Smart Home company Twist Home bowed the Twist Light, what it calls a “biologically correct” LED light bulb ($149 for a two-pack) that mimics the sun’s natural patterns by adjusting white and yellow light. The company also began selling the Twist Speaker ($149 for two) that combines an auto-adjusting LED bulb with an AirPlay speaker. The bulb delivers 800 lumens using 10 watts, rated to 12-15 years of operation. More features can be added in the future via a firmware update pushed over Wi-Fi, said the company. The bulb is Bluetooth Low Energy-enabled. Users can control light color, brightness, night light mode, and other features from the Twist app, and they can stream music directly from a music service to the Twist Speaker, it said. Launch partner Thrive Global will demonstrate the Twist products Dec. 1-Jan. 15 at a New York pop-up store located at 419 Broome St., 10 a.m.-7 p.m. daily.

Jasco introduced a smart LED bulb to its Z-Wave product line it said in a Monday announcement. The 60-watt-equivalent LED bulb works with standard light fixtures and is billed as a way for consumers to have lighting control without rewiring or complicated installation. Price at the Jasco e-commerce site is $29.99. The bulb does not carry a GE logo unlike other Jasco-manufactured products because Jasco doesn’t have a lighting license as part of its GE relationship, Marisa Lytle, vice president-digital marketing, told us. The Enbrighten line is the company’s Z-Wave brand, she said. Jasco also sells Enbrighten-branded string lights, she said. “We’ve had this license with GE for a number of years and we have the license for many more to come. We don’t anticipate any change in our license agreement." Jasco manufactures GE-branded night lights.

Bed Bath & Beyond put the Amazon Echo on sale Monday at $140.39, down from $179. The Monday-only sale, in stores and online, is restricted to two units per customer and includes free shipping. In an emailed ad to customers, the domestic merchandise retailer advertised Echo as “always ready and connected,” saying it works with Philips Hue lights and Nest thermostats and plays music from Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn and more “just using your voice.” Bed Bath & Beyond didn't respond to questions about other plans for the Echo speaker or whether it also plans to sell Google Home.

Widespread confusion is hindering growth of the home automation, smart appliance and smart home security markets, Futuresource reported, based on a survey of 4,000 people in the U.S., U.K., France and Germany. "Although ownership of smart appliances is moving beyond the innovators, many consumers are still confused by what constitutes a smart appliance, and that's a serious problem,” said analyst Simon Bryant, underscoring the need for consumer education. Some 21 percent of consumers in the survey said they owned a smart appliance, but further questions revealed that many people were classifying their smartphone or smart TV as a smart appliance, Bryant said Wednesday. “The concept of smart appliances does not yet resonate with the vast majority of consumers." Half of consumers interviewed said they’re reasonably, very or extremely likely to choose a smart washing machine or refrigerator during their next purchase, and 94 percent of current smart home appliance owners said they would replace their existing smart appliances with another one next time around, Futuresource said. “Once consumers are immersed in the experience, they cannot imagine losing the functionality.” By 2019, the value of the global household appliances industry is expected to exceed $300 billion, and smart appliances could give consumers a way to save money while giving vendors an additional stream from add-on services and subscriptions, Futuresource said. Brand loyalty in appliances is strong, with Samsung standing out as the most trusted brand in the smart appliance and smart monitoring services market, it said. The smart home is being shaped through entertainment distribution and control, security, lighting and climate control, with security and remote monitoring leading the way, mostly in the U.S., it said. Voice control, led by Amazon’s Alexa-based Echo devices, “could prove to be the catalyst for the entire smart home revolution,” Bryant said, and voice control offerings from Apple and Google will add “significant momentum."

Smart home product company August Home is pitching doorbell cameras and smart door locks as ways to combat package theft. The rise of online shopping bumped up home deliveries, and 70 percent of U.S. homeowners expect to receive packages during the holiday season, said the company in a Tuesday news release. Homeowners’ smart home options to reduce the likelihood of package theft include being able to see the delivery person from inside their homes via webcam, watching him or her enter and exit, speaking to the people as they enter and exit the home and remotely locking the door after the person leaves. In the case of foul play, smart home technology can be used to identify thieves and give information to authorities, said the company.

Cox Communications and Warmington Residential said they held a smart home event in Rancho Mission Viejo, California, Wednesday to showcase gigabit internet speed and the products and activities it enables. Future homes will have an increasing number of Wi-Fi-enabled devices, and “it will become imperative for everyone in the household to experience the same level of connectivity,” said Sam Attisha, Cox region manager-California, in a news release. Cox's residential gigabit internet service is 100 times faster than the average speeds offered in the U.S., said the provider. Today's average household connects six devices to the internet, expected to increase to 50 devices by the year 2022, Cox said. The event highlighted next-generation technologies including virtual reality and telehealth. The model home will be open to the public Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. PDT, it said.

Amazon took its Echo Dot voice control device to the next level Wednesday with the announcement of a new $49 price and beefed-up features to encourage multiple purchases in a smart home setting. Amazon described Dot as an Echo sidekick that “gives you access to all of Alexa’s capabilities,” including answering questions, playing music, turning on lights and setting timers, giving information and accessing over 3,000 Alexa skills. Version two has the same seven-mic array that's in Echo and can “hear you from across the room, even when it’s noisy or music is playing,” said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in a statement. The device uses beam-forming technology and enhanced noise cancellation to detect the wake word, “Alexa,” from across the room, said the company. The upgraded version has a more powerful speech processor said to improve on far-field speech recognition accuracy. Echo Dot can directly connect to speakers through Bluetooth or using a 3.5mm stereo cable, enabling users to add Alexa capability to a home entertainment system. For customers who have multiple Echo devices within hearing distance, Amazon’s new ESP technology intelligently calculates the clarity of the customer’s voice and determines which Echo should respond to the request, Amazon said. The smart speaker performance is said to get better over time as users speak to the device. In multi-Echo households, ESP resolves the problem of two Echo devices answering at the same time, it said. The new ESP feature will be available as a free update for all Echo devices -- including Amazon Echo and the first-generation Echo Dot -- starting in the coming weeks, Amazon said. The new Dot is available for preorder with shipping to begin next month.

Logitech introduced the Logitech Pop Home Switch starter pack (three home switches and a plug-in bridge) and an add-on home switch that allow users to control functions such as lighting scenes and Sonos playlists with the push of a button. The Pop Home switch is compatible with smart lighting products, door locks and blinds from companies including Lifx, Philips Hue, Lutron and Insteon, and users can mix and match product controls on a switch, said a Logitech news release. Three actions can be enabled per switch using a single press, double press or long press, said the company. During setup, the Pop app, for Android and iOS, scans a home’s Wi-Fi network for compatible devices, and users assign devices to a switch or combine multiple devices into a single trigger using a function called Recipes, Logitech said. Users can pair the Pop Home Switch with a Logitech Harmony Hub-based remote control for additional control options, it said. The starter pack ($99) and switch ($39) will be available this month, said the company, and the app is due in the coming weeks.

Forty percent of consumers with interest in smart home technology ranked security and safety as the top purchase drivers, said an NPD report Wednesday. Network connected cameras generated 61 percent of all U.S. home automation industry revenue in the 12 months ending June, said NPD. In the 10 percent of U.S. homes considered smart, monitors and cameras lead smart home device purchases, while a third of homes have a security, motion, door or window sensor, said NPD. Eighty-one percent of networked camera owners use the device for security, and 53 percent use them for other monitoring activities for house guests, pets and children, it said. A growing number of consumers pay for add-on subscriptions that allow video storage over a prescribed period and add features such as video sharing, said NPD analyst John Buffone. As smart home awareness grows, NPD expects other products such as smart doorbells, which grew 64 percent last year, to ride the coattails of smart camera sales, Buffone said. The April study canvassed 5,600 U.S. consumers 18 and older.

Motorized window treatment company Somfy joined the ZigBee Alliance at the promoter level and will get a seat on the board, said the alliance in a Tuesday announcement. Somfy, which also makes automated outdoor extensions, gates and garage doors, joins board members Comcast Cable, Itron, Kroger, Landis+Gyr, Legrand, Midea, NXP Semiconductors, Philips, Schneider Electric, Silicon Labs, SmartThings, Texas Instruments and Wulian.