Clayton Moore
Contributor
Clayton Moore’s interest in technology is deeply rooted in the work of writers like Warren Ellis, Cory Doctorow and Neal Stephenson, which can occasionally be frightening. When not writing about technology or business, he’s off profiling people like Valerie Plame Wilson, David Byrne, and Neil Gaiman, among many others.
The Discovery Channel is uniting The Food Network and Alexa
The Food Network is one of the Discovery Channel's stars and now the company is making a major investment in merging the recipe-and-show channel into the Amazon Alexa ecosphere with access to 80,000 recipes.
Forget the autonomous car, meet the trash can that takes itself out
We think we can wait a while for cars that drive themselves if we don't have to take the trash bins out by ourselves anymore. That's the vision of a new smart home company called Rezzi that just won the Cool Idea Award from digital parts manufacturer Protolabs for a new device called the SmartCan.
Are tiny homes a reasonable solution to homelessness?
There are more than half a million homeless persons in America on any given night, and that's just a guess by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Nonprofits and real estate developers are partnering up to build tiny homes that could take some pressure off the problem.
Sharp’s new Innit-enabled smart oven does all the cooking math for you
Smart kitchens are evolving at an astonishing speed but Sharp's latest addition may be the smart home's pièce de résistance with an oven that not only has the smart cooking platform Innit onboard but also responds to voice commands and includes some innovative cooking accessories.
The 6-in-1 Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro deadbolt lock opens with a shake of your phone
Smart home devices are a dime a dozen these days but the Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro offers some pretty cool advances. Not only will it unlock automatically if it recognizes your smartphone when you come home, but you can also unlock it with a fingerprint or a PIN number as needed.
BodyGuardz launches a suite of innovative smart home security products
Slated to arrive in early 2020, smartphone case manufacturer BodyGuardz is engineering and manufacturing a new line of smart home security devices, which will include a portable 360-degree security camera, a second dual-camera designed for doors, and a portable emergency hub.
Here’s a new take on smart apartments from Brilliant and ButterflyMX
The smart home market has long been focused on families that want to employ smart tech to connect with their families, but Brilliant and ButterflyMX are teaming up to bring the smart home experience to apartments and multi-family buildings with seamless control over their smart devices.
LifeFuels launches its unconventional, long-awaited smart nutrition bottle
Virginia-based startup LifeFuels has been tinkering for five years with a smart water bottle that injects ordinary water with flavors and much-needed nutrients. Now, the long-awaited $180 product is officially available, complete with an app that tracks hydration and more.
Trifo’s new Max is an A.I. robot vacuum and guard dog in one
There was so much to cover at this year's IFA conference in Berlin but one of the cooler under-the-radar announcements was Trifo's new robot vacuum cleaner, Max. It's an app-controlled, A.I.-powered vacuum that can double as a security guard and inform owners about weird movements and/or intruders.
LifePod believes smart home tech can help facilitate the challenges of eldercare
Boston-based startup LifePod is digging deep into the eldercare market, partnering up with the American Heart Association for a heart failure study to help seniors take better care for themselves and monitor their own health via smart home technology.
The HomePod launch was a letdown. Can Apple deliver a smaller, cheaper version?
The Apple HomePod smart speaker was not only late to come to market, but the device is expensive, complicated, and dying on the vine in the smart home market. A mini version, though -- one that's cheaper, easy to use, and versatile -- could be just what the company and its fans need.
Cooking platform SideChef expands its empire with new smart kitchen partnerships
SideChef's all-in-one home cooking platform has proved wildly popular with manufacturers of smart home appliances for the kitchen and this year is no exception as the company announced new partnerships with refrigerator maker Haier and Home Connect, an app that unifies appliances from different brands.
This upgraded smart mirror will analyze your skin over time
Smart mirrors are a hot commodity in the smart home market these days, helping with everything from making you look better to picking out clothes but the new HiMirror is taking it to a new level with skincare analysis combined with online entertainment and social features.
Crestron’s new smart home suite includes support for multiple homes
Crestron is a pretty high-end brand in the smart home market and while it's never been cheap, it's been a powerful solution for users who want dynamic smart home control across as many brands as possible and its newly launched operating system promises complete control, even across multiple properties.
Simplehuman’s Sensor Mirror Hi-Fi now responds to Amazon Alexa commands
Smart mirrors are all the rage these days, and now Simplehuman is upping its game by adding voice control via Amazon's Alexa voice assistant. The Simplehuman Sensor Mirror Hi-Fi also serves as a super-cool night-light, a smart speaker, and, well, you know, a mirror. It also has Google Assistant support.
RoomMe, a smart home sensor that knows who you are, finally ships to buyers
RoomMe, the smart home sensor that's long been in the pipeline at Israel-based startup Intellithings,promises smart home automation based on personal identification rather than time-based programming. Now, it looks like the crowdfunded product will finally ship this month.
LG adds cool spherical ice cubes to its latest smart home refrigerators
It might be an indulgence for cocktail purists but LG has added a cool new upgrade to its already hyper-sophisticated Instaview Door-in-Door smart home refrigerators that enables homeowners to make craft ice cubes that are crystal clear, perfectly spherical, and that melt more slowly than regular ice.
What you need to know about smart camera privacy
Smart home cameras still seem like the bee's knees right now compared to traditional security systems that just store footage on local media systems but networked or Wi Fi-enabled cameras have inherent security vulnerabilities that can present a significant risk to users. Here are the basics.
Nexxt, Tuya and Microsoft team up to take smart home tech to the next level
For the most part, the smart home market is still pretty fragmented, but Nexxt Solutions, an up-and-coming manufacturer of smart home devices, is working with Microsoft and Tuya to create a way for smart home devices from different manufacturers to be controlled simultaneously.
Nest is going to augment package delivery notifications ahead of the holidays
Google has been at the forefront of smart home technology for some time but it looks like the company's Nest division is getting ahead of the competition before the holidays with a new feature for the Nest Hello smart doorbell-slash-camera that can detect package delivery.
Smart home technology increasingly used to help elderly population
The ever-growing market for technology to assist seniors is staggering -- nearly 10,000 baby boomers a day are reaching the age of 65, while the U.S. Census Bureau says those older than 65 will outnumber those younger than 18 within 15 years. Could smart home technology help?
Simplisafe adds to its security repertoire with much-anticipated smart home lock
Simplisafe has made a real splash in the home security market since it was launched more than a dozen years ago but the company is making genuine investments in the smart home market and next month will launch a new smart home lock.
Alexa’s Custom Interfaces hope to augment gadgets, games, and smart toys
Amazon has sunk a ton of time, money and resources into its Alexa-powered products like the Echo so it makes sense that it's continuing to push its evolution, the latest innovation being a new feature for developers called Custom Interfaces, designed to enable interactivity between speakers and users.
Startup Camect is on track to deliver a private, unified smart camera hub
The smart home security market is huge but the diversity of camera brands and technology can be confusing and hard to reconcile, which is why crowdfunded startup Camect is developing a secure, unified security camera hub to market that will work with all brands and costs a fraction of competing services.
Seedo is an A.I.-driven, self-contained grow box for plants of varying legality
It's a little pricy, but an automated grow box by Israeli startup Seedo uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to optimize the growth of vegetables, herbs, flowers, and other medicinal plants, including marijuana. You can monitor your plants' growth -- and watch it in high definition -- via the mobile app.
The eClip is an alert device to remind you not to leave your kid behind
Parents have lots of things to distract them and it turns out a medical phenomenon called Forgotten Baby Syndrome, or FBS, is real thing that explains why a parent might accidentally leave a child in the car. This startup has created a device to help remind parents not to leave a kid behind.
Evolving Effie ironing machine will soon get wrinkles out of pants, too
It's taken a while to develop, but an automatic ironing device invented by a British startup that uses advanced manufacturing processes seems to be evolving. The creators say that not only can it dry and iron all different kinds of shirts but will soon expand to include different kinds of clothing.
Arlo’s smart security cams take a bite out of Apple, finally add HomeKit support
After announcing at CES earlier this year that it was launching support to add its popular smart security cameras to Apple's HomeKit smart home platform, device manufacturer Arlo has delivered on its promise in its latest update by enabling users to add cameras to the platform.
Maximus is at the door with its new Answer DualCam Video Doorbell
We got a preview of San Francisco-based Maximus' latest and greatest product at CES in Las Vegas earlier this year but today the company announced that its innovative Answer DualCam Video Doorbell is officially for sale, starting at $200.
New Comcast feature limits the amount of time kids spend on the internet
Today's kids have had the Internet since they were born and they're used to 24/7 access. Comcast is giving parents a little more control with a new feature that can automatically pause a kid's access to the Internet once their daily time limit has been rearched.
Moen is adding support for Siri, Apple HomeKit to its U smart shower
At over $1,000 for even a basic model, the ultra-luxurious Moen U smart home shower is quite an indulgence. But smart home owners who are partial to Apple's HomeKit platform or are heavy-duty Siri users now have a reason to think about buying one: Moen has added support for Apple HomeKit.
Neato Robotics adds support for Siri Shortcuts to its smart home robot vacuums
California-based Neato Robotics continues to add new bells and whistles to its popular line of robotic vacuums for the smart home. It has announced that a firmware update will add Siri Shortcuts that enable users of its robot vaccuums to start, stop, and direct its devices using voice commands.
Zucklight is a groovy new night-light from the mind of Facebook’s founder
You never know what's going to inspire the next cool thing. The creators of Zucklight saw a Facebook post from Mark Zuckerberg commenting on his wife's sleep problems and created a night light that not only has different hues to show the time but can also house sensors for humidity, CO2, and more.