We could soon be painting our houses with ‘solar paint’ for clean energy

Why it matters to you

The technology could be used alongside traditional solar panels and hit the market in five years.

Imagine if painting the outside of your house not only made it look easy on the eye, but also took care of all of your home’s energy needs.

This, it seems, could soon be a reality as researchers in Australia have come up with a “solar paint” capable of absorbing moisture from the air and turning it into hydrogen fuel for clean energy.

Based at RMIT University in Melbourne, southern Australia, the research team has developed a unique paint containing a newly developed compound that acts like silica gel — that’s the stuff used in those little sachets that absorb moisture to keep things like food, medicines, and electronics in good shape.

But where they differ is that the new material, called synthetic molybdenum-sulphide, “also acts as a semi-conductor and catalyses the splitting of water atoms into hydrogen and oxygen,” a report on the university’s website explained.

RMIT lead researcher Dr Torben Daeneke said his team discovered that “mixing the compound with titanium oxide particles leads to a sunlight-absorbing paint that produces hydrogen fuel from solar energy and moist air.”

He continued: “Titanium oxide is the white pigment that is already commonly used in wall paint, meaning that the simple addition of the new material can convert a brick wall into energy harvesting and fuel production real estate.”

Daeneke said the the team’s findings offer “a big range” of advantages, including the elimination of “the need for clean or filtered water to feed the system. Any place that has water vapour in the air, even remote areas far from water, can produce fuel.”

So besides damp climates, the solar paint will also be effective in, for example, hot and dry climates near oceans, with the absorbed vapor coming from the nearby sea water as it evaporates in the heat.

The team described it as “an extraordinary concept, making fuel from the sun and water vapor in the air.”

Daeneke told Inverse that the team hopes the special paint can one day be used alongside traditional solar cells, “potentially coating areas that receive too little light to be viably covered with expensive solar cell modules.”

He added that it’s likely to take at least five years to commercialize and should be cheap to produce.

CNBC: Apple wants the iPhone to manage your medical history

Apple has been working on a hush-hush project that would make your whole medical history more accessible, according to CNBC. The tech titan reportedly wants to turn your iPhone into a repository for every diagnosis, lab test result, prescription, health info and doctor’s comment. That way, you don’t have to go through a bunch of emails to find that one test result sent as a PDF attachment or to have your previous doctor send data over to your new one. All you need to do to share any part of your medical history is to look fire up your iPhone.

According to CNBC, Cupertino is attempting to replicate what it did for music: it wants to create sort of an iTunes for health that would serve as a centralized management system for all your medical info. Apple is reportedly already in talks with various hospitals and health IT industry groups to work out the best way to make its vision a reality. One of those groups is “The Argonaut Project,” an initiative promoting the widespread adoption of open standards for health info, while the other is “The Carin Alliance,” an organization that wants to give patients control over their own medical data.

It’s unclear how far into the project Apple is at this point, but it sounds like the tech titan plans to store all your data on the cloud, since it has already started talking to cloud storage startups. If the company succeeds into making your full medical history available on the iPhone, it will solve what the medical industry calls “interoperability crisis.” That’s the lack of data-sharing between health providers that could lead to unnecessary mistakes and missed diagnoses that could be fatal for some patients.

Source: CNBC

The ambition of ‘Beyond Good and Evil 2’ might exceed the hype

We’ve waited a long time for the sequel to Beyond Good and Evil. And you know what? They actually went and did it. Arguably the biggest surprise of E3 2017 was a minute-long trailer teasing a game that barely seems recognizable to the 2003 original. But even the anticipated return of the cult hit might not match the vision that director Michel Ancel and his team has for Beyond Good and Evil 2. Ancel himself explains the return of the quirky game — and we have a ton of concept artwork to keep the hype going. Ubisoft has (literally) big plans.

14 years is an eternity in gaming, and Beyond Good and Evil’s sequel/prequel is a rare tale of development hell that managed to turn itself around. Ancel explained to Engadget that the gaming technology of the time, around 2006, simply wasn’t capable enough to replicate the team’s vision for the game series: a space opera that encompassed not only multiple cities but multiple planets and online play that could involve your friends.

But it’s 2017: No Man’s Sky, the GTA series and Mass Effect have shown what’s possible now. Scale is a word that came up several times during the presentation. The planet “System 3” is at the center of both the trailer and a brief in-game engine preview Ubisoft showed us. The BGE2 team has made a proprietary new in-game engine: it exists, it works, and we got to see multiple spaceships and Knox the monkey move around within it.

Ancel tapped away at a keyboard and zoomed out from the city to reveal even more cities across the world. He zoomed out further to show the dark side of the planet ravaged by asteroids, then even further to the planets and stars surrounding it. He then tinkered with it even further, adjusting the angles of light on key character Knox. He then took control of a spaceship and blasted away from a giant Ganesh statue at hyperspeed, touring System 3 and showcasing the speed at which the game scales. It’s not perfect, but it’s fast and smooth. No more “light-speed jump” loading screens? That’s the dream.

Ubisoft

Unlike No Man’s Sky, however, the team explained these worlds weren’t drawn at random through algorithms: designers crafted these worlds with logical rules in mind. So if you follow a river, it leads to a mountain or a lake. Even the story of a planet hinges on its nature: that aforementioned asteroid-ravaged “dark side” is a pretty inhospitable place, so only the poorest citizens (or slaves) attempt to claim space debris and other precious materials from it. The rich live in safety in Sector 3. The poor do not.

Let’s return to Knox the grapplehook-toting monkey that’s the unashamed (f-bomb dropping) star of the Beyond Good and Evil 2 trailer. He is not the main character though, nor is the unnamed hoverbike driver. You will choose the look, gender, even race, of the game’s protagonist. You can be human or you can be humanoid — that’s your choice. Ancel adds that the plan will be to even offer where your character starts the game, whether that’s a prison ship, a planet, or elsewhere. It will be your story to tell.

Ubisoft

The next step for the Beyond Good & Evil 2 team will be extensive playtesting: it’s already started the “Space Monkey Program” (inspired by humanity’s first non-human test pilots sent into space) to help debug and even inspire the direction of the game.

Talking to Ancel, and listening the team’s presentation of various facets of the game’s lore offered up so many more tantalizing details at this still-early stage: a single-player game where your friends can play online with you, the ability to share photos and parts of the game (complete with galactic geotags) with buddies or in-game characters. It all points to a game that’s just so much bigger, grander, than the original Beyond Good and Evil. It looks like the team finally gets to make the game they dreamed of making.

Follow all the latest news from E3 2017 here!

Mobile roaming is (mostly) free across the EU

It’s been a long time in coming and had plenty of trials and tribulations, but it’s finally here: mobile roaming is now free in the EU. As long as you have service in a member state and live there for at least 8 months each year, you can use your phone’s voice, messaging and data in other EU countries at the same rate you’d pay as if you were at home. Well, mostly. There are a number of exceptions to the rule that could leave you paying more, although the likelihood of coming home to a gigantic bill is relatively small.

Carriers can still impose a fair use limit on data while you’re traveling (if you have an unlimited or very inexpensive plan), but they’re capped at charging you no more than €7.70 per gigabyte plus tax. That ceiling should gradually drop to €2.50 by 2022. Also, a “very small number” of EU carriers are allowed to charge a small roaming fee to make up for lower-than-usual domestic rates, but they should be lower than they were before. And of course, traveling abroad for more than 4 months can incur extra fees.

A handful of countries in the European Economic Area (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) should get free roaming in the near future.

Yes, it’s been hard to avoid news of the roaming change if you live in the EU. Some carriers even went so far as to announce changes ahead of time. Nevertheless, it’s significant — even with all the caveats, it promises to alleviate some of the headaches when using a smartphone in densely-packed Europe. You can now focus on enjoying your vacation instead of hoarding data as much as possible.

Source: European Commission (1), (2)

7 brilliant earthquake-proof buildings that are ready for The Big One

As our urban centers become more densely populated, engineers are continuously looking to maximize this space by building upward rather than outward. As a result, we’ve seen massive skyscrapers sprout up in metropolitans around the world. But some of the most populated areas on the globe are also prone to earthquakes. As history has shown time and time again, a massive tremor in an ill-designed city center can have costly and, most importantly, deadly ramifications. This is why earthquake proof buildings, also known as earthquake resistant buildings, are becoming more common.

In an attempt to prevent damage during a quake, many earthquake-prone cities have mandated sweeping engineering standards for new high-rises as well as retrofitting standards for older units. But just because a building is sturdy doesn’t mean it can’t have style. We’ve collected the most amazing and gorgeous earthquake proof buildings from around the world.

(When you’re done with these buildings, check out the craziest, most tricked-out shipping container homes, or everything we know about how China builds artificial islands.)

Taipei 101 (Taipei, Taiwan)

At 1,667 feet tall, Taipei 101 was the tallest building in the world when it was completed in 2004. While it may no longer hold claim to this engineering title, Taipei 101 still houses some of the most impressive seismic- and weather-resistant technologies ever designed. Taipei 101 uses a a massive internal damper to control swaying and minimize the possibility of structural damage or failure, making it a very earthquake resistant building. The goal of such a damper isn’t to prevent swaying in general, but to instead attempt to control this movement.

This tuned mass damper weighs 728 tons and is suspended between the 87th and 92nd floors. During an earthquake or high winds, the pendulum counteracts the building’s movements. In 2005, during Typhoon Soudelor, Taipei 101 was blitzed with winds of 100 miles per hour and even a gust of 145 mph. However, the damper — which was engineered for a maximum wind speed of 135 mph — quite literally weathered the storm. You can watch the pendulum in motion during Typhoon Soudelor.

Shanghai Tower (Shanghai, China)

Standing more than 2,000 feet high, the Shanghai Tower is the second tallest building on the planet. Unfortunately, Shanghai is located in a seismically active area and the site of the tower is composed primarily of soft, clay-heavy soil. To boost the foundation and make it more of an earthquake proof building, engineers incorporated 980 piles — some nearly 300 feet deep — secured within 2.15 million cubic feet of reinforced concrete.

Like Taipei 101, the Shanghai Tower also utilizes a tuned mass damper to control sway during an earthquake or high winds. Weighing in at 1,000 tons, the damper in the Shanghai Tower dwarfs the device used in Taipei 101 by more than 200 tons. As the building sways, the inertia of the weight counters this movement. For optimal counterbalancing, a series of shock absorbers keep the pendulum from swinging too far or too quickly.

The Transamerica Pyramid (San Francisco, California)

A study published in 2016, stated that current predictive earthquake models could be significantly underestimating the potential of the next massive tremor to strike the Bay Area. This future shock is currently forecasted to be at least as strong as the notorious 1994 6.7-magnitude Northridge quake and the Transamerica Pyramid — currently the tallest building in San Francisco — was deigned to withstand the inevitable Big One.

The building itself sits on a 52-feet deep foundation of concrete and steel that was designed to move with the earth during a quake. The exterior is made of precast quartz aggregate, buttressed with reinforcing rods at four points on each level. During the 1989, the 6.9-magnitude Loma Prieta quake, the building shook for more than a minute and the top floor swayed from side-to-side nearly a foot, but the building sustained no structural damage. A series of sensors installed in the frame of the building measure horizontal displacement and according to the U.S. Geological Survey, the Transamerica Pyramid could withstand an even larger seismic event. It may be a truly earthquake proof building.

Mori Tower (Tokyo, Japan)

Japan sits in one of the most seismically active regions on the planet. Each year, the country experiences more than 100,000 earthquakes, according to the Seismology Society of Japan. After the catastrophic 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake — or Kobe earthquake is it more commonly known — the country mandated new engineering standards and sweeping retrofitting overhauls to prevent similar devastation in the future.

Mori Tower is one of the tallest buildings in Tokyo and per its official website, the tower was designed to be a “a ‘city to escape into’ rather than a city from which people run away.” To fulfill this ambitious goal, the Mori Tower features some of the most sophisticated motion-absorbing, earthquake resistant building technology ever implemented.

Like Taipei 101, Mori Tower uses damper engineering for seismic resistance. However, rather than implementing a massive tuned damper Mori Tower uses 192 of fluid-filled shock absorbers. These semi-active dampers are filled with a thick oil, and as the tower begins to sway — as a result of tremor or high winds — this oil is sloshed in the opposite direction to counter and/or minimize this swaying.

New Wilshire Grand Center (Los Angeles, California)

Southern California is long overdue for a massive earthquake and this was known even prior to a newly identified fault in the area capable of creating a 7.4-magnitude earthquake. With this rather foreboding knowledge in mind, Los Angeles has some of the most expansive seismic building regulations in the country. In fact, in 2015, more than 15,000 buildings were required to be retrofitted to meet these new guidelines.

As one could imagine, the tallest building in Los Angeles, the New Wilshire Grand tower, went through rather rigorous seismic modeling beforehand. During testing it was realized that an earthquake could create catastrophic whiplash on the top floors of the building. To counter this, the team implemented 30 outriggers along three sections of the building. Outriggers are braces that form triangles that extend from the center of the complex to the exterior columns of the building, allowing the facility to resist vertical and lateral forces.

To further buttress these outriggers, engineers incorporated a series of so-called buckling-restrained braces to each unit. These specialized braces can stretch and also compress without buckling. The building itself sits on a 17.5-foot concrete foundation and the seismic savvy skyscraper also utilizes a joint between the base and the tower that is capable of sustaining up to 1.5-feet of sway.

Sabiha Gökçen Airport (Istanbul, Turkey)

In 1999, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit Istanbul killing 17,000 people. Seeing as the city is situated near the Arabian, African, and Eurasian tectonic plates, another large quake is projected to happen within the next 30 years. With that in mind, engineers designed Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport to be able to withstand the next inevitable seismic shock. The airport now claims the lofty and very specific title of the world’s largest seismically isolated building.

The two-million square foot complex sits above the ground on more than 300 seismic isolators. These individual bearings shift with the undulations of the earthquake, allowing the entire building to move as a single unit. This design diminishes the acceleration the building would experience during an earthquake by 80 percent.

Komatsu Seiren (Nomi, Japan)

Not all earthquake proof building designs utilize the most sophisticated dampers or seismic isolators to protect buildings during major seismic shifts. A Japanese textile firm, Komatsu Seiren, recently used high-tensile twine developed from carbon fiber to reinforce its facility in Nomi, Japan. Architects Kengo Kuma and Associates then attached more than 1,000 of these high-tensile rods to the roof of the facility. Inside the showroom, another “curtain” of nearly 3,000 additional rods add further structural reinforcement. Together these systems help minimize the horizontal forces exerted during an earthquake.

Alienware Area 51 (2017): Our first take

Research Center:
Alienware Area 51 (2017)

Alienware came to E3 2017 packing eye-opening announcements, and none was more impressive than its upcoming Area 51 systems with AMD Threadripper and Intel Core X processors. These super-high-end configurations are, for many gamers, the definition of a dream machine. And we had a chance to look at them on the show floor.

A familiar but still awesome chassis

The models of Area 51 announced at E3 may be stuffed with cores, but they’re packed in a familiar crust. Luckily, it’s as appealing and delicious as ever. Triangular in design, the Area 51 is still unique in the world of gaming desktops.

Alienware’s unusual aesthetic has some functional benefits, as well. It allows a simple, straight avenue for airflow through the case, with intake coming in the bottom, and exhaust flowing out the top-rear. And plugging a headset or controller into the forward points, which are sloped towards the user, is easier than with most standard setups. It’s even easier to pick up the Area 51 than most rectangular cases.

Matt Smith/Digital Trends

Matt Smith/Digital Trends

Matt Smith/Digital Trends

Matt Smith/Digital Trends

Shape aside, the Area 51 is not overly boisterous. Its sleek, gray side panels don’t scream for attention as loudly as the tempered glass windows and sculpted plastic front façades found on some competitors. Still, the system does include a triad of AlienFX lighting on each side, as well as some touches along the front. These light strips can coordinate with other Alienware peripherals through a bundled software interface.

The real power is inside

Of course, looks are half the story – or maybe a third. The real news is what’s inside these systems. Area 51 systems with AMD Threadripper will ship July 27, while the Core X version will ship in late August. Strangely, the system will only ship with Intel Core X chips up to the 10-core i9-7900X.

Alienware Area 51 (2017) Compared To

MSI Trident 9S6-B90611-02S

Digital Storm Velox (Kaby Lake)

Cybertron CLX Ra

Acer Predator G1

Digital Storm Aventum 3

AVADirect X99 Gaming System

Maingear F131

Dell XPS 625

AVA Direct Gaming PC Workstation

Gateway FX540XT

Gateway FX7020

eMachines T6212

Gateway 7200XL

Gateway Media Center XL

Gateway 700XL

The massive chips are noticeable even under the water blocks that conceal them. Most systems have a water block that, at its core, is the size of a dollar coin, but these Area 51 rigs have blocks the size of a hockey puck. Even then, some elements of the socket are visible from beneath them. That’s what multi-core insanity looks like.

Alienware also displayed an Area 51 system stuffed with two Radeon video cards (no – they weren’t Vega). Gamers can order the rigs with up to two Nvidia GTX cards in SLI, or up to three AMD Radeon cards in CrossFire. Quad-card setups aren’t supported. At least, not yet.

Normally, we’d expect such firepower to consume much of a rig’s interior space, but the Area 51 does an excellent job of managing its components. The case door simply snaps off and, once inside, most components are accessible without removing other components. Power and data cords are smartly run as well, so they shouldn’t get in the way of upgrades.

Mainstream for a reason

Alienware’s Area 51 is among the most popular gaming desktops available, yet it’s also full of clever ideas rarely found elsewhere. Its massive, unusual case has practical benefits, and its internal layout is among the cleanest in the business. The new Area 51, packed with up to 16 cores, looks ready to conquer all challengers when it’s released in late July.

Streamers and press duke it out at E3 2017, but let’s not forget we’re all gamers

Streamers and YouTube creators are attending E3 2017 in record numbers, and that’s creating a bit of tension on the show floor. With bigger media outlets and streamers jockeying for the same demos and access, these growing pains are only natural, but it’s important to keep in mind that democratizing access at E3 is ultimately a good thing for gamers.

Public access

Since the event is open to the public for the first time, fans, streamers, and content creators who may not have large enough followings to qualify for press access, are able to enjoy the biggest gaming event of the year right alongside big media outlets. At a few pre-show events, some publishers set aside streamer-centric seating right alongside the press.

This has, of course, ruffled some feathers, but game publishers getting friendly with streamers is not going to herald the death of the traditional media or journalism, or any of the other apocalyptic predictions made since Bethesda stopped sending early review copies of their games to big media outlets.

The barriers between the people making games and the people playing them are getting thinner and thinner.

Keep in mind, we’ve seen these arguments before. Remember when those dastardly bloggers started getting invited to press-only events — back when LiveJournal was the hot new platform? Exactly.

Publishers may see streamers as a killer marketing opportunity, but there’s another big opportunity here, and it’s all about gamers. Access is a two-way street. Game publishers and developers that reach out to streamers are also giving them access to developers, news, and games that otherwise would be reserved for fewer eyes. That means big game publishers are more directly accountable to their fans.

The barriers between the people making games and the people playing them are getting thinner and thinner, and that makes feedback and criticism more difficult for publishers and developers to avoid. They’re exposed to a plurality of voices, with diverse backgrounds and perspectives that they otherwise may not have heard, or may not have had a reason to listen to.

Big business

Streaming is ubiquitous. It’s big enough, and popular enough, that every major tech company is trying to get in on the action — or keep their share of it. Google, Facebook, and Microsoft are all pushing their livestreaming platforms, while Amazon continues to dominate with its incredibly popular Twitch platform.

E3/Flickr

Rather than ignore this captive audience which commands immense influence and buying power, companies like Bethesda, Intel, and other exhibitors at this year’s E3 are making sure they include fans, enthusiasts, and streamers in their efforts to promote their products.

That means carving out access for streamers and YouTube content creators, in addition to traditional media outlets. It’s ruffled some feathers on the show floor, as streamers are getting the kind of access usually reserved for the press, but that’s not what matters to gamers. Everyone now has a seat on the couch, and that’s awesome.

Inclusive over exclusive

Opening E3 up for streamers, and welcoming the public, means longer lines and bigger crowds to navigate. It might also mean the loss of some exclusive access. In the long run, though, inclusion is never a bad thing.

In the long run, though, inclusion is never a bad thing.

E3 is about video games. People who play games should have a stake in what’s going on here, whether that’s through a media outlet like Digital Trends, or through their favorite streamer. The end goal is the same. Gamers want to find their new favorite game.

Press or public, we’re all here for the same reasons; because we’re passionate about games, because we want to see what’s coming out in the coming year. So, even though lines are longer, and our access might not be as exclusive as it used to be, let’s try to be remember we’re all here for the same reason.

Free T-shirts.

Apple HomeKit and Home app: What are they and how do they work?

Apple is trying to streamline home automation.

In other words: Apple wants to make it easier for smart accessories – like Philips Hue lights, Wink lights, and other smart speakers, thermostats, detectors, plugs, blinds, locks, sensors, etc – to communicate, and for you to connect and manage all the smart accessories in your home, even if they’re from various manufacturers. HomeKit is basically Apple’s framework for home automation.

Any manufacturer can implement HomeKit technology into their smart accessories. It was first announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in 2014. The name is a combination of “home” for home automation and “kit” for software developer kit. HomeKit-enabled smart accessories are secure, easy to use, and work with iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and HomePod.

You can use the new Home app for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch to set up all your HomeKit-enabled smart accessories, and then you can use Siri to ultimately control them via voice commands. If you’d like to know more about HomeKit and the Home app, Pocket-lint has explained everything you need to know, including what they are, how to get started with them, and how they work together.

• Apple HomePod: Everything you need to know
• Apple TV review: Packed with potential
• Apple iOS 11: 11 new features coming to your iPhone and iPad
• These are the best iOS 11 features Apple didn’t announce
• Apple Watch major software update: What’s new in WatchOS 4?

Apple

What is HomeKit and how does it work?

So, you’re probably wondering to yourself: I’ve long owned smart lights and controlled them with their own separate iOS apps, so why is HomeKit necessary now? Well, imagine that you also own smart blinds. Without HomeKit, your smart lights can’t communicate with your smart blinds, meaning you can’t hook them up together, control them with a single interface, or set them to perform actions together.

Imagine being able to make your lights automatically to turn off while simultaneously making your window blinds close at 9 pm EST every night. Until HomeKit and the Home app, you had to manually control each accessory with their own separate apps, and you’d have to set every one to do a specific task at a certain time in order to give the appearance that they worked together. That’s all rather tedious, right?

HomeKit-enabled smart accessories, however, can speak to each other, and best of all, you can control them using voice commands through Siri. You can use Siri on your iPhone (say things like, “Turn on the lights in the garage” or “Good morning”) to trigger a bunch of actions. You can make your smart accessories turn on and do their thing. For instance, maybe your coffee can brew while your doors unlock.

Every HomeKit-enabled smart accessory automatically works with Siri once you set it up through its HomeKit-enabled app. Siri is just the unified interface you use to bark voice commands to the smart accessories. You still need to use their separate apps, which every smart accessory has, to gain full access to settings, touch controls, and more. So, HomeKit is not completely streamlined yet.

Now, the last thing you need to know about HomeKit is that it can enforce end-to-end encryption between all smart accessories and your Apple devices. That means hackers can’t steal your data, work their way into your communications, or take control of your home.

Apple

Is HomeKit available yet?

Manufacturers can already add support for HomeKit into their smart accessories, but they need to get their smart accessories approved by Apple in order to make them “HomeKit-enabled” and compatible with Siri. We’re just waiting on more HomeKit-enabled accessories to hit store shelves. HomeKit-enabled smart accessories are marked with a “Works with Apple HomeKit” badge on their product packaging.

Any manufacturer that wants to develop HomeKit-enabled accessories has to not only add support for HomeKit into their accessories and companion apps but also join Apple’s Made for iPhone (MFI) certification program. Manufacturers keen to bring their creations to market will still not only need to sign up for MFi license, but also go through certification and satisfy all of the HomeKit requirements.

At that point, Apple will either approve or deny the smart accessory. If approved, it will get the “Works with Apple HomeKit” badge. Apple also provides MFI logos on any certified device’s packaging, which tells you the smart accessory is both secure and compatible with Apple devices such as the iPhone. The first HomeKit-enabled smart accessories, like Elgato Eve sensors, burst onto the market in 2015.

If you own an older smart accessory, it won’t work with HomeKit. You need to buy the newer version of that smart accessory, and it must be HomeKit-enabled, of course. However, there is a workaround for old smart accessories: you could get the Insteon Hub or iHome SmartPlug, both of which are HomeKit-enabled and let you leverage Siri in order to voice control anything connected to them.

Apple

Which Apple devices work with HomeKit?

The following Apple devices work with HomeKit:

• Apple iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch (running run iOS 10 or later)
• Apple Watch (running WatchOS 3 or later)
• Apple TV (fourth generation)
• Apple HomePod

Apple

What is the Home app and how does it work?

Apple launched its Home app with iOS 10 and watchOS 3 in 2016. It serves as a centralised hub for managing Apple HomeKit-enabled smart accessories. These are devices that have been specifically certified by Apple. Many HomeKit-enabled smart accessories have their own separate apps, but the advantage of using the Home app is that you can access and control all of them from one centralised location.

With the new Home app in iOS 10, it’s easy to set up and manage all your HomeKit-enabled smart accessories. The app features integration with Control Center, 3D Touch quick actions, and of course, support for Siri. The app’s settings are also synced through Apple’s iCloud storage service, so any iCloud-enabled Apple device – whether that be an iPhone or iPad – can be used to control your Home.

Getting started

To use the Home app, you need at least one iOS device with the Home app installed. The Home app comes pre-installed on any Apple device running iOS 10, the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system for iPhone or iPad. You can go here to learn more about iOS 10 and how it works. You also need at least one home, one room, and one HomeKit-enabled smart accessory.

Buy a smart accessory

You’ll need at least one HomeKit-enabled product to get started, such as the $69.99 Philips Hue Starter kit. It comes with a Hue bridge and two white bulbs. Philips currently dominates the connected home device space and sells many lighting-related products. We’ve listed a few other beginner smart accessories below. You can also go here to see a full list of options, or you can shop from here.

Apple

Launch the Home app

There is a pecking order when it comes to using the Home app, which is essential to understanding how the app functions: Home > Rooms > Accessories > (Groups, Scenes, and Automation). That last bit – groups, scenes, and automation – is optional, but we’ll get into that later. Once you launch the Home app, and you’ll be greeted with a “Welcome Home” screen that explains the Home app.

Tap the Get Started button to proceed. The initial smart accessory setup process in the Home app is easy to follow. In iOS 10, by default, you’ll see a new “My Home” screen, which allows you to start adding locks, lights, thermostats, etc. You can change the name of your Home, change the background wallpaper, and more. Also, notice that the Home app has three main tabs: Home, Rooms, and Automation.

But before we get into all that, add your first accessory.

Add an accessory in Home app

Tap the Add Accessory button. The Home app will then scan your Home network to find any HomeKit-enabled smart accessory. For this step to work, both your Apple device and your HomeKit-enabled device need to be connected to the same local network (like your home Wi-Fi). If you have the Philips Hue Starter kit, you will see the Philips Hue bridge appear under the list of available accessories.

Tap the accessory, and then you’ll be asked to enter an 8-digit setup code that’s either on the accessory or its packaging. The Home app will show a camera frame so that you can capture the HomeKit code without having to manually enter in the code. Once done, the Home app will pair with the HomeKit-enabled smart accessory and reroute you to the Add Accessory screen to complete the pairing process.

Now, some smart accessories are simple to pair to the Home app, but because the Philips Hue Starter kit includes the Hue bridge as well as two lights, it has an extra step: on the Add Accessory screen, tap the Identify Accessory button. This will cause the Hue bridge’s push-link button to flash. Other HomeKit-enabled smart accessories may have different ways to go about identification, but you get the point.

To rename your accessories, tap in the name box and adjust it. You can set a location for the accessory; Bedroom, Dining Room, and Living Room, are provided by default. To create your own location, tap the Create New button. You can also use the Include in Favourites option at the bottom of the Add Accessory screen to pin your accessory to the Control Center in iOS 10 and Home tab in the Home app.

Using an accessory’s separate app

It’s important to note that some smart accessories need you to use their own separate apps for initial setup, software updates, etc. Philips Hue Starter kit is one of those accessories. So, after connecting to the bridge, launch the Philips Hue app to pair the lights with the bridge. In this instance, the Hue app searches for the new bridge. You have to tap the Set up button to proceed with setup.

Then, press the push-link button on the Hue bridge to connect and tap the Accept button to finish the bridge setup with the Hue app. Next up, pair the lights on the Light setup screen. Tap the + button to add a new light and then tap the Search button to look for them. The lights must be connected to a lamp and powered on. These separate apps often have additional settings and customisation options.

Home tab in the Home app

Once you’re done in accessory’s separate app, you can launch the Home app. You should see your pair accessories listed on the Home tab. From here, you can also customise the Home tab. Just tap the Compass button in the corner, and then you can rename your home, see available Home Hubs, invite others to control your accessories, change home wallpaper, add notes for shared users, and so much more.

This is the screen you should go to when you want to edit anything related to each Home you have configured. You can additional homes by tapping the Add Home button in the corner. To add a new accessory to a home, tap the ‘+’ button in the corner while on the Home tab, and then tap Add Accessory. Of course, when adding a new accessory, you’ll be thrown back into the initial setup process we covered.

Rooms tab in the Home app

Once you’ve added and configured an accessory, the Home app adds a room by default. The Rooms tab can be adjusted to include multiple rooms. We recommend using rooms that reflect the actual rooms in your home. So, if you have a Philips Hue light in your living room, create a room called Living Room. Just tap the List button in the corner to edit the room, change its name or room wallpaper, etc.

You can take a picture of the room, for instance, and add it as your room wallpaper. Now, to add an additional room, tap the Add Room button in the corner of the Rooms tab. Once you’ve added all your rooms, you can swipe between them on the Rooms tab. To add a new accessory to a room, tap the + button in the corner, then tap Add Accessory, and you’ll be thrown into that initial setup process again.

Automation tab in the Home app

Th Automation tab allows you to automate accessory actions based on triggers like location or time. However, it requires a fourth-generation Apple TV an iPad running iOS 10, or a HomePod. When away from home, either of these can provide remote access and let you take advantage of the Home app’s Automation feature, which automates accessories based on the following triggers:

• My location changes
• A time of day occurs
• An accessory is controlled
• A sensor detects something

To create a new Automated task, tap the Automation tab in the corner of the Home app, then tap Create new Automation, and select one of the four automation triggers on the New Automation screen. Once you select a trigger, you can select the scenes and accessories to automate. You can play around with scenes to build a truly custom automated task, then tap the Done, and your automated task will be saved.

An example of an automated task would be having your living room lights turn on at sunset. You could have them turn on at a specific brightness level or colour even. The granular controls available to you of course depend on your smart accessory.

Customise and group accessories

Now that you’ve created rooms for each room in your home that contains a HomeKit-enabled smart accessory, you’ll also want to give your accessory a name to make it easier for you to access it. Just long-press on an accessory tile in the Home app, then tap the Details button at the bottom, and from the accessory customisation screen, you can rename it, set its location, include it in favourites, etc.

On this accessory customisation screen, you can also group an accessory with other HomeKit-enabled smart devices. This will make all the devices work together as a singular device. That also means you can control all your grouped smart accessories at once. This is the basics of home automation. However, accessories can be controlled in many different ways, which we explain in more detail below.

Create accessory scenes

But, first: scenes. These are actions that involve two or more accessories. You can create a scene called “Good Morning” that turns on all the lights in a room in the morning. Scenes are different from groups because each can still be controlled individually. You can invoke different actions for each device, so maybe one light will turn on and another will turn off. It all just depends on you and your preferences.

On the Home or Rooms tab, tap the + button in the corner, followed by Add Scene. You’ll then see a New Scene screen. Apple includes four suggested scenes to start with: Arrive Home, Good Morning, Good Night, Leave Home. You can of course create a custom scene, with a custom icon and name. Just tap Custom at the bottom of the New Scene page. You can also customise Apple’s suggested scenes.

Shortcuts to scenes will be available in the Control Center on your iOS device. You can also choose it to Show in Favourites, which is enabled by default. Scenes added to favourites will appear on the Home tab in the Home app and have 3D Touch quick action options.

Apple

Control your accessories

You can control a smart accessory through the Home app. So, if you want to turn your Philips Hue light on or off, simply tap on the accessory tile. Or, you can long-press on the tile will reveal additional options, such as a dimmer interface or maybe a colour-changing slider. This of course is different for every accessory, so it’s important to play around a bit to discover the type of granular controls available.

You can also control accessories through the Apple Watch. The Home app comes with an Apple Watch complication, which is a shortcut to the Home app. You can also add the Home app to your Dock in the Apple Watch. And in iOS 10 on iPhone or iPad, the Home app has its own spot in the Control Center. Just swipe up from your Home Screen to access the Control Center and then swipe all the way to the right.

You will then see all of your favourite HomeKit accessories and can tap on an accessory tile to toggle it on or off without having to launch the Home app. Once again, a long-press on an accessory tile in the Control Center will serve up more options. The Home section of Control Center also lets you select favourite scenes. Just tap the Scenes/Accessories button in the corner of the Home section.

Next, if you have a 3D Touch-enabled device, such as an iPhone 7, you can use 3D Touch quick action shortcuts on the Home app icon to quickly access favourite scenes. And, finally, you can control HomeKit accessories with Siri voice commands. Siri control works on the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch, fourth-generation Apple TV and Siri Remote, and the new HomePod speaker.

Siri control is probably the easiest method. Just say something like “Turn on kitchen light” or “Turn my bedroom light purple” or to “Turn my office light brightness up to 90 per cent.” Siri is smart enough to recognise all your accessories, rooms, and scenes. Just keep in mind you can only control HomeKit devices on your home Wi-Fi network, unless you have a hub like an Apple TV or iPad.

To use off-network remote access, make sure your devices are logged into the same iCloud account. You can see a list of your Home Hubs by opening the Home app, tapping the Home tab, and tapping the Compass button in the corner.

Invite others to control your home

You can share access to your automated home and its accessories with anyone who has an iOS 10 device with an iCloud account. To invite people to control your home, tap the Compass button in the corner of the Home app’s Home tab. The,n under the People heading, tap the Invite button to open the Add People screen. You can find people in your contacts or by using the “To:” field at the top of the screen.

Be sure to tap the Send Invite button to send the invitation. Invited users will receive a push notification about the invitation. They will need to accept the invitation to gain access to the accessories your home Home. Just tap on any invited person’s avatar to manage their permissions. You can also revoke invites by tapping the Remove Person button at the bottom of a person’s screen. Easy.

What about iOS 11?

Everything above explains how the Home app works in iOS 10. With iOS 11, which is set to release this autumn, there are some minor differences. For instance, there won’t be a Home app section in the Control Center for scenes. It will be a 3D Touch quick action from the Home icon on the single swipe-up Control Center panel. We will update this post with the changes when they’re available. 

Apple

Which smart accessories are out now?

When Apple first showed off HomeKit in 2014, it announced several HomeKit partnerships with various manufacturers, including iHome, Haier, Withings, Philips, iDevices, Belkin, Honeywell, and Kwikset. You can go here to see a full list of HomeKit-enable smart accessories. You can also shop from here. For now, however, here is a list of the first HomeKit-enabled smart accessories to become available:

• Elgato: Elgato and it’s Eve sensors went on sale in the Apple Online Store in July 2015. The first four sensors are the Eve Room (£69.95), Eve Weather (£44.95), Eve Door & Window (£34.95), and Eve Energy (£44.95). Additional Eve products are coming. The Eve app is now out as a free download from the App Store.
• Ecobee: Ecobee in the US is offering an intelligent thermostat with HomeKit integration. It launched in June 2015 and costs $249 (£163).
• Lutron: If you’re looking to control your lights Lutron will be releasing the Caseta Wireless system that allows you to bark orders like “lights off”. The Caséta Wireless Lighting Starter Kit, with HomeKit-enabled Smart Bridge, is available for $229.95 at Apple Stores. The kit includes one Caséta Wireless Smart Bridge, two Caséta Wireless dimmers (compatible with dimmable LED, halogen, and incandescent bulbs), two remotes and two pedestals. To add more lights, you can purchase the Caséta Wireless dimmer/remote kits, also available at Apple Stores, for $59.95.
• iHome: The iHome iSP5 Smartplug fits into your standard wall sockets and will mean you can turn off connected devices via Siri.
• Insteon: The Insteon Hub will let you control a whole manner of things like cameras, switches, sensors and more either via an app, Siri, or schedules like configuring a single device to turn on and off at dusk and dawn or create customized groups of devices that turn on and off at various times throughout the day.

Want to know more?

Check out Apple’s HomeKit support page for more details.

Sling TV’s improved DVR won’t delete your recordings

You asked, and Sling TV answered. By popular demand, the live TV streaming service’s Cloud DVR now lets users protect shows from deletion and added the ability to record content on Fox channels. Plus, you can watch and manage recordings from your Xbox One.

There are a few other minor upgrades, too, including an improved interface that groups recorded episodes into show folders and the option to record straight from a franchise’s front page. This comes weeks after their last UX upgrade that introduced a streaming service-standard grid layout and improved algorithms to serve up trending content.

With live TV getting more and more crowded with YouTube TV, Hulu (which recently added live television) and AT&T’s DirecTV Now, Sling TV has focused on improving its standout DVR features. Back in April, it expanded its $5 for 50GB “First Look” offer to Apple TV, Android and Roku owners. But crucially, Sling TV now lets you protect content forever (or until you stop subscribing): As TechCrunch points out, PlayStation Vue only saves shows 28 days past air date, while YouTube TV holds them for 9 months

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Sling TV

Apple Aiming to Make iPhone ‘One-Stop Shop’ for Medical Info

Apple wants the iPhone to serve as a comprehensive health repository for every iPhone user, keeping track of medical data like doctors visits, lab results, medications, and more, reports CNBC.

Apple is said to have a “secretive team” within its health unit that has been communicating with developers, hospitals, and other industry groups about storing clinical data on the iPhone. With all of their medical data at their fingertips, iPhone users would have a better overall picture of their health, which could also be readily shared with doctors.

Apple has been hiring developers familiar with protocols dictating the transfer of electronic health records and has talked with several health IT industry groups, including “The Argonaut Project,” which promotes the adoption of open standards for health information, and “The Carin Alliance,” a group aiming to give patients more control over their medical data. According to CNBC, Apple VP of software technology Bud Tribble has been working with the latter group.

Apple is also rumored to be looking at startups in the cloud hosting space for acquisitions that would fit into its health plan.

Essentially, Apple would be trying to recreate what it did with music — replacing CDs and scattered MP3s with a centralized management system in iTunes and the iPod — in the similarly fragmented and complicated landscape for health data.

Such a move would represent a deviation in strategy from Apple’s previous efforts in health care, the people said, which have focused on fitness and wellness.

A centralized way to store all of a person’s health data would allow the medical community to overcome existing barriers that prevent the transfer of patient information between medical providers. Hospitals and doctors offices often don’t have a simple way to transfer patient information, and online medical portals are sometimes difficult to use with little info available to patients,

Apple already allows iPhone users to record medical data and health information gathered by the Apple Watch and other connected devices in the built-in Health app, and it has delved into health research with CareKit and ResearchKit, but based on these rumors, the company’s goal is to expand its health efforts far further in the future.

Tags: HealthKit, ResearchKit, Health Technologies
Discuss this article in our forums