LG Electronics and Lumi United Technology join forces to create artificial intelligence. It would propose an ecosystem offering more efficient connected objects for the home. The new products will be unveiled in Berlin in the fall.
LG and Lumi United Technology – China’s specialist in smart home solutions – are working together to develop intelligent objects that are better able to meet consumer needs.
The two companies announce that they will ensure that their devices are compatible through a new synchronization. They will focus in particular on the development of an artificial intelligence that will link connected objects of all kinds and sensors that can detect changes in a closed environment (living room or other) such as humidity, temperature or door movements.
The brands give the example of Lumi’s Aqara sensor, which will be compatible with an LG air conditioner to save energy and increase home comfort. The LG device will be able to adjust the temperatures automatically according to the data collected by the sensor. In addition, if a window is opened while the air conditioner is running, the user will receive a notification to inform him/her.
LG and Lumi will unveil their new services at the IFA in Berlin in early September. Both manufacturers have already announced that visitors will be able to see an LG air dehumidifier – without specifying the model – using Lumi technology to maintain clothing in optimal storage conditions.
It should be noted that other synchronization solutions can compete with this system proposed by LG and Lumi, such as Enki by Leroy Merlin. Indeed, Enki thanks to the Homey connection gateway connects nearly 200 objects connected to a single application and makes them work together. All this is reminiscent of IFTTT (If This, Then That), which activates lights, sensors and video surveillance cameras by a snowball effect – one driving the other.
At the end of last year we presented you with a very interesting object. The latter was called CatDrive Wireless Smart Smart Hard Drive. However, unfortunately, its availability was never made, even if the product was very popular. Today, the CatDrive brand is back in the spotlight with, we hope, a successful product. The Xiaomi Mijia CatDrive Plus Wireless Smart Hard Drive is now available on the crowdfunding platform. This product allows you to create a Cloud at home via the Wifi network. Discover it immediately on Xiaomi Passion.
Xiaomi Mijia CatDrive plus wireless smart hard drive
This new model comes with a color code and shape identical to the first model. However it takes a little height, now it measures 120 mm x 168 mm. This increase in size is explained by the fact that it is now possible to insert a hard disk. Therefore, the Xiaomi Mijia CatDrive Plus Wireless Smart Hard Drive is sold alone, you will need a hard drive to use it. To put it into operation, it is very simple, it has only one button on the front panel.
In order to adapt to all types of hard drives, the Xiaomi Mijia CatDrive Plus Wireless Smart Hard Drive has several slots. Indeed, it will be possible to place a 3.5 HDD hard disk, a 2.5 HDD hard disk or a 2.5 in SSD. Also, the storage limit is 12 TB. To limit the heating of the material, the upper cover has small holes for natural ventilation.
A dedicated application is available for Android, iOS, PC and MAC. As a result, it will be possible to back up or view files in the cloud with a single click. It will also allow you to save the images of your surveillance cameras from Mi Home. To manage all this, he has 8 GB of disk space for the ROM and 512 MB of DDR3L RAM.
Its launch price is 399 yuan or about 50€. This product is really very interesting and we hope to introduce you to it very soon.
Thermor invites you to discover its brand new range of smart and electric towel dryers. Design and elegance that will fit perfectly into your bathroom.
Dry your towels in a few minutes, heat your room while listening to high quality music. With Thermor Symphonik radiators, you learn to heat your home responsibly while saving energy.
We would almost come to love winter.
Features and functions
Like other Thermor heaters, the Symphonik can be controlled from a control dial. Except here some of these controls are tactile. The display constantly shows the time, not bad when you get ready in the morning before going to work. The temperature of your radiator is also indicated, its adjustment is easily done thanks to the small knob on the side of the screen. This equipment is truly versatile as it can quickly heat your room and towels while playing your favorite music. You’ll soon become addicted to it.
Symphonik is a smart radiator equipped with remote control. With the free Cozytouch application, you can set the temperature, change the heating mode, view and optimize energy consumption whenever you want and wherever you are, from your smartphone or tablet.
The radiator is intuitive thanks to its presence detector. Thanks to this, he will be able to anticipate your movements, your hours of presence and adapt the heat of your room. A true memory of your home, it learns every day about your lifestyle and can itself lower or raise the temperature of one or more rooms. Thanks to its intelligent functions, the Symphonik will make you save up to 45% of energy.
And that’s not all, as mentioned above, this electric towel warmer has a touch button. First of all, there is the Boost function which will allow you to obtain the temperature you want in just a few minutes. Whether you get out of the shower or want to warm up quickly, this function quickly appears to be essential. Below you will find a small icon representing a wet towel. This touch button also activates a 30-minute quick drying mode to dry your bath towels quickly and efficiently. The activated blower then diffuses more heat for perfect comfort.
Manufacturing
This new Scandinavian style natural collection is made in France. A guarantee of quality, Thermor has been designing and manufacturing all its electric heating and water heating appliances in France for 80 years, on 6 production sites, each with its own area of expertise.
Thermor complies with very strict regulatory requirements, which gives a real guarantee of reliability and reliability to Thermor products. Numerous controls of each part, as well as sampling tests carried out in laboratories, are carried out to reinforce this quality.
Cozytouch application for a perfect temperature at all times
The Cozytouch application allows you to control the temperature of your home remotely and to know the temperature of each room in real time. It also calculates air quality and outdoor temperature to provide the most optimal comfort temperature.
As mentioned above, you can adapt two types of temperature: comfort and eco which is activated when you are not at home or absent from the room in question in order to limit unnecessary energy costs.
You can also schedule absences so that the eco mode is automatically set up when you go to work, for example. The application eventually understands your lifestyle and that of other members of the household since you can pair several devices on the same application.
Another interesting point is the energy economy. The application provides a budget tab, in order to view and analyze your expenses over a week, a month or a year. You will be able to adjust your consumption according to your needs and know the savings you have made.
However, the application still has some work to do in terms of design and ease of use. It is not very intuitive and some functions still need to be reviewed. For example, some heaters automatically shut down or go into standby for no real reason.
For added economy, Thermor heaters detect when a window is open, allowing it to lower its temperature to avoid unnecessary energy loss.
Competition
Thermor offers an all-in-one solution with a smart heater that you can control through its application. If you don’t want to have everything in one, the best solution is thermostats. There are several leaders on the market, for more details you can go to the comparison of the best thermostats of 2019, but for now here are some of the best thermostats on the market.
Netatmo thermostat
This thermostat saves you real money: up to 37%. It takes into account the insulation of your house as well as the outside temperature in order to offer you the best possible temperature. In addition, its design and the choice of colour it offers give it a very personal and elegant touch.
Tado° Thermostat
It too adapts to your home and allows you to save up to 31% on your bill. Unlike some thermostats, you don’t need a phone to get the most out of it. Very versatile, it is also compatible with 95% of boilers, and can even work with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
Nest thermostat
The king of the thermostat is probably him. Design, ease of use and functionality, it lacks nothing. It can detect humidity, room temperature and even your movements to provide the best possible solution. It goes even further by defining a target temperature and automatic programming. So, even when you’re not there, he learns and becomes more intelligent.
Conclusion
The Thermor Symphonik heater seduced us with its very clean and elegant design. The colours chosen are perfectly suited to contemporary or older interiors. We really appreciated the Boost and towel dryer functions, which quickly became essential. The possibility of choosing the opening side of the blades is very well thought out. This means that this towel dryer can really be adapted to any type of bathroom. The Symphonik provides a soft and homogeneous warmth throughout the room even when covered with a towel. Finally, the Cabasse loudspeaker is of excellent quality, it delivers a clear sound. Its volume is directly adaptable from its phone, even when climbing very high, there is no crackling or discomfort in listening. It will seduce technology lovers without compromising the style and design of their interior.
Sen.se ThermoPeanut is a small, wireless thermometer that measures the temperature at regular intervals and sends it via Bluetooth to the smartphone. Sounds quite simple, but it is. But especially thanks to the IFTTT support there are countless areas of application.
Our fridge is old and no longer closes as it should. At least once a week I come to the fridge and see that it is open a gap. Annoying. On the one hand the food suffers from the increased temperatures in the refrigerator. On the other hand my wallet suffers from the increased electricity bill.
But for this quite special problem there is a simple solution: ThermoPeanut from Sen.se. The small thermometer costs 29 Euro and transmits via Bluetooth to Smartphone. There a temperature range can be defined very comfortably. As soon as ThermoPeanut falls out of the defined temperature range, it emits a warning signal on request and sends a notification to the smartphone.
The app can also be used to determine the intervals at which the temperature should be measured and how often the notifications should be sent. ThermoPeanut can also be calibrated there and set from Celsius to Fahrenheit.
ThermoPeanut with IFTTT support
But ThermoPeanut only becomes really exciting in combination with the cloud-based Smart home solution IFTTT. IFTTT (IF This Than That) connects a lot of SmartHome devices via simple if-then commands. The app is simply called IF and already offers many predefined recipes.
In conjunction with a smart thermostat, the heater automatically turns on when the temperature drops below a certain point. If it gets too hot, the fan starts. If it gets too hot on the balcony, a mail comes asking you to water the flowers. Or when the temperature around the refrigerator drops, my Philips Hue lights start flashing blue.
Conclusion
I am enthusiastic about the ThermoPeanut, Smarthome must be like this! The device itself is small and inconspicuous, can be connected to other devices of its kind and comes with lots of accessories to attach it even in the most impossible places. Best of all, thanks to IFTTT support, it works with a myriad of other Smart home devices, greatly expanding its application range.
Only the price screw could be turned a little for our senses. It should also be clear to everyone that ThermoPeanut only works properly if the smartphone is within Bluetooth range.
Already the Nuki 1.0 is a quite popular Smart Lock in the Smart Home scene. Nuki has reworked this lock and presents the Nuki 2.0 to us today. For users of the Nuki Smart Lock 1 there will be an exchange program. More details will be announced in November.
Nuki 2.0 comes with Apple Homekit
Homekit is a feature which was often requested by users of Nuki. Since a Smart Lock is a security relevant element in the Smart Home, Homekit integration is not possible without the use of a special chip. With the Nuki 2.0 this integration has probably been accomplished and fulfills the users a long-awaited feature.
Integrated door sensor
With the new integrated door sensor, the status of the door (open or closed) can also be queried. The condition is detected by a magnet attached to the inside of the door frame. Until now this was not possible with version 1.0 and the door lock could only be unlocked and locked.
Nuki Opener
In 2019, the Nuki Opener, a solution for retrofitting the intercom system, will follow as the next product in the first quarter. Like the nello one, it will make it possible to make the entrance doors of apartment buildings smart. According to our information, a collaboration with Nello was intended for this until the very end, but now it seems that the company is relying on its own product.
Further innovations
A new processor in the Nuki Smart Lock should make any processes faster. Furthermore, the Nuki Smart Lock 2.0 now uses Bluetooth 5 for larger ranges. Bluetooth 5 will certainly be relevant for Mesh Bluetooth. Alternatively it can also communicate via Zigbee. With the updated version it is now also possible to use Nuki on knob cylinders with the help of a new adapter set. Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri are now supported as language assistants, i.e. the full range. It is also possible to integrate IFTTT and Apple – as well as Android Smartwatches. Means in the future I could open my front door with my Fossil Q HR and the Nuki Smart Lock. As before, an end-to-end encryption is used here as well. For people who use Nuki in a company or a club, the number of permissions was increased to 200 per Smart Lock.
Price and availability
The Nuki Smart Lock 2.0 will be released in November at a price of 229€. The Nuki Bridge is at a retail price of 99€. The Combo is sold for 299€ as well as the first generation Smart Lock.
