Universal Electronics “truly changed what a remote control is and what it is capable of doing,” CEO Paul Arling said on an earnings call. The smart TV as conceived of a few years ago was “a misnomer,” because today’s home entertainment devices “are truly becoming smart through the use of apps that make doing things easier,” Arling said Thursday. Top device makers “are striving to make their devices easier to set up and use every day, and service providers are creating simplified solutions for accessing an ever-increasing array of entertainment options,” he said. Universal Electronics, as the world’s “best home control provider,” differentiated itself from competitors with technology that enables “the wireless control of interoperability between virtually any device in the home,” he said.

Samsung's SmartThings platform and app are now compatible with iHome products. SmartThings users can buy iHome products and enable them to work with the SmartThings app and ecosystem, said the companies in a Wednesday news release. Compatible products include the ISP5 SmartPlug for lights, fans, room air conditioners and appliances; the remote-capable ISP6 SmartPlug for controlling lights, fans and appliances; and the ISP8 SmartPlug, which adds the ability to monitor energy usage. IHome' SmartPlug products are also compatible with Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Nest and Wink platforms.

Some 38 percent of U.S. broadband homes intend to buy a smart home device this year, said a Tuesday Parks Associates study. Roughly half of households found an IoT device that alerts them to smoke and fire “highly appealing” and 41 percent found appeal in a device that alerts them to a water leak, said Parks. “The insurance industry is quickly emerging as a key player in multiple smart home ecosystems,” said analyst Tom Kerber, citing advanced detection and alert capabilities in smart home devices as a way for insurance companies to avoid risks and reduce fire or water damage. Kerber cited Liberty Mutual and State Farm as insurers that plan to offer incentives or discounts to customers to encourage smart home device adoption.

More than half of U.S. broadband households will have a smart home controller by 2020, as more companies embed controllers into entertainment products, said a Monday report from Parks Associates. Some 24 percent of broadband households will have an IP camera during the forecast period and more than 26 percent will have a home security system, said Parks. Citing Samsung products, Parks analyst Tom Kerber said consumers are bringing smart TVs and appliances into their homes, “often without understanding the full extent of their capabilities." Those capabilities will come into play as consumers adopt other smart home devices such as smart lighting and IP cameras, said Kerber. Parks predicts unit sales of IP cameras will approach 6 million this year, including 3.2 million first-time sales. By 2017, the number of replacement or additional IP camera sales will exceed the number of first-time sales, it said. Currently, roughly a fifth of U.S. broadband households own a smart home device, and more than 40 percent plan to buy one before year-end, said the firm. Parks expects more than 30 million households to have a security system by 2019, most professionally monitored. The category will see “steady growth through 2020 as interactive services and home controls extend the value proposition of home security,” Kerber said.

Schneider Electric announced a self-learning feature for its Wiser Air Wi-Fi smart thermostat that's based on users’ feedback indicating discomfort. Instead of entering desired temperature set points, users provide feedback when they’re not comfortable, which “takes the guesswork out” of determining optimal temperature levels, said the company. The Eco IQ self-learning feature “challenges the very idea of set points -- commonly used as a determining factor of user comfort in other solutions -- freeing users from the need to set temperatures and schedules,” said Paul Buda, senior group expert. Eco IQ incorporates the company's weather service, WeatherSentry, using its forecasts to learn how long it takes to change temperature in a home in various types of weather, and then it coordinates heating or cooling at the right time to hit users’ preferred target temperatures, said the company. This summer, Wiser Air will sync with Amazon Alexa via a software update, to enable voice control of the thermostat, it said. Wiser Air, which lists for $239, was selling for $189 at Microsoft stores and $176 on Amazon Wednesday.

Comcast added voice control to its home automation platform and bowed a Wi-Fi-enabled, indoor/outdoor HD camera for its Xfinity Home service, it said Wednesday. The sealed camera offers night vision, a 109-degree field of view and HD video, Comcast said. Customers can add premium 24/7 video recording to review past footage for up to 10 days, view live video feeds from anywhere over Wi-Fi and download video clips using the Xfinity Home app or portal, it said. Motion-based recording limits false events caused by falling leaves or changes in lighting, said the company. Users can create rules for the xCam that trigger other smart home devices: The camera can be set up to record video when a door sensor is activated, for example, it said. With voice control, X1 platform customers can say, "Xfinity Home cameras" into their X1 voice remote to view camera feeds on TV or say, "Xfinity Home arm" or "Xfinity Home disarm" to manage the security system, Comcast said. Later this year, planned Comcast Xfinity Home launches will include a touch screen, sensor and keypad, said the company. Comcast said it's redesigning its core smart home devices, while continuing to integrate third-party products such as August’s smart door lock, Lutron’s Caseta wireless controller and dimmer and Nest’s thermostat.

The CEDIA Technology Council released Tuesday the first 10 of 100 smart home predictions for the year 2020, including a residential social robot and “the end of the copper wire.” Mixed reality rooms -- comprising augmented and virtual reality experiences -- will begin to replace home theater, said Dave Pedigo, CEDIA senior director-emerging technologies. A holographic cinema experience could be on the horizon, he said. Contact lenses will include displays and cameras, enabling parents to capture their kids’ recitals, he said. High-res video glasses will show media, Pedigo predicted, while “implantables” will be the new wearables. Predictive algorithms will replace conditional logic. With machine learning, programmers won’t encode computers with instructions but will train them instead, he said. The intelligent kitchen will have robotic arms that stir sauces, countertops that act as touch screens and sensors that shut off burners the moment the meat reaches the desired temperature, he predicted. Artificially intelligent plumbing will detect a leak through a moisture sensor, track the failed pipe or coupling, order a machine with high-tech sealant to stop the leak and order a second machine to mop up, he said. The emergence of 16-bit high-frame-rate content means many more colors on displays than we see today. As the need for data bandwidth expands, fiber will replace copper wire in the home. Video, meanwhile, will be decoded and rendered in the same device, he said.

A third of smart home owners experience problems with their smart home devices, said a Parks Associates report, and nearly 10 percent report problems connecting a smart home device to the home network router. Smart sprinkler systems, networked security cameras, and water leak detectors have a higher incidence of setup issues than other smart home devices, it said. Nascent technologies increase the likelihood of problems with setup, product interoperability and user error, said Parks analyst Patrice Samuels. Until smart home devices become reliable and intuitive, support providers need to put in place solid support strategies that ensure customers have good experiences during product onboarding to get the full benefits of the products, said Samuels. “Not every product is a good fit for every household” because of the diverse technical landscape of the connected home, Samuels said. The number of connected products is expected to rise significantly this year, with half of broadband households intending to buy at least one smart home device in the next 12 months, and the most popular setup experience for these devices is plug-and-play, she said. "The fewer the number of steps that consumers have to take to get their device up and running, the better." Ideal support for the smart home should be “automated and proactive," she said.

Fewer than 30 percent of U.S. broadband households know where they can buy smart home products or services, said a Parks Associates survey report Friday. Among that group, nearly 40 percent prefer to buy smart home products and services at retail outlets, “particularly home improvement stores,” said Parks. In a market with low consumer awareness for smart home solutions, “all players have ample opportunities to make inroads in this early market,” said Parks analyst Eddie Accomando. Two in five U.S. broadband households familiar with smart home products or services learned about them from TV or the Internet, said Accomando, while 27 percent learned about them via radio. Service providers, with the exception of home security providers, “rate far behind retailers as the preferred channel for smart home products,” Accomando said. Thirty-one percent of respondents said they would prefer a home security provider, 23 percent said an ISP and 12 percent opted for the pay-TV provider choice, said Parks. In 2016, 24 percent of U.S. broadband households plan to buy smart lighting, such as smart light bulbs or smart in-wall outlets/switches, and 11 percent plan to buy a smart thermostat, said Parks, while 9 percent of U.S. broadband households currently own a smart thermostat, and 9 percent own smart lighting. Smart home products and services will increase exponentially in relevance and adoption over the next decade, Accomando said. “To move the smart home from early adopters to the mass market, companies and industry players must address low consumer awareness.”

Centralite, a supplier of connected home devices for branded products from cable companies and retailers, is now selling direct under its own label, it said Thursday in a news release. The company said it was responding to “overwhelming consumer demand” for connected products not offered on other home automation platforms. The company said in January it was planning to extend its Jilia IoT framework (see 1601220041) to enable developers to create customized pathways between connected devices quickly using its application programming interface framework. Centralite’s portfolio has more than 30 devices that it produces for brands including Comcast, Lowe's and Time Warner Cable, it said, and with its own branded line it’s enabling partners and customers to access offerings “central to the complete connected experience,” it said. The first products available direct to consumers: the Pearl thermostat, a smart outlet and a smart dimming outlet, said the company. On deck are a temperature and humidity sensor, smart switch, water sensor and smart button, said the company. With the direct-to-consumer strategy, the company launched the tagline “All Together Now,” a message referring to the IoT in general and to Centralite’s approach to partners and customers, it said.