Smart cities: the coming future of sustainable living - Green Living 4 Live

As digital technologies get more and more integrated into our way of life, these smart cities offer a peek into the near future of sustainable living. Vincent Callebaut of Callebaut Architects has created smart towers that could be the future of glitzy city of Paris. The proposal, titled 2050 paris smart city, showcases eight different… Read more »

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Smart cities: the coming future of sustainable living

As digital technologies get more and more integrated into our way of life, these smart cities offer a peek into the near future of sustainable living.

See on Scoop.it – Smart Home

Smart cities: the coming future of sustainable living - Green Living 4 Live

The Internet of Things: Heading Towards a Smart Planet - Infographic

Infographic about IoT

On the Internet, no one knows you’re a toaster.” That might be what people say when the Internet of Things (IoT) — aka, Internet of Everything (IoE) — has widespread use, instead of just the 10 billions 

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ZigBee Alliance Leads the Way To Smarter, More Efficient Homes, Buildings and Lighting Systems

"The ZigBee Alliance is helping to move energy harvesting from specialized industrial and building automation applications to a significantly broader range of new consumer and commercial markets that make use of the global 2.4 GHz frequency band," said Mark Walters, Vice President of Strategic Development, ZigBee Alliance. "In addition to updating Light + Building attendees on our collaboration with the EnOcean Alliance to significantly expand global energy harvesting opportunities, we will also share the latest news about the growing momentum behind our ZigBee 3.0 solution."

These and other products from Bega, Centralite, Feibit and Legrand will also be part of a device interoperability display produced by Alliance member DSR Corporation's IoTicity portfolio of services and products. DSR's ZigBee-based stack, cloud and mobile apps, utilities and tools provide a complete solution set for ZigBee-certified applications development.

The ZigBee Alliance, a non-profit association of companies creating, maintaining and delivering open, global standards for the low-power wireless Internet of Things (IoT), today announced it will be joined by 60 member companies at the Light + Building 2016 conference. In both the ZigBee Alliance booth (Hall 9.0, Booth C89) and their own presence throughout the conference, ZigBee Alliance members will be showcasing a broad range of interoperable solutions for home and building automation and lighting. The ZigBee Alliance will also highlight its ZigBee 3.0 solution that unifies the IoT through standardization and interoperability at all layers of the network, and will soon bring the most widely deployed energy-harvesting technology to the 2.4 GHz global consumer frequency band through a collaboration with the EnOcean Alliance.

Featured products within the ZigBee Alliance booth will include:

Murata: Murata will show its latest modules based on ZigBee-based technology that enable wireless smart lighting systems to provide comfort and energy savings. They'll also present the Murata mini-gateway (SHGC200), one of the smallest gateway systems in the world for home and smart building automation, running embedded Linux with WLAN, Ethernet and ZigBee Alliance standards capabilities.

Jiuzhou Greeble: Greeble will show affordable and reliable ZigBee-based lighting products designed for consumers, and demonstrate how they work in a smart home application.
MMB Networks: MMB will showcase its family of ZigBee-based hardware, including wireless modules, bridges, gateways, and lighting-specific solutions, all powered by MMB's RapidConnect interoperability software. RapidConnect is an embedded application that simplifies product development, dramatically reduces time-to-market, and gives IoT devices robust, real-world networking with interoperability across major commercial, lighting and connected home platforms.

Philips: Philips Lighting will demonstrate its ZigBee Light Link certified interoperable connected lighting solutions by means of the Hue personal wireless lighting system.
In addition, they will show universal dimmers, dual-channel switch actuators and window blind controllers-- all equipped with built-in metering and fully supporting ZigBee Green Power in a mixed setup with third-party ZigBee-based products. In support of the ZigBee Alliance and EnOcean Alliance liaison, ubisys will demonstrate EnOcean's energy-harvesting switches controlling ubisys ZigBee devices.

GreenPeak Technologies: The company will show its GP651 IoT connectivity solution designed specifically for LED lighting technologies. The inexpensive, small-footprint solution supports LED lights with up to 4 color channels, across a range of different wireless IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee Alliance connectivity protocols.

Digi International: The company will show its newly updated ZigBee through-hole module, award-winning XBee ® ZigBee Cloud Kit, and newly released XBee ZigBee Mesh Kit.

EnerBee: The company's ground-breaking micro generator uses the power of motion to eliminate batteries in consumer and industrial smart objects. EnerBee aims to commercialize its first product at the end of 2016-- a wireless and battery-less dimmer for the mainstream market that uses ZigBee 3.0 technology and can be implemented with a wide range of smart light bulbs and solutions.

Because existing ZigBee Home Automation and ZigBee Light Link standards for smart homes and buildings are forward compatible with ZigBee 3.0, there are already several hundred certified devices that are immediately part of the ZigBee 3.0 ecosystem. Many of these will be on display from Light + Building.

The ZigBee Alliance, a non-profit association of companies creating, maintaining and delivering open, global standards for the low-power wireless Internet of Things (IoT), today announced it will be joined by 60 member companies at the Light + Building 2016 conference. In both the ZigBee Alliance booth (Hall 9.0, Booth C89) and their own presence throughout the conference, ZigBee Alliance members will be showcasing a broad range of interoperable solutions for home and building automation and lighting. The ZigBee Alliance will also highlight its ZigBee 3.0 solution that unifies the IoT through standardization and interoperability at all layers of the network, and will soon bring the most widely deployed energy-harvesting technology to the 2.4 GHz global consumer frequency band through a collaboration with the EnOcean Alliance.

In support of the ZigBee Alliance and EnOcean Alliance liaison, ubisys will demonstrate EnOcean's energy-harvesting switches controlling ubisys ZigBee devices.

Read more at Wireless Design & Development.

a Smart Home [Infograph]

An infograph about #SmartHome Endless possibilities! More about at Pinterest

Nest introduces family accounts and a new way to track your activity

"Family Accounts let up to 10 people access the Nest products in your home using the Nest app with their own Nest Accounts. It's easy to add and remove people from your Family Account. Now the whole family can control the Nest Thermostat, get notifications from Nest Protect, see what's happening at home with Nest Cam, and get their own copy of the monthly Home Report", Nest announces.

One drawback with the system was the way Nest's app works. And that's something Nest has set out to solve by introducing Family Accounts if you have a family then controlling things could be a problem.

Nest, a company now owned by Google's parent Alphabet, makes products that home automation enthusiasts sometimes drool overtop. What began with a thermostat has expanded somewhat to include such things as smoke detectors.

"Family Accounts let up to 10 people access the Nest products in your home using the Nest app with their own Nest Accounts. Now the whole family can control the Nest Thermostat, get notifications from Nest Protect, see what's happening at home with Nest Cam, and get their own copy of the monthly Home Report", Nest announces.

The company is also adding a Home/Away feature so that it knows if someone is present. If someone is home the heat may go up.

As for Home/Away, it uses more than just geofencing, which can be inaccurate- it can assume you're home when you're down the block at a friend's house. Nest "uses learning algorithms and activity sensors built into Nest products".

All of this is available now, you just need to download and install the latest update to the Nest app.

Read complete at BetaNews.com

Global Connected Home Security System Market to Grow 48.06% - Key Vendors are Comcast...

The global connected home security system market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 48.06 % during the period of time 2016-2020.
Connected home security market innovations such as reduced hardware costs, advances in wireless standards, smartphone penetration, enhanced bandwidth, and...
Global Connected Home Security System Market to Grow 48.06% - Key Vendors are Comcast...

Home Automation - the near future of Home Technological innovation?

Within a few seconds I can choose a well which playlist or choose the tracks for a new one if I want to listen to music. I can access online subscription services or radio stations.

I don't have to worry about regular tasks such as the above, the electronic systems do it all for me. All of this home automation technology exists now.

Technology should be an enabler. It should not be there for itself, but to make the lives of its users easier and more convenient. In the home, the rapid and ongoing advances in home automation are expanding the possibilities.

When I leave for work another single dedicated button press turns all of the lights off, all of the media off, the alarm on and beeps for confirmation as I slam the door. I know that if some incident should occur while I am out of the house I will get a text message alerting me to the fact.

Home Automation can include:

• Home Theatre/ Home Cinema Systems
• While House advanced lighting control
• Energy management systems for heating and cooling
• Security systems and alarms
• Multi Room Audio, Video and AV Distribution
• Curtains

Almost any item that needs electrical power.

With the ubiquity of web connectivity, you can now monitor and manage your home systems from anywhere - ideal for holiday homes or even remote outbuildings.

All of this home automation technology exists now. As these advanced home automation systems increase in power and flexibility and ease of use, they can actually become more complex to specify, design and install. While the individual items of home technology equipment can be fairly straightforward to set up and use, getting equipment from multiple vendors to operate together can be tricky. For any form of home automation to be effective, it has to be easy to control, either using traditional remote controls, web-based systems, smartphone apps or wall mounted control panels.

As these advanced home automation systems increase in power and flexibility and ease of use, they can actually become more complex to specify, design and install. This is where a professional home automation installer can help. By working with you and focusing on your needs, your home can be made to suit your lifestyle, not the other way round.

In the home, the rapid and ongoing advances in home automation are expanding the possibilities.

While the individual items of home technology equipment can be fairly straightforward to set up and use, getting equipment from multiple vendors to operate together can be tricky. For any form of home automation to be effective, it has to be easy to control, either using traditional remote controls, web-based systems, smartphone apps or wall mounted control panels.

Source: ArticleCity.com