent an intrusion from happening in the first place.
This week Seth takes the mic solo again and chats with (super) special guest Mike Wolf about his upcoming Smart Kitchen Summit event in November. They also chat about a few bits of news that happened over the past week including creepy TVs, a new DIY security platform, and robot chefs.
This week Seth and Jason are back together to chat about the last few weeks in HomeTech. A little follow up here and a little news there -- overall a really fun show this week. Thank you to all our Patreon supporters for showing your support! You guys rock!
This week Seth sits down to chat with industry veteran and Editor-at-Large of CEPro Julie Jacobson. Julie has been covering the home automation market for more than two decades and has been one of our go to sources for home automation news each week. We chat about the interesting stock performance of Control4 and Alarm.com and discuss the recent news of Savant killing off their LiteTouch panelized lighting control system.
On this week's show we sit down to revisit last week's popular discussion on voice control in the home (spoiler: Jason still isn't a fan). We also chat about the future of 4K and what integrators need to know about video distribution thanks to a great article by Chris Pinder of HDAnywhere. Rounding out the show is a new home automation offering from Legrand that targets the production builder market.
Apple is rarely the first one to any party, but they tend to turn a lot of heads when they do finally show up. From portable music players, to tablets, to smart watches Apple has demonstrated this pattern time and again. True to form the company has now staked their claim in another existing market, subscription based streaming music, with Apple Music.
For this week's show we are pleased to present a conversation with Shaun Springer. Shaun is the founder and CEO of Astro, the company behind the newly released smart lightbulb / speaker combination Twist. Shaun's background in the smart home will be of particular interest to the integrators in our audience. Earlier in his career Shaun worked at Crestron, where he led research and development on the company's Core3 UI initiative.
In a couple of respects this was a rather disappointing week in the smart home. On one hand we had been looking forward to a press conference from Nest. The company has been awfully quiet since being acquired by Google in February of 2014 for whopping $3.2 billion. At the time of that blockbuster deal it was only natural to assume that, given this sort of brand-power and funding, Nest would be moving quick with further ventures into the smart home. Cue the crickets...
Smart home professionals, enthusiasts, and reporters alike were once again left wanting in the wake of an Apple event. It's been over a year since the original announcement of Apple's smart home initiative known as HomeKit. Despite recent, and rather unexpected, announcements by several smart home manufacturers that HomeKit product is now shipping, Cupertino continues to keep the platform out of the spotlight. Those holding their breath for a long-overdue update to the AppleTV, which many suspect could play an integral role in HomeKit, were also left exhaling in disappointment.
It's our first interview episode in quite some time, and well worth the wait. We are joined by Brian Leeners, CEO and founder for NYCE Control. NYCE is a company driving innovation in the sensor market with an array of zigbee devices. Brian brings a diverse background and well-educated set of opinions to the table in what proved to be a very fun and interesting conversation. In addition to covering NYCE's array of product offerings we also dive into discussions about how sensor technology will drive smart home adoption. As always we hope you enjoy!
Last week we decided to take a small breather in order to celebrate Memorial Day as well as our own Seth Johnson's birthday (be sure to send him some BDay love on twitter). Turns out taking a breather was a good idea. This week we are back with a vengeance in what feels like just the beginning of what should remain a very busy 2015.
