Brilliant turns your light switches into connected-home hubs


Brilliant plugs directly into your home's existing light switch ports and it controls a slew of smart home devices, including lights, the Ring doorbell, Nest thermostat, Sonos speakers, Amazon Alexa and more. This is a control panel built for everyday folks, rather than businesses, and it has a price to match. A single Brilliant panel starts at $200 and maxes out at $350 for a four-switch set (that's $50 for each additional switch). The whole shebang will be available at the end of February.

The basic Brilliant panel features a touchscreen, camera and microphone. This allows users to see who's at the door via the Ring doorbell (and unlock it, if you like what you see), or start a video intercom conversation with someone in another room (if you have two Brilliant switches, that is). You can also ask Alexa to do things via Brilliant, and the company promises Google Assistant compatibility is on its way. Brilliant connects to Sonos speakers for now, though developers plan to add standard Bluetooth connectivity down the line.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

via Engadget RSS Feed "http://ift.tt/2qMtbx9"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Evernote cuts staff as user growth stalls

Image
Note-taking app Evernote has fallen on hard times of late, culminating in its latest spate of job cuts impacting 15 percent of its workforce (54 employees). CEO Chris O' Neil -- an ex-Googler who took the reins in 2015 -- announced the firings at an all-hands meeting earlier today, reports TechCrunch . In a message on the Evernote blog , O' Neill admitted he'd set "incredibly aggressive goals" for the company in 2018. He continued: "Going forward, we are streamlining certain functions, like sales, so we can continue to speed up and scale others, like product development and engineering." The layoffs follow an exec exodus just weeks ago and the company's recent brand refresh (complete with a refined logo and wordmark). But critics are more concerned about its product, especially the free tier, which they claim lacks the perks to
Read more

The best air conditioner

Image
By Liam McCabe This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter . When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here . After six summers of researching, testing, and recommending window air conditioners, we've learned that quiet and affordable ACs make most people the happiest—and we think the LG LW8016ER will fit the bill in most rooms. This 8,000 Btu unit cools as efficiently and effectively as any model with an equal Btu rating, and runs at a lower volume and deeper pitch than others at this price. Little extra features like a fresh-air vent, two-axis fan blades, and a removable drain plug help set it apart, too. The LG LW8016ER is a top choice for an office or den, and some people will find it quiet enough for a bedroom, too. If our main pic
Read more

We won't see a 'universal' vape oil cartridge anytime soon

Image
Pre-loaded cartridges of cannabis concentrate are currently among the most popular means of consumption, and for good reason. They're discreet to use and easy to handle, a far cry from the dark days of 2016 when we had to dribble hash oil or load wax into narrow-mouthed vape pens by hand. But, frustratingly, an ever increasing number of oil cartridge manufacturers employ one-off design standards so that their products won't work with those of their competitors, thereby locking customers into proprietary ecosystems. We've already seen this with nicotine vaporizers -- which has a seen a massive rise in "pod systems" in the last few years, each outfitted with a unique canister and battery built to be incompatible with those of their competition. Is it too late for the burgeoning cannabis industry to set a universal standard for their product designs?
Read more