VeraControl @ CES 2015

The biggest news from Vera Control is that we finally have a controller with the new Series 500 Z-Wave+ SoC. In fact, there will eventually be three different models; VeraEdge, VeraPlus, and VeraSecure, with VeraEdge available now and the other two expected to ship early summer. The $149/£149(doh) VeraEdge is essentially an upgraded VeraLite, but the really interesting model is […]

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ZigBee v. Bluetooth Mesh – Fight!?

There was a time when the whole ZigBee v. Bluetooth (BT) question would have been kind of silly. BT was very capable, but its power characteristics made unsuitable for the types of devices that a Home Automation (HA) protocol like ZigBee is intended to address. That has changed significantly over the last couple years, with BT LE (Low Energy) taking […]

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Home Automation @ CES 2014

This year’s show was focused heavily on home automation (HA) and the “Internet of Things” device so I spent most of my time at the show running down different HA vendors and talking to them about the products they have, and the ones that should be out sometime this year. Instead of breaking each one into its own post I […]

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Kwikset & ipDatatel Announce Zigbee Integration

kiwksetlockzigbee.jpg

When I was building my home automation (HA) system, the lack of devices and good integration between those devices was the main reason I settled on Z-Wave. In many ways Zigbee is a superior technology though, and also has the benefit of being supported by many chip manufactures (Z-Wave is controlled by Sigma Designs) so it’s great to see product […]

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