Google launched a new tablet and dock at the Google I/O event Wednesday, and Kevin and I share our thoughts on how it might fit in with a smart home. Will it replace your Nest Smart Displays? We also share some of the updates expected in the new Google Home app before moving on to discuss Roku’s new smart home security system. Then we ask questions about the new State Farm and ADT combined security and water monitoring plans that provide a 6% discount on your insurance premium. Will insurers see your ADT data? You do have to to share it. After this we talk about Qualcomm’s V2X acquisition of Autotalks, the return of Mirai on TP-Link routers, and more perspectives on the Aqara FP2 sensor. It’s not great at fall detection, but it is able to offer some unique automations based on where people are in a room and how many people are there. We then end the news section by answering a listener question about connecting IR devices to your smart home.
Our guest this week is Calista Redmond, the CEO of RISC-V International. She explains what RISC-V is and the why the chip world needs a new instruction set. She also gives some examples of RISC-V architectures used to design chips for the IoT. There are hearing aids and edge computing gateways that currently use the technology as well as automotive chips. We also addressed concerns about the lack of software that supports the RISC-V architecture and how the organization plans to handle fragmentation. Enjoy.
Pity about the Pixel tablet/speaker dock device. I had planned to probably sign up for one, but the lack of hub operation undocked is a deal breaker. My primary use location is at a kitchen island w/o an outlet. I understand it would need to dock for charging, but to not have hub functions undocked is a waste. Maybe it will come later, but I do not buy devices with “features coming soon” ever.
Seems like there may be a basic misunderstanding about the use cases for the new Roku security system. You don’t have to have the television turned on. in fact, I don’t think you even have to have a Roku video device. Roku has its own smart home app, and the security system will show up there. It also has voice integration with a Google Home (but not Alexa, which is unusual these days). So you don’t have to be sitting in front of your television for this to work. You can be anywhere and open the app and see the camera views and get the security system notifications. Because it’s really the same as the wyze system in that regard. Or using an Apple TV as a HomeKit hub.
So it doesn’t matter where your television is in your home, you can interact with the security system through the app on your phone, or by voice through Google home. But as Kevin mentioned, if you do happen to be watching TV and you want to look at your Roku security camera, you should be able to do it there if you have a Roku video device on that TV. Again, just like Apple TV or fire TV for those platforms.
Oh, and yes: if your windows have a metallic coating, which is true of most “thermal windows,” “low – E windows,” and UV-reducing windows, the MMWave sensors probably can’t detect through those.
However, that kind of material is not typically used for glass shower stalls or bathtub enclosures, so, again, detecting that a person is in the shower in order to keep the lights in the bathroom on (or to detect falls) is likely to be a lot easier with an MMwave sensor than a PIR sensor. Still, there are some shower enclosures made with e glass and some made with “low iron” glass and either of those might also block signals. So it’s just something to be aware of.
Also, stained glass can contain a lot of different materials, many of which are metals, and that can also block signal.
So as with pretty much anything involving radio frequencies, the details matter. Knowing that MMwave technology is able to detect through clear glass and PIR technology is not doesn’t mean that a particular MMwave sensor will be able to detect through a specific window. Sometimes you just have to try it and see.
The Bond Bridge device was mentioned as a solution to automating fans by one of your callers. The Bond Bridge is an RF bridge device, not an IR device as mentioned in the podcast. I have one and am using it for RF remotes on two Home Depot fans and Chinese motorized shade. Along with a plug-in to Home Assistant, it works well at my home. One thing to note is that the Bond integration with the fan remotes is stateless so one may cause “on” to be “off” and vice versa if the remote is also used.
The Bond Bridge supports both IR and some RF frequencies. Their goal from the beginning was to make it as simple as possible to add Wi-Fi control of the most popular ceiling fans, including those that had IR remotes.
It’s not a general IR blaster like Broadlink or the old Harmony hub, but if you have a popular ceiling fan that uses an IR remote it will probably handle that.
https://bondhome.io/product/bond-bridge-pro/
I should have said you may have been thinking of the bond, bridge pro, which is intended for professional installers, and that one is RF only.
Thanks. Looks like our will work work both.
The Bond Bridge supports devices that are controlled by RF remotes within the radio frequency range of 300-450mhz for RF and IR devices that use 38kHz OOK modulation.
https://olibra.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4406335825819–Bond-Bridge-How-to-determine-an-IR-or-RF-remote-