Kwikset Obsidian Keywayless Smart Lock Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

The Kwikset Obsidian smart lock.

Mark Licea/CNET

Kwikset is no stranger to touchpad deadbolts that let you in whenever you enter a code, but until now, those locks have also let you use a key. Not the Kwikset Obsidian, though. With a retail price of $180, it’s the brand’s newest deadbolt, and it doesn’t use a key at all — it’s the touchpad, the app-enabled smarts, or bust.

Ditching the keyway eliminates the risk of the lock ever getting picked or forced open with a bump key, and it makes for a tidy little design, too. Like the name suggests, the Obsidian is all black and very minimalistic, with the touchpad making up almost the entirety of the deadbolt’s exterior.

To unlock it, you’ll press and hold on the touchpad for a second or two to wake it up, then enter your code. If you like, you can enable a setting that’ll have the touchpad display two random digits for you to press before you put your code in — that way, clever intruders won’t be able to glean which numbers you press by examining the fingerprints on the lock. I like that feature a lot, especially since the lock’s glossy touchpad tends to smudge just a little bit.

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If the batteries ever go dead, you can hold a 9-volt battery up to these nodes to give the lock enough power for you to enter your code and get inside.

Ry Crist/CNET

The interior of the deadbolt looks just like other Kwikset smart locks and houses the electrical components and the four AA batteries that keep it powered. The Obsidian will give you plenty of warning before those batteries run dead, but should you ignore or miss those warnings and come home to a dead deadbolt, you won’t be left locked out for long. Just hold a 9-volt battery up to the two nodes on the bottom of the lock’s front to give it the juice needed to accept your code, turn the bolt, and let you inside.

To use the lock’s smarts, you’ll need to download its app on your Android or iOS device. You can use that app to create unique codes for everyone who lives in your home, then track their comings and goings. You’ll also be able to create codes that only work on specific days or at specific times, as well as one-time codes that expire after a single use. None of that will cost anything extra.

The Obsidian will be available with your choice of a Z-Wave or Zigbee radio to connect it with your smart home setup.

Mark Licea/CNET

That’s the same solid approach to user management that we saw with the Premis, Kwikset’s new HomeKit-compatible smart lock. The Obsidian won’t work with Siri like that lock will, but it will work with a variety of connected home platforms, including SmartThings, Wink, and Control4. Kwikset says that the Obsidian will be available with both ZigBee and Z-Wave radios inside, so you can pick which one suits your setup best.

The Obsidian’s already got some competition — namely from Yale, which has a key-free lock of its own. That’s one of the next products I’m planning to test following CES, so stay tuned for a full review in the coming days.

As for the Obsidian, it’s slated to arrive later in 2017 (Kwikset’s representatives wouldn’t get any more specific than that when I asked them for a time table on the CES show floor). Whenever it gets here, we’ll be sure to test it out at the CNET Smart Home.

Sennheiser HD1 In-Ear Wireless Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

The Sennheiser HD1 Wireless ships soon.

Sennheiser

Sennheiser’s In-Ear Momentum may not be great, but the company’s new HD1 In-Ear Wireless, which shares the Momentum’s bud design, is one great-looking neckband-style headphone.

Due to hit stores later this month, the HD1 costs $200 (about £140 or AU$270 converted). It has sheepskin leather stitched onto the neckband — with stainless steel accents — that gives it a premium look missing from most of today’s around-the-neck Bluetooth headphones.

I’m trying to track one down here at CES 2017 and once I do, I’ll report back on how it sounds and performs as a headset — it should be good because Sennheiser does make an excellent mono Bluetooth headset.

The HD1 in its carrying case.

Sennheiser

Here are the HD1’s key features:

• 10-hour battery life
• Charges in 1.5 hours
• Bluetooth 4.1, AAC codec support and Qualcomm apt-X compatibility
• Integrated three-button remote and high-quality microphone
• Connect up to two devices at once, with three-way calling support
• NFC one-touch Bluetooth pairing with devices that support NFC pairing
• Voice prompts to notify pairing status and to provide battery life warnings
• Vibration alert for incoming calls and support of USB audio with USB charging
• Carrying case included
• Four different size ear tips are included
• Price: $200
• Shipping in January

Detail shot of the HD1’s inline remote.

Sennheiser

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Onkyo SBT-A500 Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Onkyo

Really keen on getting an Atmos sound bar but found the prices too high? What if you could get one for less than a grand? Onkyo’s SBT-A500 is the first Atmos speaker I’ve seen for under $1,000.

It’s also one of the most impressive-looking I’ve seen at any price, with its separate receiver adding a touch of class. But this also means the system may not suit people who want as few boxes in their house as possible.

More from CES 2017

• Razer’s new gaming laptop has three (!) screens
• All the smart home products at CES 2017 (so far)

Despite having a lower price than its rivals, the SBT-A500 still packs in the features, including both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X immersive audio playback and a welcome four HDMI inputs with 4K/60p support.

Streaming music support is one of the best I’ve encountered, with Chromecast, DTS Play-Fi, AirPlay, Bluetooth and the forthcoming FireConnect multiroom system.

This is a 3.1.2 system, which means it has three sets of front-firing drivers, plus two ceiling-pointed drivers and a (wireless) subwoofer. The bar has a relatively low 2.1-inch profile, which hopefully means it won’t block your TV’s infrared port, but it’s also wall-mountable. The bar connects to the receiver via a “multichannel audio cable,” but you’ll need a rack or AV unit to store the receiver itself.

The SBT-A500 ships in the US this month for $999, with UK and Australian pricing yet to be announced (that’s about £810 or AU$1,360 converted, but expect the final price to be wildly different).

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Sony’s Kaz Hirai: 4K and HDR are here, robots are coming

By all accounts, Sony played it safe at CES this year. Outside of an OLED TV that projects sound from its screen, the company was light on game-changing product announcements. So when I sat down with Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai for an exclusive interview, we focused on the topic that’s been on everybody’s lips this week: artificial intelligence.

Last July, Hirai announced that Sony was reinvesting in AI in a big way for the first time since cutting funding in 2006. He says its ambitions go far beyond a refreshed Aibo, but not to rule out the possibility of robopup resurrection. As to whether we should be worried about our autonomous K9s turning into agents of a robot uprising? Hirai says it’s up to companies like his to keep the AI hounds at bay.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

Google makes its essential Android modding tools easier to get

Android users have a long history of unlocking their phones, sideloading apps and installing custom OS builds — but getting the tools to do all that has always been kind of a pain in the ass. Users who wanted to play around with their phone’s backend had to download the entire Android SDK just to get access to two specific tools. Not anymore. Google has quietly released its ADB and Fastboot tools as lightweight, independent packages.

The company doesn’t have a dedicated page for these tools, but Google software Engineer Elliot Hughes shared them on his Google Plus page. In total there are three links: one for Linux, one for Mac and one for Windows. It seems a little overdue to offer these tools now, as the craze for custom Android ROMs has died down considerably in recent years — but it’s still a nice gesture. Check out the original Google Plus post at the source link below.

Via: Lifehacker

Source: Google Plus

Inside Honda’s money-making, AI-based NueV concept car

According to Honda, a vehicle is parked a whopping 96 percent of the time. With that in mind, the automaker this week unveiled the NueV (New Electric Urban Vehicle) concept, an autonomous automobile that could potentially make its owner some extra cash by acting as its own low-level, Uber-like ride-hailing service.

The car (which looks like a small, futuristic version of the automaker’s discontinued Element SUV) would autonomously pick up and drop off customers around town while the owner was at home or work. Honda also stated that the vehicle could potentially sell excess energy it had generated back into the grid.

And when the NeuV isn’t making its owner money, it’s learning about that person through the Honda Automated Network Assistant AI (HANA, for short). But it’s doing more than just figuring out when a person is most likely to drive and the best route to their job; it’s using what the company calls an “emotion engine” to detect the “emotions behind the driver’s judgments.”

Feelings-detection aside, the car itself looks perfect for driving around (and more importantly, parking) in a dense urban environment. Honda says that it won’t recess the steering wheel while in autonomous mode to give the driver the opportunity to take over whenever they want. The automaker says it really wants people to continue to enjoy driving.

Even though I couldn’t actually drive the car, I suspect that the small wheelbase and electric motors could make it a fun city car. Plus, thanks to the glass roof and high profile, it doesn’t feel as small on the inside as it looks from the outside. And the doors opening upward instead of out means you can cram it into tiny parking spots. In fact, if Honda were to release the NueV next year, it would be well poised to complete against the Mini, Fiat and other small cars.

Unfortunately, there’s no word when or if the NeuV will make it out of concept territory and into showrooms. So we’ll wait and hope the HANA AI guilts the automaker into releasing her into the world.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

US intelligence releases report linking Russia to election hacks

As promised, the US intelligence community has released the public version of its report connecting the Russian government to election-oriented hacks… and it isn’t pulling any punches. The findings directly accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering an “influence campaign” to destabilize the American vote, with hacks as a major component. The authoritarian leader wanted to both “undermine public faith” in the democratic process and “denigrate” Hillary Clinton to make sure that Russia’s preferred candidate, Donald Trump, took office. Many of the unclassified details will seem familiar, but the US notes that its conclusions are drawn from both intelligence collected by the CIA, FBI and NSA as well as knowledge about both the Kremlin and the organizations it props up.

Crucially, the agencies have “high confidence” that Russia used both its bogus Guccifer 2.0 persona and DCLeaks to disseminate info that its hackers had obtained from both the Democratic National Committee and Democratic officials. The Russians chose to feed this info to WikiLeaks because of its “self-proclaimed reputation for authenticity,” according to the report, as well as state-backed media outlet RT’s business with and sympathy for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Moreover, the Kremlin cherry-picked data — while it did scoop up information on both political parties, it only disclosed information about Democrats. The campaign is believed to have started no later than March 2016.

Russia has a recent history of anti-US hacking campaigns, the report adds. It compromised numerous local and state electoral boards (though not the voting systems), and has been targeting the World Anti-Doping Agency after it got caught running a cheating program.

Officials add that Russia’s propaganda machine worked in concert with the hacks, with RT, Sputnik and other government-backed outlets trying to discredit Clinton (such as by celebrating WikiLeaks and parroting lies about Clinton’s health) both online and on TV. There was even a social media campaign, “#DemocracyRIP,” that was waiting in the wings if Clinton won — if Russia didn’t get its preferred US President, it would tarnish Clinton’s presidency and sow chaos by questioning the democratic system.

The report also has dire predictions for the future. It believes Russia will use the “qualified success” of its US strategy for subsequent campaigns, both against the States and its allies. Notably, Russian intelligence started a spearphishing campaign against both US government workers as well as non-governmental organizations involved in defense and foreign policy. They may be gathering additional info to conduct more influence campaigns and learn what the Trump administration’s plans will be.

As for Trump’s response after seeing the classified version of the report? It’s vague, and ultimately repeats his attempts to downplay or deny Russia’s involvement. He doesn’t single out Russia (he instead lumps it in with China and other organizations attacking the US), and insists that the hacking had “absolutely no effect” on the election, singling out the absence of voting machine hacks in particular. He also casts doubt on the conclusion, pointing to the DNC’s reported reluctance to offer direct access to compromised servers.

Even with the DNC’s hesitance, though, Trump’s assertion mostly contradicts both the report and what we saw during the election. More than a few people cited WikiLeaks’ data on the DNC and Podesta as a factor in their support for Trump. While there’s no way to double-check the raw intelligence (that would “reveal sensitive [espionage] sources or methods,” the US says), Trump is effectively accusing the intelligence community of spreading misinformation — a pretty serious claim.

Via: New York Times, Washington Post

Source: DNI (PDF), IC on the Record

CES 2017: Mixtile Hub Promises to Expand HomeKit to ZigBee and Z-Wave Smart Home Devices

Focalcrest, a Chinese company focusing on intelligent hardware solutions, today debuted a new HomeKit hub that promises to bring HomeKit connectivity to various connected home products that would not otherwise be able to interface with Apple’s smart home platform.

The Mixtile Hub, which is MFi certified by Apple, is designed to connect to ZigBee and Z-Wave products and interface with HomeKit, allowing them to be controlled in via Siri and with Apple’s Home app.

The hub plugs into a television set, which is used as a display to allow users to discover smart devices located in the home. From the television, the devices can be connected to the hub, and an accompanying smart phone app allows users to designate what a product does so that it can be used appropriately through HomeKit.

According to Focalcrest, it can interface with Z-Wave and ZigBee products, as well as connect to various smart home devices through Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Focalcrest did not provide specific examples of the kinds of hardware the hub can work with, so there are some unknowns with the product at this point in time.

The Mixtile Hub supports wireless communication protocols such as ZigBee, Z-Wave (optional), Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. It can also communicate with various other sensors (temperature and humidity sensors, optical sensors, door sensors) surveillance devices (monitors, alarms, intelligent locks) and smart home products (intelligent lamps, outlets and air conditioners), through ZigBee and Z-Wave.

Several existing hub-based HomeKit products work the same way as the Mixtile Hub, such as the Philips Hue. The Philips Hue base station is HomeKit enabled, while all bulbs connect to and receive commands from the base station using the ZigBee protocol.

ZigBee and Z-Wave are popular options for smart home products that don’t support HomeKit. Many home security companies use Z-Wave, as do some major brands like Honeywell, GE, Schlage, D-Link, and First Alert. A wide range of connected home products use ZigBee, like the Logitech Harmony Remote, Cree lightbulbs, GE lightbulbs, and more.

Hardware wise, the hub is equipped with a quad-core processor, 1GB RAM, and 8GB of storage space. It has a built in 2,500mAh battery, dual microphones, an Ethernet port, an HDMI port, a micro-USB port, and a USB 2.0 port.

Focalcrest says the Mixtile Hub will be priced at approximately $150, and it will tentatively see a release sometime around March of 2017.

Tags: HomeKit, CES 2017, Mixture Hub
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Hands-on: WeMo Dimmer and Google Home make home automation seamless

Google Home + WeMo is a recipe for home automation bliss.

Belkin’s WeMo brand has been in the business a long time, and by now it knows how to make a good product. Dimmer is WeMo’s latest must-have connected home accessory, especially since it works seamlessly with the new Google Home.

WeMo Dimmer will be available in the spring for $49.99.

What was your favorite CES 2017 announcement? Let us know in the comments below!

Top 5 Android predictions for 2017!

After the dumpster fire that was 2016, it’s time to look forward to a whole new year of Android-related goodness. Of course, 2017 will see a familiar pattern of device launches, Android updates (or lack thereof, depending on your phone), and undoubtedly some surprises that we couldn’t predict (hey there Note 7).

Predicting the future is always a tricky game, but we’ve narrowed our expectations down to this top five Android trends for the coming year. Agree? Disagree? Be sure to share your thoughts down in the comments, and keep watching throughout the year to see how things unfold!

• More Andromeda rumors
• 4K phones and the Galaxy S8
• Snapdragon 835 announcement
• Xiaomi Mi Mix video (Thanks MrMobile!!)
• Android O nicknames