Home Devices communicate with each other

Home Devices communicate with each other

It’s the protocol that the Nest Learning Thermostat, Nestcam home-security ip camera, and Nest Protect smoke-detector use to communicate with each other. That’s what enables a Nest Cam to record video if the Nest Protect detects smoke in the home, and the Nest Thermostat to shut down your ventilation system in the same circumstance.

Now that it’s part of the Works with Nest program, third-party developers and manufacturers can incorporate the protocol into their products, so they can exchange messages, too—with each other and with Nest products.

Why this matters: Most connected-home systems rely on a central control panel to coordinate everything. In order for your lights to come on when you open a door, for example, the door sensor (or a smart door lock) sends a message to the control panel, and the control panel then sends a message to your smart light.

A smart door lock (or sensor) that speaks Nest Weave will send a message directly to a smart light that speaks Nest Weave. No control panel is needed, and the latency between the door opening and the light coming on is greatly reduced (Nest claims end-to-end latencies of less than 100 milliseconds, even on a large network).

Nest Weave will run over Wi-Fi or Thread, the IPv6 protocol that Nest Labs is developing with Samsung, Big Ass Fans, and a number of other companies. All that’s needed is an 802.15.4 radio. Each device on the network acts as a network extender independent of your Wi-Fi router. So even if your router can’t reach every corner of your house, your lock upstairs can still talk to the light in your basement—though it might depend on having a device or two in between.


But in an embargoed briefing a few weeks back, Nest Senior Manager Greg Hu told me it will be very easy for consumers to add Nest Weave devices to the network using the Nest app on their smartphone or tablet. “The Works with Nest promise,” Hu said, “is Buy it, plug it in, and it works.”

The beauty of a mesh network like this is that it doesn’t depend on your router. You’ll still need a router when the network clients need to reach the cloud—or when you want to control them from the cloud—but the mesh network itself won’t fail if you lose your Internet connection. And because Thread is a self-healing network, it will automatically rebuild itself if any device goes offline because its battery died, it was unplugged, or it just fails. And Weave devices will keep resending a message until it receives an acknowledgement that it’s been received by the target.

Mesh networks aren’t new, of course. Z-Wave devices—light switches, thermostats, door locks, motion sensor light, and more—also form a mesh network. And Z-Wave is the technology that Nest Weave will compete with most. Z-Wave has enjoyed significant success in the connected-home market, but one of the factors that have prevented Z-Wave from becoming even bigger in this space is that it’s a single-source technology. If you want to build a Z-Wave-compatible product, you must buy the chips from either Sigma Designs or the one company Sigma has allowed to become a second source: Mitsumi.

Nest Labs doesn’t make chips, but it's lined up at least four manufacturers to support Nest Weave in its silicon: Freescale, Silicon Labs, Dialog, and Qualcomm Technologies (a Qualcomm subsidiary). Manufacturers are much more apt to incorporate a new technology when they can secure the needed parts from multiple sources that are all competing for their business.
 


Nest is coming out of the gate with a strong slate of third-party partners that consumers will be more familiar with, too, including Yale locks. Yale, a Z-Wave early adopter, will incorporate Nest Wave into its new Linus deadbolt (named after the company’s founder, who invented the cylinder pin-tumbler lock in 1843).

One of the Linus lock’s key features will be a message that flashes on its numeric keypad if a Nest Protect installed in the home detects the presence of dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. Using a magnet, the lock can detect if the bolt is extended, locking the door, or if it’s retracted to enable the door to open. The lock can also set a Nest thermostat to “away” mode when it’s locked (I asked how the lock would know that the resident was leaving or locking the door from the inside, but Hu demurred). The Linus lock will be available in early 2016.


Nest provided these other examples of how the third-party products can interact with Nest devices:

• August smart lock: When someone unlocks the door, Nest Cam will show an animation that can be viewed from the August app.
  
• Philips Hue LED lighting: When the Nest Cam senses motion, it will trigger the lights to turn on to fool a potential burglar into thinking someone is home. In the absence of motion, the lights can turn off to save energy.
  
• Skybell video doorbell: If the Nest Cam detects motion when everyone is away, it will trigger the doorbell cam to record a video clip. You’ll also be able to turn the Nest Cam on or off from the Skybell app.
  
• Mimo onesie and baby monitor: When your baby stirs, it can trigger the Nest Cam to record a video clip of what’s happening in the nursery.
  
• Petnet pet feeder: When your pet comes to eat, the feeder will trigger the Nest Cam to send a snapshot to the Petnet app.
  

A number of other well-known brands have also committed to using Nest Weave in their products, including Big Ass Solutions (maker of Haiku ceiling fans), Lutron Electronics (lighting controls and motorized shades), Rachio (automated irrigation systems), WeMo (Belkin’s connected-home product line), Legrand (lighting controls, multi-room audio systems, and home-theater controls), Zuli Smart Plugs, Jasco products (GE-branded lighting controls), and more. Google’s new OnHub router also supports Nest Weave.

The new Nest Cam API is available now, and Nest says the aforementioned August, Mimo, Petnet, Skybell, and Philips Hue integrations will be available this month. Nest Weave, Nest cloud services, and Nest app integration won’t be available to developers until 2016, so it might be a while before we see some of the more ambitious integrations reach the market.

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A Solar Phone Charger for Afriga

A Solar Phone Charger

It’s derided as a first-world problem, but not having a way to charge your phone is one of the most consistently annoying issues of daily life in the 21st century. But for those who live in remote areas, a dead phone battery can amount to something more serious, especially when someone’s livelihood hinges on access to a phone with a fully-charged battery.

That’s why Little Sun, a Berlin-based company that develops clean solar energy projects for developing countries, is fast procuring funding via Kickstarter for Little Sun Charge, a solar-powered cell-phone charger that the company believes is superior to competing products currently on the market. Little Sun plans to disseminate the product in Sub-Sarahan Africa, where many people don’t have proper access to sprawling power-grids.

Speaking in the company’s Kickstarter video, Little Sun co-founder Olafur Eliasson, says “in Ethiopia for instance, we have seen firsthand the essential need for quality phone chargers in communities off-grid.”

The Solar Charger isn’t Little Sun’s first foray into Africa, though: The company’s first product, the Little Sun Solar Lamp, made waves across many countries throughout the continent and has given thousands of people in off-grid communities a safer alternative to typically dangerous kerosene lanterns.

“In off-grid regions, kerosene lanterns are commonly used for light, but they emit toxic smoke and carry the risk of burns and house fires. Using Little Sun instead means people can work, study, cook, and socialize at night — safely,” says Frederik Ottesen, a solar engineer and co-founder of Little Sun. Ottesen adds that “a night of breathing a kerosene lantern’s emissions is equivalent to smoking 2 packs of cigarettes.”

Through their endeavors in Africa, the company was pressed by people in remote areas for a method of powering their cell-phones via the same solar energy used by the Little Sun Lamp. “When distributing [the lamp] in rural areas in Africa, people kept asking about a way of also charging their phones with Little Sun. Lots of people in Sub-Saharan Africa actually depend on their mobile phones for their livelihoods,” Ottesen says. Little Sun, which has over 400 sales agents in Africa according to Ottesen, was testing a prototype for the Little Sun Charge in Zimbabwe last July.

The design of the Little Sun Charge makes the device look like an external hard-drive. It’s small enough to transport by clipping to a backpack, but it’s brimming with highly efficient SunPower solar cells and “a monocrystalline solar panel on the back,” according to Ottesen. The Solar Charge is sleek, convenient, and easily accessible through a universal USB port. The device also doubles as a lamp too. “Little Sun Charge has a LED light on the front, which gives you bright light for four hours. But you can also use the dimmer function and get more than 50 hours of light in the lower levels,” says Ottesen.

Little Sun has sold more than 300,000 solar lamps worldwide, but judging by the tenor of their Kickstarter Campaign, which surpassed its $50,000 goal by 300 percent in five days, there should be plenty of Little Sun Charges cropping up all over the world pretty soon. A wide dispersal of the Little Sun Charge will only further embolden the company’s mission, according to Ottensen.

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Xbox One Live down

Xbox One Live down

UPDATE TWO: Fans who reported the first outages on Thursday afternoon are now confirming that Xbox Live's signing in issues on Xbox One look to have been fixed.
But like in most cases, not all features, such as Friends List, are fully operational again.
"I'm back up but I can't get notifications when my friends invite me to parties and stuff," one Xbox One user commented.

Bungie, who have also been monitoring the situation for affected Destiny fans, are also reporting a return to normality.

"We're seeing that Xbox One users can successfully connect to Destiny again, although investigations continue," the studio confirmed on Twitter.

Microsoft say they are still hard at work looking into sign-in issues.

UPDATE ONE: The Xbox Live support team say they have engineers looking into tonight's outage, that has been affecting fans for the past three hours.

"Having troubles signing into Xbox Live? Our teams are on the case," a message reads from Microsoft.

"We can't speculate on a timeframe."
There are currently no other features listed by Microsoft as being affected, although being unable to sign in leaves many of those services out of reach for fans.

The Xbox 360 console has not been listed by Microsoft as being affected and there has been no official explanation on what is causing the latest outage.

DDOS attacks have caused havoc in the past, there is no indication that is the cause of the disruption today, however.

Fans in the UK and North America started reporting issues at around 2pm today, revealing that they are unable to access core Xbox Live services.

Many are unable to sign in, meaning they can't play games either online (via USB WiFi) or offline.

Microsoft has confirmed that they are aware of today's issues and are working to fix them as quickly as possible.

It follows a spate of online (maybe upon Pocket WiFi) issues that have seen short outages in the last month, affecting both the Xbox One and Xbox 360 consoles.

A report from Microsoft explains: "Hey Xbox members, are you having issues signing in to Xbox Live?

"We are aware of this and are working hard to get it resolved ASAP! Thank you for being patient in the meantime.

"We’ll post another update when more information becomes available."

The three services currently listed as problem areas for fans are the Xbox One, Xbox services on Windows 10 and Xbox on other devices.

One fan taken offline by the most recent outage, commented: "Was really excited about watching the new series scream on Netflix on my Xbox, but I guess now I will have to wait."

While another added: "Lost all 100 of my packets. Have no idea what a packet is but I'm not happy."

It follows an earlier drop in connection for Xbox One and Xbox 360 users this week, although it only lasted an hour for most gamers.

It is unclear how long the latest outage will last, it seems that people who were already logged into the service have not seen their connected dropped in all cases.


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The LG V10 as A photographer's dream

The LG V10 as  A photographer's dream

LG introduced an upgrade to its flagship phone line, the LG G4. One of the aspects that LG pushed in order to distinguish its phone from the other high-end devices now crowding the market was the ability to take top-notch photos.

Twenty-five years of successful consulting gigs left Malcolm Greene with a list of accomplishments a

In his review, JR Raphael took a close look at how well the LG G4 performed as a camera, and he found that while, on the whole, the LG produced some very good photographers, the results weren't as consistent as he would have liked.

LG has just doubled down on its push to be the company known for its photographic know-how; in a presentation today in New York it showed off its new V10 smartphone.
This is a very interesting device. The phone features a 57-in. 2560 x 1440 display along with a secondary 2.1-in. 150 x 1040 display at the top of the phone that offers notifications and messages. (Think the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ without the curve.)

It also comes with 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage (with a micro SD slot for up to 2TB of increased space), three microphones for noise reduction and better audio, and a removable 3,000mAh battery look like Power Bank (which means that the back of the phone doesn't feel quite as snazzy as most high-end phones, but hey! It's removable!).

But what LG spent the most time on during its presentation was the camera (which, apparently, was used in creating the video used in its introduction). This phone has two -- count 'em, two -- 5-megapixel front-facing cameras, one with an 80-degree field of view and the other with a wider 120-degree field. You can decide which you want to use, or use both simultaneously along with the 16-megapixel rear-facing camera to produce a three-in-one photo LG calls Multiview.

There were a number of other photography-related updates, including increased stabilization for video (which LG calls Steady Record), a plethora of manual controls, and the ability to adjust the color or the lighting while recording.

The question is: How much of a difference will this make to potential smartphone buyers? It's really great that we can now have cameras with us everywhere we go -- the constant presence of smartphone cameras have changed our social and political landscape, as people record events that might otherwise have gone unnoticed or disbelieved.

But this is more than a better way to record your kids, your co-workers, or that demonstration happening down the street. On the one hand, the V10 has those two front-facing cameras (something that is strictly for the selfie crowd); on the other, it has all those manual controls for, presumably, the person who is really well acquainted with the ins and outs of photography.

I can't speak for selfie enthusiasts -- who may indeed like choosing from two separate cameras -- but I am acquainted with several photographers (amateur and professional). And my impression is that they aren't particularly looking for phone cameras with software that offers the same complexity as their "real" cameras. In fact, they all tend to carry larger cameras for serious work and smaller, pocketable cameras for quick snaps.

It's possible that, given a high-enough quality, a photographer would switch to using a smartphone for the latter use -- in fact, I suspect many already have -- but I'd be interested to know whether they really want, or need, the fine controls that LG is adding. (After all, isn't that what Photoshop is for?)

But who knows? LG hasn't yet offered either a ship date or a price for the U.S. version of the V10. Perhaps this multi-talented phone -- with its multiviews and other features -- will indeed strike a nerve with the market.

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O.J. Simpson Once Contemplated Suicide

O.J. Simpson Once Contemplated Suicide

In a new interview with ABC News' 20/20, Lawrence Schiller, author of American Tragedy: The Uncensored Story of the O.J. Simpson Defense, claims that Simpson once contemplated suicide in the childhood bedroom of Kim Kardashian.

The now-famous reality star, who was age 14 at the time, was reportedly staying with her father when Simpson was accused of the murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Before his Bronco freeway chase on June 17, the former NFL player was found by Kardashian Sr sitting in "Kimmy's" room recording "a suicide tape" and holding onto photos of Nicole and their children Justin and Sydney.

New information from O.J Simpson's 1995 trial continue to be uncovered including his alleged suicide attempt when he sought refuge at his friend and attorney Robert Kardashian Sr's residence.

"Then O.J. said, "I'm going to kill myself in this room,' and I said, "You can't. This is my daughter's bedroom,'" the father of four told Schiller in a past recorded interview. "'My little girl Kim sleeps here. I can't have my little girl in this bedroom, and every time I come in here, I'm going to see your body lying in this. You can't do that.'"

The ex-husband of Kris Jenner, whom she had divorced in 1989, acted as an adviser to Simpson’s legal team led by Robert Shapiro.

After a highly televised 16 month criminal trial, Simpson was acquitted of murder in 1995.

Kardashian West does not make an appearance in the 20/20 special, but momager Kris did reflect on the 21 year anniversary of the death of her friend Nicole in the LMN documentary The Secret Tapes of the O.J. Case: The Untold Story.

"I will always feel guilty that I didn't pay more attention and didn't speak up when I thought anything was wrong or asked her more, 'Do you want to talk about it?'" Jenner said.

"The one thing she would tell all of us by the time, you know, it got to that level was, 'He's going to kill me and he’s going to get away with it.'"

The 1995 trial and the events leading up to it will play out on the small screen in Ryan Murphy's American Crime Story: The People V. O.J. Simpson in which Cuba Gooding Jr. will portray Simpson and David Schwimmer will portray Kardashian Sr.

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Shuttering Preserve : Blake Lively

Shuttering Preserve : Blake Lively

For all of the inevitable snark that follows her every move, Blake Lively—yes, she of the should-be-insured-if-it’s-not-already golden mane, enviable physique, and increasingly serious acting roles—is a much savvier businesswoman than anyone would like to think.

And that “like to think” comes into play here, when what we are dealing with is the increasingly boundaryless space between social media, Internet forums, online tabloids, and other forms of quick-fire hot takes. (So, the Wild West, basically, only far more anonymous in nature.)

You see, last summer Lively launched her own website called Preserve, a space intended to connect users with makers (of things, of experiences, of stories), with a splashy debut heralded by no less than a Vogue cover (her third) that immediately opened up the project to the type of intense scrutiny such new ventures are typically spared until they gain their sea legs.

Gleeful headlines loomed large over issues with site design, with product descriptions, with prices, all sung to a tune that goes a little something like “how dare a beautiful movie star think she could do this, too?” Lively, who admitted this past June to Time magazine that she wished she had waited at least another six months before the launch, is more than aware of that particular line of thinking.

“We have an incredible team of people who do beautiful work, but we launched the site before it was ready, and it never caught up to its original mission: It’s not making a difference in people’s lives, whether superficially or in a meaningful way,” she says, on the phone from New York.

“And that’s the whole reason I started this company, not just to fluff myself, like, ‘I’m a celebrity! People will care what I have to say!’ It was so never meant to be that, and that kind of became the crutch because it was already up and already running, and it’s hard to build a brand when you’re running full steam ahead—how do you catch up?”

Which is why, in an attempt to do just that, all of Preserve (from objets to home decor, accessories and clothing) is currently on a very deep and very inviting sale, to prepare for its October 9th closure, so that Lively may rebuild, rebrand, and eventually reveal—on her own timeline—what her project was always meant to be. (See? Savvy.)

“It’s very exciting and it’s also incredibly scary,” says Lively of shuttering Preserve. “I never thought I would have the bravery to actually do that, to take the site dark and to say, ‘You know what? I haven’t created something that is as true and impactful as I know it can and will be. And I’m not going to continue to chase my tail and continue to put a product out there that we, as a team, are not proud of.’” While she anticipates a certain amount of backlash—“Failure! Folly! We knew she couldn’t do this, too!”—Lively feels ready this time around.

“I know what it’ll look like, what I’m facing publicly, that people are just going to have a heyday with this. But it’s so much worse to continue to put something out there—to ask my team to put something out there—that isn’t the best we can do. I’m going to take this hit, and the only way I can prove all the negative reactions wrong is to come back with a plan that will rock people.

And I have that plan. And I’m so excited about it, and that’s what gave me the courage to do this, to say, ‘You know what, I’m going to give myself one more shot at this, and I really have to do it as well as I can do it this time.’ And that is the only thing that will impact people. And that’s what I’m doing. And I’m totally terrified out of my mind!” She laughs, “I’ve asked my husband to just play ‘Shake It Off’ on a loop—it feels really good to listen to it on a loop!”

When it comes to the new plan, Lively is keeping her cards close to the vest for now, though she cites research into the founding stories of the Honest Company, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, among other tech triumphs (some more sympathetic than others), and the new project’s mission statement shares some of Preserve’s original ethos. “Our goal has always been to touch millennials through storytelling, and the idea is to create a shoppable lifestyle.

And that’s not to say to turn everything into commerce, but to make things easier: This is a thing that I created with my own two hands and this is how you can do it, or this is something that I found on my adventures and travels and this is how you can have it. It’s about creating a level of ease for the people who identify with us. We’ve focused in so much that it’s actually very simple, it’s very clean, it’s very direct.” Will it still be called Preserve? Well, maybe not. “I love the name Preserve.

But then, I never thought people would think Preserve had something to do with jam!” Lively laughs, “Like, ‘Oh, you sell jams!’ ‘No! It’s like preserving things and us and life and artisans!’ ” She sighs. “These are all of the things you don’t think of when you’re too intimate with something.”

And if the past year has had its bumps, well, consider her all-terrain-ready. According to Lively, this is how it’s going to go: “[The news will] blow up and I’ll look like a jerk and everyone will be really horrible. And then the new news will come out and I’ll look like a hero and everyone will be really nice, and then the new site will come out and half will be nice and half will be mean again. I mean, champagne problems—thank God these are the things I get to complain about.”

Fizzy as they may be, champagne problems are not without their sting. And being pilloried in the press for a new venture, as Lively well knows, is never fun. “The only time I’ve ever done something and felt real reward is when I’ve done something that’s incredibly risky, because without great risks it’s impossible to have huge success. I don’t mean financial success, I mean personal success, pride, happiness in what you’ve done.

And the only times that I have felt that are the times that I have really put myself out on the line and done something that really scared me—and I know that sounds like something out of a Hallmark card, but this feels like something I really have to do,” says Lively, with what I’m coming to learn is characteristic grit. “I’ve finally summoned the strength to take on whatever anybody says because I know I’m going to come back with something stronger.

I’m proud of it and I can take it, because I am a much harder critic on me than any nasty gossip rag. And that’s a good thing and a bad thing, but I just want to make myself and my family proud. And this time around, I really think I’ve done that.” Tough and savvy? Looks like the world may have been underestimating Blake Lively. We’re willing to bet you won’t make that mistake again.

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