Logitech announced a Harmony API that allows developers to leverage the Harmony platform and its more than 270,000 home entertainment and automation devices to create smart home experiences. Companies including SmartThings, IFTTT, Ivee, Myo, Playtabase and UCIC have begun development using the application program interface to bring new home control experiences to Harmony users, Logitech said Wednesday. “We know that entertainment is critical to the smart home experience, and will be a main driver for mass adoption of smart home products,” said Mark Spates, head of the smart home platform for Logitech Harmony. The Harmony API gives developers access to popular Harmony features, including “one-touch” activities such as Watch a Movie, Play Games and Listen to Music, he said. Developers are using the API to add next-gen control to Harmony remotes including gesture, voice and motion, he said.
Synacor and Verizon partnered to offer a “seamless” start page and search feature to FiOS customers using Verizon's TV Everywhere offering, Synacor said in a news release Wednesday. It said the partnership expands FiOS viewers' search functions and integrates watching Verizon's content on a TV with watching it on a mobile device.
Nearly “every big tech company” at CES used the event to announce a product “that can be worn close to or on the body,” Riddhi Patel, DisplaySearch research director-consumer insights, said Wednesday in a blog post. Wearables “are available in all shapes and sizes,” whether buckled onto the wrist or “stuck to the body” with adhesives, and they’re capable of “monitoring everything from movement of the body to vital medical information to sleep patterns,” she said. “However, we are no closer to answering the question of what problem these devices really solve, or indeed what their enduring value will be.” Contrary to speculation last fall that the Apple Watch would deliver a killer app, the product, as introduced, “did not result in a Eureka moment,” she said. “These are exciting times, and all this leads me to believe that the near future holds a lot of promise for both consumers and the wearable value chain. Maybe the next CES will see some players dropping out of the market, some having more established plans, and some emerging as clear leaders as the industry slowly discovers where lasting value lies.”
Certification services for the burgeoning wearables category appear to be springing up nearly as frequently as new smart watch introductions. Months after services like Intertek and TUV Rheinland introduced new certification services for smart watches and other types of wearables (see 1407080027), UL Consumer Technology announced the launch of a “comprehensive service” for wearables that it said will include “customized product validation, advisory, testing, risk mitigation, interoperability and global market access services.” UL’s program “will help to assist manufacturers in supplying consumers with safer and more reliable wearable products while reducing the time to market,” the company said in a statement Wednesday. With global sales of wearables projected to reach $100 billion by 2018, it’s “critical for manufacturers to understand the mandatory evaluation and testing considerations applicable to the components and materials used in wearable technology products,” UL said. “In addition to regulatory compliance issues, meeting product performance and reliability expectations are essential for widespread acceptance in the marketplace. User safety is paramount for wearable technology products as they are used for a prolonged period in direct contact with the human skin and rely on wireless technologies to transmit and receive personal information.” Lacking the “appropriate testing,” many brands could fall victim to recalls, returns and damaged reputations, it said.
Control4’s intelligent lighting, which the company revamped a year and a half ago, is driving channel expansion for the home automation company, CEO Martin Plaehn said on a webcast from the Needham Growth Conference Wednesday. Plaehn called programmable lighting a “megatrend” in the home automation market that’s going through a “massive transformation.” Citing the industry transition away from incandescent bulbs as part of the government’s energy efficiency standards, Plaehn pointed to the move to LED “or digital” lighting that will affect all U.S. households without a “pantry full” of incandescent bulbs. “All of us are going to have to move to LED,” he said, “and we’re going to have to move to adaptive-phase dimmers.” As electricians and lighting designers make the shift, “they’re going to realize that digital lighting means programmable lighting,” which Plaehn positioned as “right in the sweet spot of home automation.” More and more dealers are being certified to install Control4 lighting products, Plaehn said, and overall the company is adding 300-400 dealers per year. Chief Financial Officer Dan Strong said lighting is driving Control4’s solution business and in many cases has become “the entry point into the home as consumers want to experience smart lighting.” Plaehn referred to a “barrier of entry” that makes it difficult to enter Control4’s space, including the 8,000 devices with which Control4 works, that's taken some 10 years to amass. Strong called that library of devices one of the company’s most powerful assets that would be “very difficult to duplicate.” Expanding on his barrier to entry comment, Plaehn provided a “litmus test” of potential competitors to Control4 and said, “When could they come to your home and automate your home or some part of it?” He mentioned a “big Korean company with an S,” citing Samsung’s emergence in the smart home market, along with “another company that runs a search company,” and the “company that built all our phones,” and challenged when a Samsung, Google or Apple -- all planning big moves in the smart home space -- would be able to install a system in a customer’s home. “We’ll schedule an appointment and be there tomorrow or this afternoon or next week or at your convenience,” Plaehn said. “We deliver the connected home today.” He gave examples of a Nakamichi tape deck, a pool, a sprinkler system and an HVAC system as products that Control4 can manage today but that companies just entering the market today aren’t able to communicate with. “They can’t do it," he said. "Not for a long time.”
Verizon used the North American International Auto Show to announce a retrofit connected-vehicle service called Verizon Vehicle that will be available this spring to more than 200 million older cars (1996 and later) regardless of the user’s wireless carrier. The subscription-based service will launch in Q2 and offer drivers GPS-directed roadside assistance; automatic urgent incident alerts to a Verizon member care center in case of an accident; one-button connection to a live agent in case of emergency; an “auto health system” with predictive diagnostics to translate messages such as “check engine”; a mechanic’s hotline for immediate assistance; parking and meter tools to help drivers locate a vehicle and keep tabs on time left on a meter; maintenance alerts; and stolen vehicle location assistance, Verizon said Tuesday. The subscription-based service operates through an OBD (on-board diagnostics) reader that can mount in a vehicle’s under-dash diagnostic port, a Bluetooth-enabled speaker that attaches to the visor and a free smartphone app. Subscribers can choose to use the app or have the service contact them -- by phone, text, push notification or email -- if a problem is detected with the vehicle, Verizon said. The speaker offers one-button push connection to the member care group, the mechanics hotline and roadside assistance -- as well as a second button for SOS emergency situations, Verizon said. Subscriptions are $14.99 monthly with a two-year contract, and equipment is included in the subscription price, it said. Verizon is offering the first month of service for free with pre-orders, it said.
Global Q4 PC shipments fell 2.4 percent to 80.8 million units, IDC said Monday in its quarterly PC tracker. Though Q4 shipments inched above 80 million for the first time in 2014, “the final quarter nonetheless marked the end of yet another difficult year,” the third straight year with overall volumes declining, IDC said. Total 2014 shipments fell 2.1 percent to 308.6 million units, it said. Though the U.S. and Europe remained stronger than other markets, “growth in these mature regions slowed from earlier in the year,” IDC said. "The U.S. PC market continued to grow in the fourth quarter, outperforming the global market for the 10th consecutive quarter,” it said. "The U.S. PC market should see flat to slightly positive growth. The U.S. consumer PC market will finally move to positive growth in 2015, strengthened by the slowdown in the tablet market, vendor and OEM efforts to rejuvenate the PC market, the launch of Window 10, and replacement of older PCs." Lenovo remained the world’s market share leader in Q4 with a 19.9 percent share, followed by Hewlett-Packard (19.7 percent), Dell (13.5 percent), Acer (7.7 percent) and Apple (7.1 percent).
Facebook users will soon see issued Amber Alerts on their News Feed, the company said in a news release Tuesday. The alerts, through a partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, won’t trigger phone notifications. Facebook will send alerts to the News Feeds in Facebook users' search areas, a Facebook spokeswoman told us Tuesday. Amber Alerts on Facebook will include such information as a photograph of the missing child, a license plate number, the child’s name and descriptions of the child and the suspected abductor. Facebook users will be able to learn more about a specific alert or share it.
Eatoni, a software-based keyboard company, announced a “pure swipe keyboard” designed for typing on a smart watch. With the Eatoni keyboard app, letters are arranged around a watch face and each letter is selected with a swipe, the company said. “With practice, you can input an entire word in a single fluid motion,” the company said in a Tuesday news release. Typing a few characters enables users to “meaningfully respond” to a notification, search for a contact, launch an app or play a game, Eatoni said. "The more a smart watch helps you keep your phone in your pocket or purse, the more successful it will be," CEO Howard Gutowitz said.
Verizon FiOS topped the list of Internet service providers in the Netflix December ISP Speed Index, Netflix said Monday in a blog post. Historically, December is the “heaviest viewing month” for Netflix, with Dec. 28 being the year’s biggest streaming day in terms of Internet traffic, it said. Despite the heavy demand, “we saw continued increases in average speeds across the largest ISPs,” with Verizon FiOS topping the list at 3.36 Mbps, Cablevision second at 3.32 Mbps and Bright House third at 3.30 Mbps, Netflix said. That’s up from November average speeds of 3.27 Mbps, 3.20 Mbps and 3.16 Mbps, respectively, it said. Time Warner Cable posted the largest gain in December, jumping three spots to sixth place with average speeds of 3.18 Mbps, up from 2.97 Mbps in November, it said. Netflix defines the index as a measure of prime time Netflix performance on a particular ISP and not a measure of overall performance for other services/data that may travel across the specific ISP network, it said. “Faster Netflix performance generally means better picture quality, quicker start times and fewer interruptions.”