This week’s podcast starts off with IBM’s decision to stop selling facial recognition software (we recorded before Amazon made a similar announcement) and then shifts to a discussion on neuromorphic computing. From there we discuss Lutron’s new wooden blinds, turning a Commodore 64 into a home automation system, insights on water use during the pandemic, more integrations from RoomMe, and funding for Drop’s kitchen operating system. We also touch on industrial news with a scaled-out Bluetooth deployment and PTC, Microsoft, and Rockwell Automation offering Factory Insights as a service. Kevin then shares some thoughts on the next big things necessary for smart homes to advance. Finally, we hear from a listener who wants to find a way to make his smoke alarms smarter.
Our guest this week is Andrew Farah, CEO of Density, a startup that provides sensors for people tracking. We last chatted more than five years ago and since then he’s built out the company, created a product for commercial real estate and found time to advocate for building IoT products that are anonymous by design. We talk about how companies are using his service and sensors to keep occupancy rates below the legal limits during the pandemic and why sensors are much better than cameras. You’ll enjoy the show.
I just finished listening to this week’s podcast. You didn’t mention Kidde’s RemoteLync – which is a listening device that you plug in to an outlet. If it detects a smoke alarm or carbon monoxide alarm (you train it to distinguish) it will push an alert to your mobile device. I think your suggestion of the Wyze camera is more economical though. The Kidde is $60-$70 (https://www.kidde.com/home-safety/en/us/products/home-automation/remotelync-monitor/)
If you have wired smoke detectors, you should only need to have a single monitor since all of the detectors would (should) go off if triggered. However, what got me to buy the Kidde, and the real point of this message, is why these are useful. Five years ago, I bought the Kidde afer one of my smoke detectors went bad and started sounding at 4a (they never fail at 8p). If it were to happen at 10a and I didn’t know about it until 6p when I returned from work, my dog would have needed therapy. Joking aside, it actually makes me ill thinking what kind of harm it could have caused to my dog after 6-10 hours. He’s inconsolable for quite a while on those rare occasions we set off the Nest in the kitchen. Of course, I’ve since swapped out all of my detectors and placed a Nest on each level of my house.
The Kidde unit is also a bit of a challenge, but a recent update to the app has made it more stable. I recall being unable to get it originally work through my Android phone and had to use an old iPad to configure. I will be getting a Wyze Cam to test (I’ll be placing electrical tape over the lens though) to see if it is a better solution. Thanks for the heads up!