IoTRant

SmartThings Link for the NVIDIA Shield is Dead

Well, I have to say I saw this coming although I expected it to happen a long time ago. The SmartThings Link which allows users to turn their NVIDIA Shield into a smart home hub is getting killed off by Samsung. This is happening because Samsung is “transitioning to a next-gen platform” which I find funny as I used to be a SmartThings user and found absolutely nothing about it to be…

We have known that an outdoor camera from Wyze has been coming for some time now. We also know that the Wyze Outdoor Camera was delayed at least once but was in the second stage of beta testing. Now we have an FCC filing which gives us our first real look at the Wyze Outdoor Cam and gives us hope that it is coming soon.

Let’s take a look and see what we know about the Wyze Outdoor Cam, its…

Ecobee is stepping up its game as of late. First, we heard about a furnace filter delivery program which is a great way to manage filter changes that go unnoticed way to easily and now we are getting details of what Ecobee calls Haven. Haven is a security platform that Ecobee is building which as of now includes:

Ecobee SmartCamera

Ecobee SmartSensors for Doors and Windows

These two products…

The Ring Alarm system has been around for roughly two years. In those two years, we have seen a good number of additions to the system (both hardware and software) and I for one have grown to love the system. What we had not seen however was a full refresh to the line and the release of a second generation. Well, the wait is over as Ring has released its second-generation Ring Alarm and really…

Last week I wrote about Wyze releasing firmware for the Wyze Cam and Wyze Cam Pan that would allow people to use them as a webcam. With the current state of the world and employees working remotely much more than normal, a webcam can be a very important tool. While I did not have a need for another webcam I do have plenty of Wyze Cams around so I figured I would give it a shot and see how things…

I have been hooked on Shelly products for some time now and in the process of slowly switching all of my Zigbee and Z-Wave devices over to Shelly products. Today we were treated to a nice little leak with some information about an upcoming Shelly device the Shelly i3.

From this leaked graphic we can see that the Shelly i3 packs some serious power with:

3 Inputs

24 Actions

DC Voltage Support…

We are in unprecedented times right now with COVID-19 spreading like wildfire through the world. This epidemic has come with a lot of challenges especially in the business world. With more and more companies closing offices and having employees work from home webcams have become indispensable and also difficult to come by. Everyone from 3D Printing companies to banks and individual makers are…

Last week we got introduced to Home Assistant 0.107 and all the Breaking Changes and new features that came with it. Reading through the changelog (found here) you can see this is a pretty substantial release with lots of new additions. In my opinion, the biggest addition in Home Assistant 0.107 is Dashboards with an “S” meaning plural or more than one.

What Are Home Assistant Dashboards?

We all know that Wyze has been hard at work on a whole slew of new products. Some of these products fit right into the current Wyze ecosystem and some are a bit out there. Two of these outside the norm products are available for pre-order starting today in the Wyze Early Access Program, the Wyze Band and the Wyze Scale.

I know I am in the minority here amongst home automation enthusiasts who…

I have always been fascinated with the weather and the data that we can get from it. This data combined with our smart homes can create some of the simplest yet most powerful and life-changing automation. This love of weather got me started down the indoor climate and air quality path which is yet another area that can lead to great automation.

A few years back my wife and I purchased a new…

The Shelly by Allterco Robotics is a maker of some very affordable yet high-quality home automation products. The popularity of Shelly devices in the DIY smart home world has skyrocketed since they first came onto the scene with their Sonoff Basic killer, Shelly One.

Since then Shelly has continued to innovate and release products like the Shelly Dimmer, Shelly 2.5, Shelly H&T and the rest of…

I have been using Raspberry Pi based home automation and IoT projects for many years now. One constant need across all of these projects is flashing MicroSD Cards. Sure you can go the NOOBS (New Out of Box Software) route but what fun is that? Okay flashing images to MicroSD Cards is not fun but it is something we all have to do and I have to admit I have never used NOOBS or even though about it.…

IN a bit of good news the Anki Vector may come back from the dead. Digital Dream Labs, the company that purchased the rights to the Anki Vector (along with the Cozmo and Overdrive) in the Anki fire sale has launched a Kickstarter campaign. The goal of this Kickstarter campaign is to bring software updates to the Vector.

Digital Dream Labs aims to remove the cloud dependency from Vector since…

The novel Coronavirus is real and it is here. People around the world are faced with dealing with it head-on, daily. Many of the people I talk to are searching for answers not only to what to do to stay healthy but also on how they can help. While the major work in fighting Covid-19 is best left to the healthcare professionals and researchers, normal everyday folk can do a small part by simply…

Smart Thermostats are like the gateway drug into the smart home. So many people start here with a smart thermostat and for good reason, HVAC automation can make a huge difference in your life and your wallet.

I am no stranger to smart thermostats. Nor, am I a stranger to Ecobee. I started with an Ecobee 3, then upgraded to an Ecobee 4 because I had to have Alexa in my thermostat and am now…

A few weeks back the Electronic Frontier Foundation discovered that Ring has been sharing data with some third-parties. This data sharing was happening thorough analytics services running in the Ring app and on the Ring website. According to Ring, this was mostly for statistical analysis of there app and website usage but none the less was concerning to users given the companies recent security…

Ring has been on the defensive lately over security concerns and had recently started turning things around by rectifying its security practices and giving its users more control. Now, once more Ring is going on the offensive and releasing new products. Among these products are:

Ring Video Doorbell 3

Ring Video Doorbell 3 Plus

Chime

Chime Pro

[amazon box=”B0849J7W5X,B07WLP395R” grid=”2″]

Three…