Sylvania Smart Multicolor LED (HomeKit enabled) Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

CES is just a week away, and we’re sure to see plenty of new gadgets that work with Apple HomeKit, the set of smart home protocols built into the software that runs iPhones and iPads. North American lighting manufacturer Sylvania wanted to get out ahead of the sprawl, so we’re getting an early look at its own HomeKit-compatible offering: a new color-changing smart bulb that doesn’t need any extra hub hardware to connect with your home network.

The Sylvania Smart Multicolor LED.

Sylvania

That last bit will help set Sylvania apart from other HomeKit-compatible smart bulbs, including Philips Hue’s popular color-changing LEDs and the funky-looking LEDs in the Nanoleaf Smarter Kit. Both of those options transmit their signals using the Zigbee protocol, which means you need to plug a hub into your router to act as translator. Sylvania’s bulbs cut out the middle man by using Wi-Fi radios that your router can understand as soon as you screw them in. The company claims that the new bulbs are your very first hub-free option for use with HomeKit.

HomeKit compatibility comes with a couple of key advantages for iOS users. The most notable: Siri voice controls that allow you to tell Apple’s virtual assistant to turn your bulbs on and off, dim them up and down, or change their color.

Siri runs the smart home with these HomeKit-compatible…
See full gallery

1 – 4 of 10

Next
Prev

You’ll also be able to control the Sylvania bulbs directly from Apple’s Home app alongside other HomeKit-compatible gadgets. With the Home app, you can group the bulbs with those other gadgets to create “scenes” that run automatically whenever you please. For instance you could set your lights to come on and your thermostat to crank up a few degrees whenever you return home from work at the end of the day. You can also pin individual bulbs or groups of bulbs to your iPhone’s Control Center — just swipe up and tap to turn things on and off, no app needed.

Pricing for the new bulb isn’t set yet, but if it follows suit with other color-changing smart bulbs in the Osram/Sylvania family of LEDs, it should likely cost somewhere around $40 a pop. Sylvania’s team tells me that the new bulbs will begin selling on Amazon in early 2017, and they’d be smart to hustle; Lifx, which also makes color-changing smart bulbs that communicate using Wi-Fi, recently announced plans to bring its latest generation of LEDs onto HomeKit’s platform by February.

Samsung teases water resistance for Galaxy A series

Samsung is bringing water resistance to the Galaxy A series.

If Samsung’s previous launch windows were any indication, we’re likely due for new models in the Galaxy A series in the coming weeks. This time around, it looks like the company will unveil the 2017 refresh of the Galaxy A series at CES. Ahead of the launch, Samsung’s Malaysian outfit teased an image that suggests the upcoming phones in the Galaxy A series will be water-resistant:

Samsung will likely introduce the Galaxy A3, A5, and the A7 initially, followed up by the A9 and other country-specific variants. With CES just a week away, we should know more soon. What do you guys want to see in the 2017 refresh of the Galaxy A series?

In 2017, smartwatches need a ‘less is more’ approach

What kind of monster wants me to read CNN on my wrist?

One of the many casualties of 2016 was Pebble — the first “mainstream” smartwatch, if such a category exists. For many of us who live and breathe mobile tech, the original Pebble was a revelatory device — here was a small, relatively stylish wearable computer that freed us from habitual phone-checking.

Just as email in your pocket had been the concept that pushed the first smartphones to early adopters, notifications on your wrist, it was thought, would spawn a whole new class of computer. Such was the impact of that smartwatch that more than 1 million units were sold in its first 18 months. In the tech journo bubble, it seemed like everyone had a Pebble — over half the Mobile Nations team at CES 2014 wore the things. (And it was funny to watch the synchronized wrist-raising that resulted when we all received the same group email or IM.)

The original Pebble was great because of its simplicity — a quality modern smartwatches have completely forgotten.

The original Pebble was great because of its simplicity. It did few things, but it did them well. However it seems the industry at large, seeing the trajectory smartphones had taken, wanted to develop smartwatches along the same lines — more computing power, bigger and better screens, more functionality.

At the dawn of 2017, it’s obvious that that approach has failed — consumers don’t want smartwatches in the way they exist today. That’s reflected in the state of Android Wear right now, where the software hasn’t received a meaningful upgrade in over a year, as Google overhauls the system from top to bottom. Even Motorola, maker of the critically praised Moto 360 series, is getting out of the wearables game, citing poor demand. And yet the future of Android Wear continues to develop it along those same unpopular lines. In Wear 2.0, you’ll get a watch-based app store, a tiny keyboard and a giant wheel of apps to scroll through. Which suggests that the Android smartwatches of the future will continue to chase the phones of today in terms of functionality.

People don’t want to poke and prod at app drawers and tiny buttons and barely-legible text. They don’t want to scrawl out text messages on a keyboard the size of a quarter. If it takes more than 10 seconds to do, they’re just going to take out their phone. And a phone will do all of those things better than a watch.

If it takes more than 10 seconds to do, you’re just going to pull out your phone.

Extra functionality — particularly the LTE connectivity now being shoehorned into high-end wearables — comes at the cost of how a watch looks. More complex functionality powerful processors and cellular connectivity demands bigger batteries and larger screens, making them bulky and unattractive. Yet manufacturers continue to pummel that same stone in the hope of drawing blood. The latest Samsung Gear S3 watches, for instance, go all-in on extra functionality in a larger, more masculine wearable. Samsung has decided, it seems, to go after the lion’s share of people already buying smartwatches, instead of making the category more appealing to the billions of people who own a smartphone but no wrist computer.

To Samsung’s credit, it’s easy to disregard all this extra fluff if you don’t want it — as I do with my Gear S2. But you could go back and forth on the value of “Hey, look at all this stuff we made that you can ignore.”

The success of the Fitbits (and years ago, the Pebbles) of the world shows that the mass market wants something to track their exercise and show them notifications. In the future, you can probably add mobile payments to that list of genuinely useful, convenient, time-saving core features. Anything more than that will, at best, be aimed at tech nerds like us. And as we’ve learned with current wearables, even then the novelty will wear off after a while.

The Apple Watch — surely the most successful “smartwatch” right now — sells not because of its functionality as a wrist-based computer, but because of its design, the Apple brand, and the fashion-plus-fitness angle the company has been pushing for the past year. That’s more in line with general consumers’ thought process when it comes to buying a wearable — or, hell, any fashion product. You buy it because it looks cooler than a Fitbit while addressing those same basic needs. Anything else is a bonus.

So what I’d like to see from smartwatches in the coming year is less feature-chasing and a focus on the core functionality that makes wearables genuinely useful. The likelihood of that happening is debatable — Android Wear seems to be on an opposing trajectory right now, as does Samsung’s Gear platform.

But maybe, with time, manufacturers will start to remember what made smartwatches worth bothering with in the first place. If they do, this niche product category might eventually hit the mainstream.

Latest Nougat beta update for the S7 edge fixes reboot issue

Bug fixes, transparent notifications, and no more errant reboots.

The fifth Nougat beta update is now rolling out to the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge to those enrolled in the Galaxy Beta program in the UK and South Korea. While there aren’t any new feature additions, the update fixes the intermittent reboot issue, and has several stability improvements.

The update comes in at 301MB, and you’ll be able to download it by heading into your phone’s settings. According to SamMobile, the update also increases the transparency for lock screen notificaions.

At this point, Samsung will be looking to further refine the Nougat build before it gets ready for a public rollout. There’s no clear timeline as to when that’ll happen, but we should be hearing more from Samsung sometime next month.

Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge

• Galaxy S7 review
• Galaxy S7 edge review
• U.S. unlocked Galaxy S7
• Should you upgrade to the Galaxy S7?
• Best SD cards for Galaxy S7
• Join our Galaxy S7 forums

Unlocked
AT&T
Sprint
T-Mobile
Verizon

How to spend that Amazon Gift Card you received this Holiday Season

Amazon Gift Cards make post-Christmas shopping a breeze.

There’s a few different ways to send and receive Amazon Gift Cards — by e-mail, printed out as a card, or a gift card purchased from a store.

Regardless which method you received your Amazon Gift Card this season, we’ll show you how to load it up to your Amazon account — while also pointing you towards some of our picks for the coolest tech and hottest deals you’ll find on Amazon.

• How to load an Amazon Gift Card onto your account
• How to spend your Amazon Gift Card

How to load an Amazon Gift Card onto your account

The main thing you’ll need to redeem your Amazon Gift Card is the 15-digit claim code found on the back of the physical card, or in the email you received. You can add the balance of the gift card to your Amazon account, or spend it immediately by entering into the it during checkout. You’ll see the entry field when you get to the payment methods of the checkout process

If you’ve received your Amazon Gift Card via email, it’s super easy to add your gift to your account right from your phone. Simply open your email, tap the link, enter your Amazon credentials, then add the gift card to your account balance. You’ll also find your claim code in the email if you’d rather enter it during checkout for a bigger purchase.

Go to Amazon’s page for redeeming gift cards

How to spend your Amazon Gift Card

You can find a bunch of great gift recommendations available from Amazon in the Android Central Holiday Gift Guide. Here’s some of the best from our list, along with some other cool deals you might not want to miss out on!

Honor 8

The Honor 8 is one of the best phones released in 2016, and a great option if you’re looking for a new phone for the New Year. The Honor 8 gives you almost everything you expect in a flagship phone, but does it at a dramatically lower price. You get all of the top-end specs, great features and excellent camera performance. It’s a great buy, for you or someone else.

See at Amazon

Nextbit Robin

If you’re looking for something even more affordable and unique, the Nextbit Robin is worth considering. Its cloud-based storage offers 100GB of space, including 32GB onboard, for your apps and data. With a 5.2-inch screen and a very good 13MP camera, it’s a capable device — and it’s also currently on sale via Amazon for under $150.

See at Amazon

UE Boom 2

The UE Boom 2 is a tough and compact Bluetooth speaker that’s even waterproof. It features excellent battery life and delivers incredible sound for its size. You can also pair two of them together to fill an entire room with music.

See at Amazon

Roku Premiere+ Streaming Media Player 4K

The Roku Premiere+ is a capable streaming box available for under $100. You’ll find apps for all your favorite streaming services including Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Video, Pandora, and many more. The Roku Premiere+ is compatible with 4K televisions and includes a lot of really awesome features, such as an included Wi-Fi remote control with a headphone jack, so you can watch your favorite shows without disturbing anyone else in the room.

See at Amazon

Amazon Echo Dot

Make your home smarter with the power of Alexa. The Amazon Echo Dot comes in a small package, but comes with the power of Amazon’s Alexa. The Dot is so cheap you might as well buy one for your kitchen, one for the living room, and one for the bedroom — all for the cost of the full-size Amazon Echo. Once you get yours set up, there’s a lot you can do with the Amazon Echo.

See at Amazon

Pros and cons: Our quick verdict on the LeEco Le Pro3

The Le Pro3 is the first phone available in the US from LeEco — a company already well-known in its native China for its mobile devices and TVs (among many other things). Similar to Motorola and OnePlus, LeEco is competing on price, with the Le Pro3 ringing in at just $400. And in many ways, the company succeeded in putting out a quality product: The device is well-constructed with fast performance and long battery life. Unfortunately, the phone falls short of greatness thanks to an unreliable camera and an unintuitive interface. The lack of both a headphone jack and microSD slot don’t help either, though the Le Pro3 is hardly the only phone to suffer from those shortcomings. All things considered, then, it still offers good value for the money, but isn’t the best device in its price class.

‘Dark Souls’ publisher bets on AI for smarter game foes

Bandai Namco, the gamesmaker behind Tekken, Dark Souls and a whole bunch of Dragonball games, has invested in an artificial intelligence startup. The team at Heroz have an algorithm for shogi (Japanese chess) that’s bested several professional human players in public matches. Bandai Namco is hoping to tap into that know-how to improve its non-playing character behavior in future titles, although expect to see it in much simpler games long before that eventual Dark Souls successor.

Heroz has dabbled with games outside the likes of chess and backgammon. Earlier in 2016, it worked with the Pokemon Company to make Pokemon Co-master, a figurine-battling board game for smartphones that (according to Nikkei) didn’t do so well. The startup is hoping that Bandai Namco’s expertise will help ensure a hit.

Heroz’ expertise in traditional (and cutesy-character based) games could ensure it’s well-placed to develop for Sony’s incoming Project Field product. This card-reading smart pad is designed to bridge the gap between digital and physical cards games. The first title announced for it was Yokai Watch — a Bandai Namco game. It might be too early to join the dots, but eh, that’s not stopping us from doing exactly that.

Via: Nikkei

Source: Bandai Namco (Japanese)

Cuba opens its first computer factory

Cuba is slowly opening up to technology, but it hasn’t actually been making technology. Its exports are dominated by natural products like nickel, sugar and tobacco. The nation is about to diversify, however: it just inaugurated its first computer factory, which officials claim will “promote technology and digital literacy.” It’s a modest plant, to put it mildly. The factory is only capable of producing 120,000 devices per year, and Chinese electronics giant Haier is shouldering a lot of the responsibility by supplying equipment, tech and training. The facility is thoroughly modern, however, and will make modern laptops (using Celeron, Core i3 and Core i5 chips, Cuba eagerly points out) as well as 8- and 10-inch tablets.

It’s not hard to see why Haier would take an interest in a Cuban factory. This lets it produce devices for the region (except the US, as you might guess) while keeping labor costs low — remember, even services like Netflix are relatively expensive on a typical wage. The odds aren’t high that many of these PCs and tablets will reach Cuban hands, and it’s not clear that the factory will create many jobs. Nonetheless, it’s an important step for a country determined to get a stronger presence in the global economy.

Source: Granma

Police seek Amazon Echo data in murder case

Amazon’s Echo devices and its virtual assistant are meant to help find answers by listening for your voice commands. However, police in Arkansas want to know if one of the gadgets overheard something that can help with a murder case. According to The Information, authorities in Bentonville issued a warrant for Amazon to hand over any audio or records from an Echo belonging to James Andrew Bates. Bates is set to go to trial for first-degree murder for the death of Victor Collins next year.

Amazon declined to give police any of the information that the Echo logged on its servers, but it did hand over Bates’ account details and purchases. Police say they were able to pull data off of the speaker, but it’s unclear what info they were able to access. Due to the so-called always on nature of the connected device, the authorities are after any audio the speaker may have picked up that night. Sure, the Echo is activated by certain words, but it’s not uncommon for the IoT gadget to be alerted to listen by accident.

Police say Bates had several other smart home devices, including a water meter. That piece of tech shows that 140 gallons of water were used between 1AM and 3AM the night Collins was found dead in Bates’ hot tub. Investigators allege the water was used to wash away evidence of what happened off of the patio. The examination of the water meter and the request for stored Echo information raises a bigger question about privacy. At a time when we have any number of devices tracking and automating our habits at home, should that information be used against us in criminal cases?

Bates’ attorney argues that it shouldn’t. “You have an expectation of privacy in your home, and I have a big problem that law enforcement can use the technology that advances our quality of life against us,” defense attorney Kimberly Weber said. Of course, there’s also the question of how reliable information is from smart home devices. Accuracy can be an issue for any number of IoT gadgets. However, an audio recording would seemingly be a solid piece of evidence, if released.

Just as we saw with the quest to unlock an iPhone in the San Bernardino case, it will be interesting to see how authorities and the companies who make smart home devices work out the tension between serving customers, maintaining privacy and pursuing justice.

We reached out to Amazon for comment and will update when we hear back.

Source: The Information

LEDVANCE Announces HomeKit-Enabled ‘Sylvania Smart Multicolor Bulb’ That Doesn’t Need Central Hub

Smart home company LEDVANCE today announced the Sylvania Smart Multicolor A19 bulb, a HomeKit-enabled Wi-Fi smart light that users can control through Siri and the new Home app without the need of a separate hub. Because there’s no hub installation, all users have to do is screw in the bulb into a light source and sync it with HomeKit to begin controlling the Sylvania lights.

The hub-free system works when users are both inside and outside of their home. When away, Sylvania bulbs sync with a connected Apple TV or iOS 10-enabled iPad as a hub for the smart home so users can keep checking in on and controlling the lights from afar.

“For more than a century, consumers have looked to the brand SYLVANIA for innovation, and this announcement represents another exciting advancement,” said Aaron Ganick, who heads up the Smart Home Americas group at LEDVANCE. “For us, making the Smart Home a reality for consumers is all about quality products and strong partnerships with leaders in the industry.

By working with Apple to provide smart lighting that works directly with the Home app, we’re making it easier for Apple enthusiasts to seamlessly integrate quality lighting into their Smart Home, bringing convenience and simplicity to their daily lives.”

The company said there’s also the ability to set scenes and activities in combination with other HomeKit devices “to create custom experiences through the Home app.” Users could, for example, set up a simple Siri phrase like, “I’m on my way home,” to activate lights, unlock a door, and turn on the heat in the winter.

LEDVANCE currently sells a collection of smart home bulbs, but they all require hubs to function — similar to Philips Hue — and aren’t HomeKit compatible. Beginning in 2017, the company hopes to expand its Apple-supported product line, beginning with the launch of the Sylvania A19 bulb on Amazon sometime early in the new year.

Tags: HomeKit, Sylvania, Ledvance
Discuss this article in our forums