Bud Light jumped into the IoT with a smart refrigerator that promises to inform a consumer when it’s running low on brews. The Bud-E Fridge gives consumers real-time information on its contents from a smartphone app including the number of cans and bottles inside and when the optimal temperature for beer is reached, said the brand. The Bud-E Fridge was developed by Bud Light, Buzz Connect and Linq IQ. The accompanying app is available for Android and iOS devices. The fridge has a 78-beer capacity and inventory is managed in real time, said Bud Light. A countdown timer indicates when the beer will reach optimal temperature for drinking, and it chills cans and bottles below 32 degrees without freezing them, it said. The Bud fridge is an example of how “we continue to push the boundaries in technology and innovation, particularly in the connected home of the future,” said Lucas Herscovici, Anheuser-Busch vice president-connections. The app integrates with beer delivery service, Saucey, allowing consumers to order Bud Light for home delivery in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, Bud Light said. The $299 fridge is currently available only in California.

The Nest Weave communication protocol is among several updates added to the Works With Nest program, making it “the most comprehensive platform for developers building connected home products,” the company said in a Thursday announcement. Nest Weave, previously limited to Nest products, “lets devices talk directly to each other and to Nest products,” solving many issues “associated with connecting products in the home,” Nest said. That includes the ability to connect “power-constrained devices as well as devices that require low latency and redundancy," it said.

Parks Associates estimates 2.5 million homes in Western Europe will have a smart home controller by 2019, it said in a Monday announcement trumpeting the appearance of its president, Stuart Sikes, at the Smart Home Summit, which opens Tuesday in London for two days. "Smart home systems will need the flexibility to deliver multiple value propositions within the household," Sikes said in a statement. "Interoperability is necessary to achieve recurring revenue models as it enables devices to deliver a broad array of value-added services and features." Low consumer awareness and “lack of a concise value proposition” are two of the “key challenges” impeding the progress of the smart home, Sikes said: “The industry will overcome low awareness over time, thanks to the entry of high-profile players in the consumer IoT ecosystem, but to create value on a mass-market scale, smart home solutions must be able to integrate multiple features."

Frontier Communications’ Frontier Secure added Nest’s IP camera and smoke detector to its Nest lineup that also includes the third-generation Nest Learning thermostat. Frontier has been offering the Nest thermostat, valued at $249, for $99 to customers who upgrade their high-speed Internet package, said the telco in a Tuesday news release. Bringing the trio of Nest products into the Frontier portfolio adds value to the broadband experience “by offering products that work wonderfully on their own and seamlessly together,” said Kelly Morgan, Frontier Secure general manager.

Real estate company Coldwell Banker joined CEA and will co-sponsor the Smart Home Marketplace at CES 2016. CEA President Gary Shapiro said the addition of Coldwell Banker “will help deepen our understanding of what technology consumers are demanding when buying or selling a home.” During CES, Coldwell Banker will lead an educational session on smart homes and real estate and will sponsor events throughout the week including VIP tours of the Smart Home Marketplace, it said. Coldwell Banker's position in the smart home space ensures realtors are "equipped to help their buyers and sellers understand the current trends and benefits of smart home technology, including time and money savings as well as security,” said Coldwell Banker Chief Marketing Officer Sean Blankenship. In August, Coldwell Banker produced a joint consumer survey with CNET, which found that 81 percent of people with smart home products would be more likely to buy a home if smart technology already were installed, said the real estate company. "With more than one in four Americans owning a smart home device and nearly half of millennials already adopting the technology, Coldwell Banker is seeing firsthand how the trend is changing the way people live in their homes," it said. Other home technology companies joining CEA include Fibaro, a Z-Wave-based control company; home control company Neeo; smart lock company Unikey; and Zendo, developer of an Apple HomeKit app.

Comcast will add Chamberlain’s MyQ control software and Netgear’s Arlo camera to its Xfinity Home smart home offerings, it said Tuesday. Comcast customers will be able to monitor and control their garage doors from “virtually anywhere” with their Xfinity Home app later this month, Comcast said. App control for Arlo will be available early next year, it said. “While there are more connected devices available than ever, consumers continue to struggle with the best way to make them work together,” Dan Herscovici, Xfinity Home general manager, said. The addition of MyQ and Arlo is part of a strategy to “aggregate the best home automation and security features” and bring them into a “common, easy-to-use and seamless experience,” he said.

Humax announced plans to introduce a next-generation smart home solution at IBC, Sept. 11-15 in Amsterdam. Humax showed its first smart home app, the Butler, last year at IBC. In 2015, the company has embedded the Butler in its broadband and video gateways, turning them into a smart home gateway that is a “strong foundation” for implementation of smart home services, said the company. An example of integration with the Butler: When a user selects a movie channel, the gateway automatically recognizes the activity and dims the lights, said the company. IP cameras for home surveillance can alert homeowners to a break-in via TV or mobile devices, it said. The system uses near-field communication and is Android-compatible, said Humax. The company also will show a multiroom server/set-top box system for 4K video, it said.

Lowe's by virtue of its Iris By Lowe's smart home offerings joined the Z-Wave Alliance, bringing the number of member companies to more than 325, the group said Thursday. "As the awareness of the smart home concept becomes more prevalent among consumers with big players entering the market, the demand for DIY smart home solutions grows," said Mitchell Klein, executive director for the Z-Wave Alliance, in a statement. "As with construction and home repair, we need retailers like Lowe's to offer a combination model of do-it-yourself with knowledgeable staff and education to help consumers get started."

Nest Labs unveiled the third-generation Nest Learning Thermostat ($249) Tuesday, touting a slimmer profile for closer mounting to a wall, a 40 percent larger, high-resolution screen and an updated user interface. New software features for the latest Nest Thermostat include Farsight, which automatically displays the target temperature or time when it senses movement from across the room, and a diagnostic program that gives advance notice about potential problems with a customer’s heating system, said Nest. Most forced air furnaces have automatic shutoff to avoid overheating, and the third-gen Nest will look for shutoff patterns that indicate a persistent problem, said the company. Users will be warned with a message on the Nest app and thermostat screen twice a year, along with a notice in their monthly report, it said. Partners for the latest Nest thermostat include ADT, Direct Energy, Infinite Energy, Reliant, Southern Co. and SunEdison. The device is available online at Amazon, BestBuy and Nest.com and will be available soon in Best Buy stores, Google Store, Lowe’s, The Home Depot, Sam’s Club, Target and Verizon Wireless, said Nest. The second-gen Nest thermostat is now selling for $199, said the company.

CableLabs expects product certification submissions soon for its new super-fast broadband specification, DOCSIS 3.1, wrote Belal Hamzeh, CableLabs director-broadband evolution. The next equipment interoperability event for the spec is set for Sept. 14-25, he wrote on the group's blog Monday. There have been five "very successful" such interops, "with strong vendor participation," including for cable modem and cable modem termination system vendors, he wrote: "We saw visible signs of how DOCSIS 3.1 technology will change the industry including the delivery of multi-Gbps performance."