fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
L’Orange Tridimensionnelle
By: Ivan Lesar
Tags: IoT, Smart Home, Homeassistant, Esp8266, Esphome

As kids, my brothers and I would spend the summer holidays with our family on the countryside. While my brothers enjoyed the great outdoors, I would spend a good amount of my time in the garage, creating something which I had called machines.

When the question about my day came up, I’d always say…

“I was building machines.”

These contraptions consisted mostly of different pieces of wood and/or metal coupled together by rope, nails or screws. Most of them had no purpose in the real world, but at the time they fulfilled some childish need of mine.

Be aware that any kind of visual documentation of these objects would look like the image below. No one but me, at the time, could make sense of them.

“Name One Thing In This Photo” Meme

Well, look at me now, world!

I create machines with machines for machines.

Interface after interface, the thirst cannot be quenched.

I can freely say that this hobby of mine has outgrown itself into a full blown addiction. Heck, I’m even writing about it!

A cause for a celebration

Let’s treat ourselves with another interface. But, this time we’ll spice things up. We are not going to conform to prebuilt enclosures. This time they shall adopt to our needs.

First, let’s round up the needed crowd. On our journey will need a couple of things:

If you wish to size thing up, you could use a larger screen. The I2C adapter is not mandatory but it gives you a 4 pin interface instead of the default 16 pins, with a small potentiometer for adjusting the screen contrast.

Smash everything together

To get things started, we’ll take a bucket and put the board, potentiometer, LCD screen and the jumper wires inside. Raise the bucket above your head and shake it.

Lower the bucket after 20 seconds and take look inside. The components should be connected like this. The breadboard manifests itself during the high collision of components with the sides of the bucket.

If you notice a misalignment, try shaking the bucket it in different directions. That should help. Some people reported that using a red bucket increases your chances for a quicker connection.

When you feel that everything is in order, proceed.
The Next Evolution of Josh.ai
Tags: Logo, Logo Design, Branding, Smart Home

The Josh.ai brand has evolved.

Today we say “thank you for your service” to our globally recognizable mascot and logo of 6 years, and say hello to a new, focus group approved and socially conscious rebranding of what Josh.ai stands for. With the rebranding today, Josh.ai isn’t simply updating a logo or website design. We are also giving new life to the Josh.ai identity, expanding beyond the familiar silhouette of the friendly and helpful dog.

This new direction will instill the vision of the company into every aspect of its products, services, and customer relationships. But first, let’s take a moment to reflect on our origin.

Hello, old friend.

When we first started out in 2015 we sought to imbue our brand identity with qualities you can trust: friendliness, loyalty, and a willingness to help. For the first time, we’re showing a glimpse into the weeks long process that went into developing the brand as we know and love today.

An early abstract concept.

An early, more aggressive approach to the dog head.

Feeling whimsical.

Look familiar?

These explorations and many more culminated in the logo that we’re used to today. However, the time is ripe for change. After a tumultuous year where everyone spent a good portion of time stuck at home and in introspection, we felt the need to update our logo to reflect the societal changes we’ve witnessed over the past several months. Finally, we are ready to unveil the next evolution of the Josh.ai brand.
The 3 Easy Ways to Create Powerful Home Automation Scenes in Josh
Tags: IoT, Artificial Intelligence, Smart Home, Voice Assistant, AI

iOS App

The iOS App closely resembles the web portal (details below) to keep a consistent user interface experience throughout the entire system. This gives the flexibility of adding more advanced scenes through any mobile device. The example below is a “meeting” scene that transforms the home from an entertainment experience into a work environment.

“Meeting”

The world is changing. More people work from home now than ever before. Throughout the pandemic, our homes have been transformed into offices. The ability to change your home from an entertainment space to a productive work environment is critical.

This scene will be created using the Josh iOS app custom commands. The custom commands section built into the app enables users to type commands just as they would normally speak them. Josh will then activate these commands when the scene is triggered.

Open the iOS app, select the Scenes tab on the bottom, scroll down and select Add Scene .

tab on the bottom, scroll down and select . This is where you would give your scene a name. The example name used is “Meeting,” which by defailt will activate upon telling Josh the trigger word “Meeting.”

Now that the scene has been created, we can add what we want it to do. Custom Commands is where you would type what you want to happen in natural language.

is where you would type what you want to happen in natural language. In this scene, we typed this in:

Turn the office lights on, pause the music in the office, switch to the security cameras in the office, announce everywhere “Mom is starting a meeting, Kids please be quiet I will let you know when it’s over” and Mute office Micro.

Lastly, we will set up additional voice triggers for this scene. Voice triggers are the commands you tell Josh that triggers the scene to start. We recommend adding intuitive matching triggers such as, “I am starting a meeting,” as opposed to just the word “Meeting.”

Select the Settings icon at the top right. From here, we add “I am starting a meeting,” and “Start the meeting.”

This simple scene now lets a user say, “I am starting a meeting,” or “start the meeting,” to activate it. From there, Josh will run the commands defined in the custom command box.

So for this scene, Josh will turn the office lights on, pause music if it’s playing in the office, pull up the security cameras on the office TV for easy viewing, announce throughout the house, “Mom is starting a meeting. Kids please be quiet. I will let you know when it’s over,” and then mute the office Josh Micro to avoid listening for the wake word during a meeting. This scene keeps the work environment quiet, and can be set up in under 5 minutes from any mobile device.
Kitchen of the Future starts with Safety!
By: Dexen Telemetry
Tags: Smart Kitchen, IoT, Smart Home

Did you know that more than 8000 restaurants catch fire in the US alone that is more than 200 million USD in property damages per year? This is already huge without taking into account the injuries and sweat equity.

Most kitchen owners and chefs do not take into consideration the cost of unknown risks, which are quite common, while designing their kitchen space. But there are several sources of fire that are waiting to happen: be it overheated ovens and fryers, hot food and oil that spill over pipes, fractures along the gas pipeline, always on electrical wires and systems to name a few.

Did you know that gas leaks are one of the most common causes of major devastating fires?

How do you determine if your older equipment supports appropriate gas flow or right quantity of gas flow? Faulty, cracked gas lines combined with electrical outlets, appliances have the potential to be extremely combustible.

How do you mitigate? Servicing your gas appliances regularly is one costly way to reduce the risk posed due to leaked gas.

But it may not cover scenarios where kitchens move their gas appliances from one place to another, thereby creating a gas leak risk by not properly checking the connection or providing sufficient care thereafter.

Regular upkeep, services, cleaning, swapping out older, outdated appliances with newer more efficient ones is the way to go, but that is costly and time consuming.

A better solution is a system that will monitor your gas appliances and pipes at all times, ensuring that they are intact and working properly. The system can help determine if an appliance is too old, too neglected to be in operation, send you timely alerts in case of a gas leak, help reduce the number of false negative gas leak calls to your gas distributor, and also save your restaurant before it’s too late!

Dexen is the leader in the natural gas industry. Our parts are used in all major hearth and commercial kitchen appliances. We would like you to be part of our journey, give us a call!
LIECTROUX C30B Robot Vacuum Cleaner
By: Puzzle Technologie
Tags: Smart Technology, Robot Vacuum Cleaner, Smart Home

LIECTROUX Robot Vacuums Are Highly In Demand!

Why do you need to have this robot vacuum at home ?

Many people hate vacuuming, it’s a boring task that feels too time-consuming and is requiring effort. For many people, purchasing a robot vacuum is a good way to clean the floors of your home without putting time or energy, which is totally right; but why are we advising you to buy the C30B LIECTROUX RoboVac?

Fig. 1.1: Smart Dynamic Navigation 👆

When you try to find out which robot vacuum you should purchase! You may have to know first that several different models of robot vacuums take different approaches to navigate. But earlier, models of robovacs cleaned randomly across the room and it took longer and the robots would sometimes miss some spots. Scientists took it as a challenge to make it smarter. Therefore, they equipped the C30B with Gyroscope + 2Dmapping. The 2D mapping helps the robot vacuum to gather information about your home so that it can choose the most efficient cleaning path, detect the best cleaning mode for the floor type, and recognize where they are. And the Gysroscope was put to double the speed efficiency. Researches found that it really increase the speed to 100%. So a task of 100 minutes, would take 50 minutes to be completed with this technology. That is why if you are looking for something to clean when you are busy with your responsibilities, this is an extraordinary and hard cleaning machine to make the floor shining ! Simply because our vacuum robots like to vacuum and mop the floors hardly at the same time !

This, would promise you good cleaning habits.

☑ Automatic return to base

☑ Wet mopping and disinfection

☑ 2D cartographic algorithm + Gyroscope

☑ Voice control and Wi-Fi app

☑ Quiet motor and noise below 45 dB

☑ Adjustable speed up to 4000 Pa

☑ Smart memory to recognize your whole house

☑ Effective on all types of floors

☑ Anti-torsion design and Anti-fall system

☑ Schedule cleaning anytime

Stop Manual Cleaning, Let Advanced Technologies Take Care of Your Home

If you suffer from mobility issues or physical ailments, a robot vacuum is the perfect cleaning device for you. Not only it does improve your cleaning routine, but it does so without putting in any extra strain on you or your situation. Simply turn it on and let it clean.

These devices contain various sensors, which allow it to clean independently. This eliminates the need to stand, walk, and bend over for extended periods of time. Robotic vacuums are also great for elderly individuals who may be suffering from arthritis or joint pain. Many of these vacuums can be preset to clean when needed, and they typically require very little maintenance.
Designing the Smart home
By: Piyush Verma
Tags: User Experience, Internet of Things, Smart Home Automation, Smart Home

This is the case study for Smart home Android app I made as a side project. I’ll go over the process I followed to design the product, and explain my reasoning and thoughts behind the decisions I made.

Research

I started with some brainstorming to understand about home automation and IoT. I did some competitor research to see how other products were solving this issue and taking notes of the things I did and didn’t like.

I tried to find the existing problem and made the rough user flows. I also thought of when and where the app will be used and how the user must be feeling at that moment.

Internet of things — IoT

It is a collection of devices interconnected through the internet, Bluetooth or a hub. These can be lights, speakers, thermostats, locks, etc.

These devices connect to the internet and can be controlled through a mobile phone remotely.

Problem

There are a lot of smart device companies in the market and each has its app. This makes it challenging to manage the devices as each action like turning on the light or locking the lock requires to open a new app.

Users need to perform multiple actions at certain times. For example, when a working professional is leaving home, they need to turn off the lights, thermostat and lock all the doors.

Solution

The solution to this problem is to make an all in one app, where all the different devices could be connected.

User Goals

The primary user goals to guide the design are:

Control devices View device status Automate and schedule actions

Sketching

Trust me; I’m a designer. Just not a good drawer :P

I started by sketching the screens, so it’s easier to design them on the computer without thinking about the content and flow.

Design
FBI warns smart Tv spying you
By: Samir Sali
Tags: Smart Home, Spy, Hacking, Smart Tv, FBI

Your Smart TV could spy on you, warns the FBI

According to a new FBI warning, your Smart TV could be used by criminals to hack into your home computer network and spy on every move you make. This includes looking at you and your family, as well as attacking other devices on your home network.

If you bought a new Smart TV during Black Friday sales, or are planning to buy some for the holiday season, you may want to take a moment to reconsider what you brought into your living room, or worse, into your room.

Although there are a lot of practical features delivered with modern smart TVs — such as the ability to immerse yourself in on-demand services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video at the touch of a button, stream videos from your smartphone to the big screen, and even make video calls with your friends and family while being comfortably relaxed on the couch.

Smart TVs, with an Internet connection, allow users to surf the web and watch shows from their favourite streaming platforms.

They also come with a range of customizable features instead of a remote control, including voice commands to browse channels or increase volume.

But devices — equipped with cameras, microphones and, in some cases, facial recognition technology — are often poorly secured by their manufacturers against computers or smartphones, the FBI warned last week.

Read more

Source: News Tech
The Best wifi system you definitely deserve one
By: Samantha Holmes
Tags: Smart Home, Mesh Networks, Wifi Router, Wifi, Tech

In 2019, There are many mesh wifi products appears on the market. You may hear some of them, such as google wifi,eero,TP-link, etc. Today, I am gonna talk about the MeshForce wifi system.

Unique design

As you can see, it’s tiny and white with a brand logo and a signal light. The top of the product has a very special design. Compared with other similar products of a single design, I think it is very fashionable.

Wide coverage

Full house coverage

It allows you to add up to 6 mesh points in the same system. One mesh points can cover up to 1500sqft coverage, it means you can max cover up to 9000sqft. If you have a very big house, this is definitely a good choice. Just put them in different rooms, you are access to enjoy yourself.

Easy to set up

Since it comes in two different models, I’ll explain them separately.

M1 3 pack（photo by MeshForce website）

Download ‘My Mesh’ App on your iOS or Android device, If you purchased 3 pack, choose any one of them as your main mesh points, plug it to power, then use the ethernet cable connect your modem to the mesh.

M3 3 pack（photo by MeshForce website）

The M3 model has made an improvement, it contains 1 mesh points with 2 dots. After you set up the main mesh point, easily plug the dots to power outlets. No need power cords or wires, simply plug in and add the dots in the app, your WiFi range becomes wider. So it’s more convenient. Use less than 10 minutes you can set everything up.

Affordable price

Refer to Amazon’s price：

MeshForce M1(3 pack) $169 /M3(3 pack) $199

eero (1 eero Pro + 2 eero Beacons) $319

Google wifi(3 pack) $254

GRYPHON(3 pack) $569

Compared with similar products, its price is more affordable.

multifunction

For its function, it has parental control, guest wifi, access management, etc. It does almost all the things that expensive products do. That’s why I recommend it.I’m not going to tell you the details of these function, you guys can search the MeshForce website or its Amazon store to find out by yourself.

Why you need mesh wifi?

If you have a big space that needs consistent network speeds, a mesh Wi-Fi network is worth to have. The Dual Band WiFi supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless which suits your older devices and newer devices. Higher class WPA2 Mixed encryption mode protects your WiFi password and data in a better way.

So if your older router not working well, please consider buying mesh wifi, you won’t regret.

Thanks for reading my story, I really appreciate. Hope you guys have a good day!
“Helping me build the smart home of my dreams.”
By: Aaron Searle
Tags: News Articles, Smart Home, Product, Product Reviews, Home Security

Based on thorough product reviews, Digital Trends and Android Central both recently gave Vivint’s latest technology their “recommended” stamps of approval.

Digital Trends’ Adam Doud named both the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro and the Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro Digital Trends “Recommended Products,” while Android Central’s Jared DiPane branded the complete Vivint smart home system with its “Recommended” seal.

Read the full product reviews:

Android Central - Vivint home security review: Helping me build the smart home of my dreams

Digital Trends - Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro review: Your guardian awaits

Digital Trends - Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro review: Purging pesky porch pirates

Here’s a taste of what they had to say:

“I’ve only just scratched the surface of what this can do, but it’s already been able to help me along in the process of building out the smart home of my dreams.” -Jared DiPane

“A video doorbell may help you catch thieves, but [Vivint’s] Smart Sentry stops them before you lose your stuff.” -Adam Doud

“I can say with confidence that this system has addressed every issue that I had with Ring’s set up, and has had a positive impact on the security of our home.” -Jared DiPane

“With more and more DIY home security solutions in play these days, it’s important to know that there are still home security professionals out there you can call on. When those professionals work hand-in-hand with smart home tech and artificial intelligence, things get really cool and that’s just what we’re working with here with the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro.” -Adam Doud

“I’ve longed for an all-in-one app that would show me my cameras, let me control my lights, thermostats, locks, and smart plugs, and I would never have guessed that Vivint would be the one that did it for me.” -Jared DiPane

“A lot of awesome packed into one package.” -Adam Doud
Can we control the temperature and switch off the lights in our homes remotely?
By: Zaynah Bhanji
Tags: Smart Home, Technology, Future, Internet of Things, Smart Cities

An IoT system has 3 parts.

1. Devices & Sensors collect data from their surrounding environment.

The data that devices and sensors collect could be things like the intensity of light or certain sounds or even an entire video.

For example, a phone has a lot of different sensors that collect data, such as a camera, a compass, and GPS.

2. This data is sent to the cloud and processed.

The devices and sensors are connected to the cloud through methods such as WiFi, Bluetooth, cellular, or ethernet.

Once this data gets to the cloud, it gets processed using software. The processing could be as simple as evaluating a temperature range or as complex as using computer vision to analyze a video feed.

3. This information is made useful to us.

Once the data is processed, this information gets sent to a user. For example, if the temperature is too low in a certain area of your house, you could be notified via text or notification.

In most systems the user would also be able to perform an action that affects the system. In the case of the temperature, the user would be able to adjust the temperature from their phone remotely.

Systems might also be able to do this automatically. Instead of waiting for the user, the system might be able to adjust the temperature by itself. In these types of systems, the user would be able to check on it if they want to at their own convenience.
CC2530 & CC2531
By: George Shuklin
Tags: Smart Home, Zigbee, Home Automation, Cc2531, Internet of Things

CC2530 & CC2531

I had finished research for ‘what is CC2531’ two days ago. My programmer is still somewhere at outbounds of Chinas, so I can’t do anything useful with it.

But my previous order had contained one more thing: a simple zigbee power switch. If CC2531 has a sniffer firmware right from the factory, and I have a zigbee device, should I be able to see at least something?

Hardware

The device I bought have a rather specific way to connect to wires: using plastic ends (where wire need to be cold pressed into plastic by special tool, leaving a hollow metallic tube with a wire inside for insertion).

Absolutely luckily, I have tools for this job:

Cold press for cold pressed plastic caps plus an insulator crimper, $17 from China.

After three or four attempts I learned how to use them (use a proper diameter inserts into tools, mine caps was 1mm and I tried to press them with 2mm inserts), and was able to complete the schematic.

The zigbee power switch is in the middle of the wire, blinking red/green to say ‘nothing works!’.

By pressing a button on the side of the device I was even able to force it to click a relay, causing indicator on the extension socket to lid up.

While I was struggling to press caps properly I opened the case and found that there is a CC2530 inside!

I think we already had discussed about CC2530, and here it is again.

I thing CC2350 and CC2531 would become a good friends! I still don’t know if this stuff is a zigbee router or just an end device yet.

Sniffing!

As we discussed before, my usb stick is a (passive) sniffer, and there is an opensource project for sniffing with it: https://github.com/mitshell/CC2531.git (It requires some non-pypi dependencies, so I used setup.py twice in one virtualenv to run it).

I run it and got my first zigbee output here:

+] frame received (FCS OK): 2019-09-06 21:21:18

channel: 20, 2450 MHz

RSSI: 30

IEEE 802.15.4 frame: 030826ffffffff07

IEEE 802.15.4 MAC:

[[[ IEEE 802.15.4 ]]]

### [MAC] ###

<[Res] : 0b0>

<[IntraPAN] : '0 : False'>

<[AckReq] : '0 : False'>

<[FramePending] : '0 : False'>

<[Security] : '0 : False'>

<[Type] : '3 : MAC command'>

<[SrcAddrMode] : '0 : Not present'>

<[FrameVers] : 0b00>

<[DstAddrMode] : '2 : 16-bit address'>

<[Res] : 0b00>

<[SeqNum] : 38>

<[DstPANID] : 0xffff>

<[DstAddr] : 0xffff>

<[SrcPANID] : 0x>

<[SrcAddr] : 0x>

### [Data] ###

<[RawData] : 0x07>

Not if this is really interesting, but here it is, a working something!

That’s all I could do here for now without having a proper zigbee controller (that means, I need to flash this usb stick, and this needs a programmer. Hello, china post, is someone out there?..)
Home automation with ESP32
By: Tomás Gonzalez Dowling
Tags: Embedded, Smart Home, Esp32, Home Automation, Microcontrollers

Image courtesy of @merittthomas

ESP32 is the latest Expressif micro-controller which packs a dual core ARM CPU, Bluetooth, IEE802n Wifi (only has 2.4GHz band tho) low power consumption and a very good SDK. It’s also very cheap. Development board ranges between 3 and 5 USD and modules that you can integrate into a final product costs between 1.5 to 3 USD depending where you buy it and the purchased quantity.

Rainmaker

Rainmaker running on Android

This is where it gets interesting, Expressif provides a cloud platform (that is a mobile app and a cloud service) that we can use for free to integrate our ESP chips with home automation providers as Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple Homekit or IFTTT really easy.

Note: Rainmaker only works currently with ESP32 chips so forget about thinking of using it with ESP8266, at least for now.

Procedure to get it working

Install Expressif SDK

Erase ESP ROM

It is recommended to erase the flash the first time so we avoid firmware problems.

idf.py erase_flash

Compile a sample program

cd /path/to/esp-rainmaker/examples/switch/ $ export ESPPORT=/dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART #Set your ESP32-S2’s serial port here idf.py set-target esp32s2

Flash program into EEPROM

idf.py flash monitor

Claim the device from the CLI tool

After flash is finished, the device will reboot with the newly flashed firmware and it will prompt something like this:

I (755) esp_claim: Initialising Self Claiming. This may take time.

This means that your board does not have the credentials to connect to the ESP RainMaker Cloud but will eventually get them from the claiming service after it connects to the WiFi.

When all the basic initialization is done, the device will show a QR code on the terminal, which can be used for Wi-Fi provisioning.

Connect Rainmaker to Google Home

On the Google Home app, we must select the add device option and after that look after already setup devices. On that menu we search for the rainmaker service and then provide credentials so Google can connect to Expressif cloud.

Google Home app showing our device using Rainmaker integration

After that’s done, we can see our new device called “Switch prueba”, pardon my Spanglish there haha.

We can now control it with voice commands and also through both mobile apps: Google Home and Rainmaker.

Conclusion

In a very brief period of time we can setup a reliable cloud-connected “smart” device with a couple of working examples that the framework provides as a very good starting point. With some extra effort we can customize the code to add more features or just make it behave like we want.

We live in amazing times. It’s impressive what we can achieve with a $5 micro-controller and some time.
A Day In The Life: Waking Up
By: Dan Furman
Tags: Brain Computer Interface, Smart Home, Sleep, Brain Decoding Saas, AI

How Brain Decoding Technology May Transform Our Everyday World.

“Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head…” inspired by the Beatles’ song, Corning’s video from 2011 (link), and Apple’s new Transparency update (link), I thought to try my own hand at explaining a day in the life of a brain decoding technology user circa the near future I see from my vantage point at Arctop. Lets call her Jill, and we’ll start at the beginning of her day.

Jill wakes up naturally, she is well rested and ready for whatever is going to come her way. She needs less sleep than 3 years ago and feels much better in the morning now. She has much more energy and definitely more focus during the day with her new BCI smart home system. The fact that her employer paid for it all makes it even better.

How it works

During the whole night, comfortable fabric sensors working together with advanced BCI software capable extracting meaning from extremely noisy signals allow Jill’s home to get real-time picture of her sleep behaviors, with a new precision that use to be possible only in a sleep laboratory rigged up to cumbersome equipment.

Decoded brain signals transfer data from Jill to her smart home AI system seamlessly, allowing her to passively control her climate (temperature, humidity, air quality, scents), her sound backdrop (music playlists, generated music, sounds, white noise, silence) and lights (curtains, lights). As a result all the main parameters in her room are orchestrated to ensure easy falling asleep, uninterrupted quality sleep durations, and easy wake up at the right time or earlier.

External impact

I anticipate that home systems like Jill’s that show a clear positive impact on employee wellbeing and productivity will be subsidized by major employers and potentially insurance companies soon, meaning this experience may become a reality fast for many people. The positive experience for the individual, and win-win nature of such a BCI application in the context of work productivity will speed up implementation of such systems and further bring additional revenue streams to vendors of climate, lighting, smart home equipment (at least those who catch the trend first),

Additional reading

You might be surprised by how much top companies spend to address employee wellbeing and productivity topics already. This trend will be stronger especially for the highly qualified employees. Check this out: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/24/goldman-sachs-aftermath-credit-suisse-giving-20000-bonuses-raises.html

I’ll continue describing Jill’s Day in my next post… stay tuned.
Wyze Bytes Ep. 2
By: Shawn Niu
Tags: IoT, Smart Home, Wyze Cam, Community, AI

Welcome back to our second episode of Wyze Bytes, a digest of what’s going on here at Wyze and in our communities. Based on feedback we received from the previous episode, we’re including a Tips & Tricks section. Once again — if you have thoughts or suggestions on the format and content, please drop us a comment below!

Firstly, we need your help, so that we can avoid the above issue! As you know — we launched Person Detection a few weeks ago, so we’d love to better understand your experience so far with it and how we can better improve it. Please fill out a quick survey here!

What’s new at Wyze:

🔌 Announced Wyze Plug Early Access will begin next Tuesday 7/30. Mark your calendars!

💡Launched Wyze Bulb in both 1-Pack and 4-Pack

🔨 Starting the move into our new office, which means building a ton of IKEA furniture in our spare time.

What’s happening in our Communities:

Read the first article in our new blog series about our smart home odyssey

Our communities hit some major milestones this past week! Both our Facebook Core Community and our Instagram page have exceeded 10K members. Thanks to all who actively participate and engage with us!

Why you should join our communities:

Be in the loop about fun campaigns & giveaways. We kicked off a campaign on social media for our pet parents this week. Share a Wyze Cam video of your pet and tag it with #WyzePets for a chance to win a Wyze Cam plush dog toy!

This Week’s Tip & Trick:

Trick:

🏞 One way to install your Wyze Cam outside (please note that Wyze Cams are recommended only for indoor use)

🌞 How to build a solar-powered Wyze Cam mailbox!

To stay up to date and get Wyze Bytes in your inbox as soon as we hit publish, please subscribe to our Wyze Bytes mailing list!
Project: Room Temperature Control and Fire Alarm Using MQTT on AWS IoT Cloud
By: Appleton Innovations
Tags: IoT, Fire, Smart Home, AWS, Internet of Things

What is fire Alarm System?

Fire Alarm System is designed to alert costumers about emergency so that they can take action to protect themselves, staff and the general public.

Automatic Fire detectors are meant to imitate one or more of the human senses of touch, smell or sight. Thermal detectors are similar to our ability to identify high temperatures, smoke detectors replicate the sense of smell, and flame detectors are electronic eyes. The properly selected and installed automatic detector can be a highly reliable fire sensor.

Temperature Control in Smart Homes

In the room, the cooling/heating unit (Air Conditioner) and the Temperature sensor are interlocked so that the room temperature can be controlled automatically.

Smart Temperature Control devices

Smart Home Thermostat

Smart AC Controller

Smart Air Conditioner or Heat Pump

Smart Space Heater

Smart Fans

Project Aim:

In this project we have implemented Temperature Control and Fire Alarm System on Amazon Web Service(AWS) Cloud IoT Platform. AWS Platform supports both MQTT and HTPP Protocols. We have used the MQTT broker as a platform to provide the Internet of Things(IoT) services which monitor and control room temperatures, and sense, alarm, and suppress fire. Arduino was used as the IoT end device (MQTT Client) connecting sensors and actuators to the AWS IoT platform via Wi-Fi Connectivity. We created smart home concept and designed IoT massages for temperature control and fire alarm. We also implemented the smart some system in hardware and software, and verified the system operation. MQTT on AWS IoT Platform is very useful for Medium and Scale Industries to use in their IoT Projects.

Components Required for building this project

ESP32 based NodeMCU

Relay Module

DHT11 (Temperature and Humidity Sensor)

Flame Sensor

Buzzer for Alarm

Sprinkler

Air Conditioner

Software used

Arduino IDE

MQTT Protocol

AWS IoT

Real time Implementation

Hardware Interfacing
How You Can Transform Your Apartment Into a Smart Home?
By: Society Now
Tags: Society Management, Smart Home, Smart Apartment, Smart Society, Society Security

Since the times are changing and technology is making inroads in

everything we do, smart homes have become a reality with the availability of modern gadgets and other digital innovations. The availability of home automation systems, gadgets and apps has made homes smarter and comfortable than ever before. There are certain cool systems, apps, and gadgets available that can make the apartment a little bit smarter.

Let’s begin with Smart Thermostats!

Smart Thermostats are intelligent temperature controllers that can adjust the temperature according to your surroundings and requirements. The technology pays learned attention to the settings you like and gives you the required temperature. This can be adjusted through a smartphone app or through the motion detectors so they can adjust the temperature and energy use based on your location.

Smart Baby Monitors

This technology allows the parents to keep a watch over their babies through a micro camera that keeps an eye on the baby’s nursery or crib. These cameras also come with a night vision that keeps a strong eye on your little one that they are OK at night.

Smart TV

Smart TVs come with a whole lot of features that can be controlled through a single remote. The features include voice activation, interaction and streaming of gaming capabilities. Also, various online streaming sites make it easy for you to choose programs for different members of the family.

Smart Lighting

The modern smart lighting captures your movements and switches it on and off accordingly. That’s called light automation and it saves a whole deal of electricity, helping you to control the electricity bill. The lights can also be controlled through smartphone apps and make it easy for you to control the on/off process.

Smart Locks

A smart lock system works through passwords and numbers and is

accessible to only the family members. You can access the smart lock system from your smartphone to unlock or lock your doors. If you have gone out of the home and forgotten to lock the door, you can do it from your mobile app.

These automation and digital assistance system can make your home more secure and smart. There are certain technologies that make living in a township society much easier, which eventually benefits your apartment.

To Know More: https://www.societynow.in/

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These battery-operated motion sensor lights are less than $17 today
Tags: Mobile Accessories, Home Theater, Chargers, Gear

Stumbling around the house in the dark can be dangerous—just think of all the toes you stub along the way. Today, though, you can grab some grown-up nightlights to help illuminate your nighttime path. Amazon has a deal on a six-pack of GAGAYA motion sensor lights, bringing them down to $16.91 from a list price of $20.



These battery-operated lights turn on automatically when they sense movement, and also turn themselves off after 20 seconds of inactivity, so you don’t have to worry about manual control. With a built-in magnet and a double-sided adhesive pad in each light, you have options for placing them anywhere you need them in your house, whether that’s in a hallway, on the stairs, or in a closet. In addition, the white LED light is bright enough to light your path even in the middle of the night.



These lights average 4.2 stars out of 5 on Amazon across nearly 3,000 user ratings.



[ Today’s deal: 6-pack of GAGAYA motion sensor lights from Amazon for $16.91 ]



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‘Wonder Woman 1984’ will be HBO Max’s first 4K title
Tags: Cord, Chromecast, Chargers, Music

When we first heard that the new Wonder Woman movie would arrive Christmas Day both on HBO Max and in theaters, our excitement was tinged with disappointment. Why? Because HBO Max is one of the only major streaming video services that doesn’t support 4K playback.



Well, get ready to be happy, because it turns out that those of us watching Wonder Woman 1984 at home will get to stream it in 4K after all.



Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins announced on Twitter that the long-delayed Wonder Woman 1984 will arrive on HBO Max as the service’s first 4K HDR title, complete with Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and Dolby Atmos support.



[ Further reading: Amazon Prime Video vs Hulu vs Netflix ]HBO Max subscribers will be able to stream the movie in 4K on such devices and set-top boxes as Apple TV 4K, Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Cube and 4K Fire TV Edition smart TVs, Google’s Chromecast Ultra, AT&T TV, and supported Android TV devices, according to a WarnerMedia press release.



Wonder Woman 1984 will be available to all HBO Max users starting on December 25, and unlike some other Hollywood tentpoles that debuted early online—we’re looking at you, Mulan—viewers won’t have to cough up an extra fee. An HBO Max subscription costs $15 a month.



While Wonder Woman 1984 will be the first 4K title to stream on HBO Max, it won’t be the last. WarnerMedia promises to “expand these capabilities to further films and TV series” next year. No word on which HBO Max shows will get the 4K treatment first, although hopefully Game of Thrones (and particularly that infamous “too dark” episode) will be near the top of the list.



The streaming home of popular HBO shows such as Game of Thrones, Big Little Lies, The Sopranos, Euphoria, Lovecraft County, Watchmen, and Last Week Tonight, as well as such syndicated shows as Friends and The Big Bang Theory, HBO Max first launched back in May.



While the streaming service arrived with an impressive arsenal of TV shows and movies, it conspicuously lacked 4K HDR support. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ already offer 4K HDR streaming. Hulu also supports 4K, but not HDR.



HBO Max has also been slow to land on various streaming platforms, with the service only debuting on Amazon Fire TV devices last month following months of tense negotiations between Amazon and WarnerMedia.



HBO Max still isn’t available on Roku, although you can cast HBO Max videos onto Roku devices via AirPlay.



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Save big on headphones, including a Bose model with active noise cancellation
Tags: Connected Home, Chargers, Services

Headphones can be a nice audio upgrade over earbuds, but they can run expensive—especially if you want active noise cancellation technology. But as Black Friday approaches, we can highlight two awesome pairs from Cleer and Bose that give you immersive audio without cleaning out your wallet.



The Cleer Enduro 100 headphones are $60 on Amazon today, the cheapest we’ve ever seen them. These headphones boast an awesome feature set: In our review, we wrote, “Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX HD, Google Fast Pair, Siri invocation, and USB-C connectivity put these headphones comfortably into state-of-the-art category.” Up to 100 hours of playback on a charge, as well as up to 13 hours of playback on a 10-minute quick charge, means you’ll be able to use these headphones all day, or even all week, without running out of battery. They also come in two different colors, “Coronado sand” and navy.



We gave the Cleer Enduro 100 headphones 4 stars out of 5 as well as an Editors’ Choice award for their awesome sound quality, packed feature set, and lengthy battery life.



Want a serious upgrade with active noise cancellation? The Bose Headphones 700 are available from B&H Photo Video for $299, down from a list price of $379. These over-ear headphones feature 11 levels of noise cancellation, so whether you’re looking to block out all sound, or keep an ear out for environmental noises, you can set the noise cancellation accordingly. Built-in Alexa and Google Assistant allow for easy hands-free voice control with one touch, while earcup controls make it even easier to take calls, navigate through music, and more. In addition, up to 20 hours of wireless battery life keep the music going all day long.



We gave the Bose 700 4 out of 5 stars, and they average 3.5 stars out of 5 across more than 750 user reviews on B&H Photo Video.



[ Today’s deal: Discounts on Cleer Enduro 100 and Bose Headphones 700 ]



Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details.
Save big on headphones, including a Bose model with active noise cancellation
Tags: Chargers, Entertainment, Cutting, Services

Headphones can be a nice audio upgrade over earbuds, but they can run expensive—especially if you want active noise cancellation technology. But as Black Friday approaches, we can highlight two awesome pairs from Cleer and Bose that give you immersive audio without cleaning out your wallet.



The Cleer Enduro 100 headphones are $60 on Amazon today, the cheapest we’ve ever seen them. These headphones boast an awesome feature set: In our review, we wrote, “Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX HD, Google Fast Pair, Siri invocation, and USB-C connectivity put these headphones comfortably into state-of-the-art category.” Up to 100 hours of playback on a charge, as well as up to 13 hours of playback on a 10-minute quick charge, means you’ll be able to use these headphones all day, or even all week, without running out of battery. They also come in two different colors, “Coronado sand” and navy.



We gave the Cleer Enduro 100 headphones 4 stars out of 5 as well as an Editors’ Choice award for their awesome sound quality, packed feature set, and lengthy battery life.



Want a serious upgrade with active noise cancellation? The Bose Headphones 700 are available from B&H Photo Video for $299, down from a list price of $379. These over-ear headphones feature 11 levels of noise cancellation, so whether you’re looking to block out all sound, or keep an ear out for environmental noises, you can set the noise cancellation accordingly. Built-in Alexa and Google Assistant allow for easy hands-free voice control with one touch, while earcup controls make it even easier to take calls, navigate through music, and more. In addition, up to 20 hours of wireless battery life keep the music going all day long.



We gave the Bose 700 4 out of 5 stars, and they average 3.5 stars out of 5 across more than 750 user reviews on B&H Photo Video.



[ Today’s deal: Discounts on Cleer Enduro 100 and Bose Headphones 700 ]



Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details.
Microphone-less Sonos Arc SL soundbar arrives exclusively at Costco
Tags: Entertainment, Chargers, Gear, Connected Home

Sonos has quietly begun selling a new version of its Dolby Atmos-enabled Arc soundbar that comes without a built-in microphone, although you’ll have to venture out to Costco to snag one.



Mentioned in this article Sonos Arc Read TechHive's review$799.00MSRP $799.00See iton Sonos The Sonos Arc SL Shadow Edition is now available exclusively at “participating” Costco stores in the U.S. and Canada, and it will be available on Costco.com later this month, a Sonos rep told TechHive. The new Arc is selling for $749, versus $799 for the standard version (pictured above).



Word of the Arc SL first began spreading on the Sonos subreddit, where Reddit users posted images of the new soundbar sitting on store shelves. Sonos has yet to officially announce the Arc SL, and it’s not listed on the company’s website, but a Sonos rep confirmed its existence.



[ Further reading: The best soundbars ]Similar to the microphone-less Sonos One SLRemove non-product link, the Arc SL is identical to the standard Arc save for the lack of a built-in microphone for voice assistants. Both Alexa and Google Assistant are built into the original Arc, although you can use only one at a time. You can still use the Arc SL with a voice assistant if you pair the soundbar with a compatible smart speaker.



Besides the lack of a microphone and it’s “shadow-black” color, the Arc SL boasts the “same immersive sound experience” as the standard Arc, according to Sonos.



We praised the original Arc, which went on sale back in June, for its “exceptional” sound quality (an issue with buggy bass response was subsequently fixed via a software update). That said, we were disappointed that it only has a single HDMI input, which seems stingy for an $800 soundbar.



The new Arc SL might be a good choice for soundbar shoppers who want the sound quality of the standard Arc without voice assistants listening in, although at just $50 off the price of the original, the Arc SL isn’t a major bargain.



Updated shortly after publication to add that the Arc SL will be available on Costco.com later this month, as well as the fact that you can pair the soundbar with a smart speaker.



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HOW DO SMARTPHONES KNOW THE AMOUNT OF CHARGE LEFT IN THEIR BATTERIES?
By: Nur Özkaya
Tags: Smartphones, Phone, Charger, Battery, iPhone

HOW DO SMARTPHONES KNOW THE AMOUNT OF CHARGE LEFT IN THEIR BATTERIES?

This is actually a complex problem. The job is typically delegated to a device called a coulomb counter. This is built into the battery management system in the phone.

The base principle is just to count how much energy is going in and out of the battery to guess how much is left. It’s pretty much like putting an ammeter (a tool that measures electrical flow) on the connection to the battery. It’s hard to do this without wasting power, and it’s even harder to predict how a battery will discharge over a variety of circumstances. Extra heat, higher discharge, and old age will all waste power inside the battery in ways that the coulomb counter can’t easily measure.

So, in addition to just measuring the flow, a coulomb counter watches the battery’s voltage (the total electrical “pressure”) to take a guess as to how much power is left in the battery and learn its capacity as it ages. This is complex too, because chemical reactions hold the energy, and that voltage is just a side-effect that suggests maybe how much energy is left in the battery. The voltage fluctuates a lot depending on other factors, such as discharge rate (sometimes call the “C” rate).

And last, a battery that has been damaged from deep discharge (sitting around while dead), excess heat, short-circuit and overcharging will discharge in a very different way that is also hard to predict. (Note: cell phones protect against overcharging and short-circuit, so don’t worry about these!)

Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed.