Samsung is taking 11,200 square feet of exhibit space at the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show next week in Las Vegas, some 8,000 more than last year to highlight smart home, its connected refrigerator and smart appliances, it said Wednesday. Samsung offers builders a dedicated national builder sales and marketing organization and distribution network, and its builders program includes exclusive products, a 48-hour turnaround on quotes, service support during pre- and post-close purchase phases, warranty programs and its Friends and Fans affinity program, it said. Builders “need a partner that understands a new generation of technology-savvy home buyers and apartment renters,” said Tom Halford, Samsung vice president-premium and builder brands.

A new home automation hub from Hubitat erases the Zigbee or Z-Wave smart home question for consumers by integrating radios for both. The Elevation hub is also compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant digital assistants, Lutron’s smart home protocols, local area network and cloud-connected home automation devices, and it can integrate with some Iris smart plugs, motion and water sensors, said the company. Elevation’s differentiator from cloud-based solutions is local processing, which makes automated operations “reliable, more responsive and private,” it said. Features include a Rule Machine that creates automations; safety alerts for intrusion, smoke, carbon dioxide and water; time-based scenes; and an open developer program that enables users to develop their own code, apps and drivers to share with the Hubitat community. The hub will be available for a limited-time $50-off introductory price of $99 at habitat.com and is expected to be on Amazon beginning Friday. The company plans to run a national TV ad campaign to support the rollout.

Lowe’s, one of the early retailers to test the smart home market, emailed customers it’s shutting down its Iris smart home and security platform March 31, after the company’s announced exit late last year. Lowe’s had announced its decision to exit the Iris business in its Q3 release as part of a “strategic reassessment" that also included closing 20 U.S. stores, some 30 stores in Canada and withdrawing its retail operations in Mexico. It took a $14 million charge in Q3 for its exit of the Iris and Alacrity Renovation Services businesses. A Lowe’s spokesperson emailed Friday the decision was made after it evaluated options and “determined that none of the alternatives would allow Iris to continue to deliver the experience our customers have come to expect from us.” Lowe’s created an online redemption process that will allow Iris customers with eligible, connected Iris devices to receive a prepaid Visa card "to help them migrate to another smart home platform,” she said. Many devices used with Iris are compatible with other smart home platforms, she said. She mentioned SmartThings as a “comparable” platform and said a SmartThings support team is available to help with the migration process. The company will provide a full refund for eligible Iris devices not supported on a comparable platform. Responding to our question on how consumers should view Lowe’s take on the smart home opportunity, she said: “Lowe’s remains committed to carrying the breadth and depth of smart home products and brands to meet our customers’ needs now and in the future.” The smart home section on Lowe's website Friday appeared jumbled. The landing page under the smart home and security tab featured a Google family of products, including a thermostat, camera and smartphone app. When we clicked on “Shop All,” more than 30 smart lighting products from Q-See, also sold at competitor Home Depot, showed on screen. A Whirlpool washing machine appeared next to a Q-LED wired security camera kit and didn’t appear to be a smart model. In the row below, two Samsung ventless stackable dryers were sandwiched by a hangable shop light and a Samsung “smart home white home automation item tracker.” Lowe’s entered the market with Iris in 2012.

KB Home is offering Google Assistant smart home control as a standard feature in two Orange County, California, communities, joining homes in Denver, Jacksonville and Las Vegas, it said Friday. Orange County homes in Highmark at Ironridge, Lake Forest, and Prado, Cadence Park, will come with a curated selection of voice- and smartphone-controlled features that will also be offered as an option for the builder’s other communities in Orange and San Diego counties. The base package includes a Google Wi-Fi mesh network, a Google Home and a Home mini smart speaker, a Nest Hello video doorbell and installation and integration. Buyers can add more smart home products -- from $200 to $1,000 -- including cameras, smoke and carbon dioxide alarms, lighting controls, window shades, appliances and door locks, a spokesperson emailed us. Dish Smart Home Services is installing and integrating the devices after move-in, and will integrate the smart home products with the homeowners' existing internet service, he said. KB Home will provide 60 days of technical support post-installation via phone or live chat through a mobile device app for all devices installed and any other smart home devices customers purchase on their own, he said.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group formed a subgroup for companies adopting Bluetooth mesh networking for smart home devices. It will create additional mesh model specifications for smart home and related applications, said Bluetooth SIG. Mesh models comprise the application layer of Bluetooth mesh networking and define the behavior of devices connected to the network, it said. Over 60 member companies are participating in the new smart home subgroup including Alibaba, GCT Semiconductor, Lierda, MediaTek, Midea Group IoT, Nordic Semiconductor, Novel Bits, S-Labs, Telink Semiconductor, Synopsys, UL Verification Services and Xiaomi, it said Tuesday.

Xiaomi announced at CES it's developing Bluetooth smart home products incorporating Silicon Labs’ Wireless Gecko mesh networking platform. The XiaoAi smart alarm clock in the company’s Mi ecosystem serves as the gateway for a smart home to control smart Bluetooth lights via voice commands.

Ooma announced Friday a smart high-definition wireless camera with night vision and seven days of free cloud storage. Built-in artificial intelligence allows users to train the camera to recognize faces of family members, friends and pets, it said. The camera can record without external power on a battery rated for six months’ operation and doesn’t require an internet connection; internal storage is 16 GB. Users can talk to people in range of the camera through the smartphone app, and a privacy mode allows the camera to be automatically turned on or off based on a user’s location. The camera begins recording when motion or a loud noise is detected. The company will demo the camera at CES in Sands booth #41146, it said.

A quarter of U.S. broadband homes plan to buy a smart video doorbell in the next 12 months, but concerns over IoT privacy and security are hampering wider adoption, blogged Parks Associates Thursday. Paul Palmer, F-Secure global director-business development, said 68 percent of consumers are concerned about security and privacy of IoT devices, with 48 percent postponing buying IoT devices for that reason.

Financial savings could spark interest in U.S. broadband homes that don't own or intend to own smart home devices, Parks Associates blogged Wednesday. Roughly 46 percent of households surveyed currently have no intention to buy any smart home devices. The prospect of saving money -- through reduced household bills or an insurance premium discount -- raises interest in smart home devices among those customers, said analyst Patrice Samuels.

Consumers are looking for easy-to-understand and practical smart features, said a Thursday Whirlpool study. The survey of more than 2,000 homeowners and renters in four global regions said 72 percent of consumers want simpler, faster ways to manage their lives, and more than half feel that cooking (52 percent) and doing laundry (58 percent) take up more time than they would like. Consumers are very interested in smart appliances that manage water usage, said the study. Three-fourths of respondents indicated interest in smart appliance features that reduce food waste, and 64 percent said it was important for appliances to help save on electricity costs. Whirlpool plans to introduce more than 20 products and services at CES.