The Smart Home Show

Last week, Smart Home Ventures debuted a new smart home hub called Pēq, which will be available through Best Buy on August 31st. I caught up with Ted Schremp, the CEO of Smart Home Ventures, to hear about the new platform. You can learn more about Pēq at https://www.mypeq.com/ You can subscribe to more Smart Home Shows at http://www.technology.fm/thesmarthomeshow via Knit

The first Smart Home Week in Review edition of the Smart Home Show for the week ending August 24th, 2014! Mike breaks it down with his all-time favorite home automation journalist Julie Jacobson of CEPro.com, and Electronic House technology editor Grant Clauser! Go to http://www.technology.fm/thesmarthomeshow/ for full show notes with links to stories as well as subscribe options. Check out www.cepro.com and www.electronichouse.com as well! Topics: -The new pēq smart home hub, how it compares, what Best Buy will do with it -Wink got put on probation by Amazon - big deal or not? -What's the word on the street around Thread? -Let's speculate about Apple TV becoming a smart home hub, shall we? -Is Savant going to IPO? Lots of other great stuff. Listen! Email us at thesmarthomeshow@gmail.com if you like this new weekly catch up on all things smart home. via Knit

Guest: Atif Noori of Emberlight Emberlight created a smart lighting adapter that turns any light socket into a smart light socket. I thought the use of an adapter was a smart idea, so I thought I'd catch up with Atif to to get the story behind Emberlight. You can find out more about Emberlight at www.emberlight.co You can listen to and subscribe to more Smart Home Shows at http://www.technology.fm/thesmarthomeshow/ via Knit

Guest: Chaz Flexman, GM of Wink Wink came out nowhere this summer, and surprised a lot of people as the new spinout from Quirky announced its new hub and nationwide distribution partnership with Home Depot. I caught up with Chaz Flexman, the guy running the show over at Wink, to hear how the rollout is going, what the company's thinking was behind creating a dedicated smart home company and where he sees things going. You can find out more about Wink at http://www.winkapp.com/ You can listen to and subscribe to the Smart Home Show at: http://www.technology.fm/thesmarthomeshow/ via Knit

Guest: Kevin Meagher, GM and VP of Smart Home at Lowe's This week I caught up with Kevin Meagher, who heads up the smart home effort at Lowe's. Lowe's was the first national home improvement retailer to make a big move into the smart home and consumer IoT, and so I wanted to hear what Meagher and the Lowe's team had learned over the past few years. We talk about how to sell smart home at retail, the overall market and the Lowe's looks to make the confusing mess of standards around the smart home make sense for the consumer. You can find out more about Lowe's Iris at: http://www.lowes.com/cd_Iris_239939199_ You can listen to the Smart Home Show and subscribe at: http://www.technology.fm/thesmarthomeshow/ via Knit

Guest: Rach.io's Chris Klein Is your sprinkler system dumb? Maybe it's time to make it smart. Rachio builds a Wi-Fi connected sprinkler/irrigation controller and we talk to Chris Klein about the product, what this means and get a little of the story behind this Colorado based startup. You can find out more about Rachio at www.rach.io Subscribe to more Smart Home Show at http://www.technology.fm/thesmarthomeshow/ via Knit

Guest: Mark Walters, Chairman of the Z-Wave Alliance A whole lots been going on in the smart home world lately, including a whole bunch of new tech standards and protocols. One that's been around for a while, Z-Wave, is in millions of homes today and is the key networking tech for many smart home systems. We catch up with Mark to talk about the state of Z-Wave, talk about some of the new standards and where he sees Z-Wave going in the future. You can find out more about Z-Wave at http://www.z-wavealliance.org/ You can subscribe to more Smart Home Shows at http://www.technology.fm/thesmarthomeshow/ via Knit

Guest: Chris Boross, President of the Thread Group Last week, Nest, Samsung and five other companies announced Thread, a new wireless networking protocol aimed at the Internet of Things and the smart home. I talked to Chris about how Thread differs from what is out there, some of the technology decisions they made and what we can expect over the next 12 months with Thread. You can find out more about Thread at http://threadgroup.org/Home.aspx You can find more Smart Home Show episodes and where to subscribe in iTunes and Stitcher at http://www.technology.fm/thesmarthomeshow/ via Knit

Guest: Zach Supalla of Spark.io This week Spark.io had a few pieces of big news. First they announced a new $4.9 million funding round, and at the same time they announced the new Spark OS, their attempt to create an open source operating system for the Internet of Things. Mike catches up with Zach to talk about Spark.io, what exactly Spark OS is and how it differs from what is out there and more. You can find out about Spark.io at www.spark.io You can listen to and subscribe to more Smart Home Show athttp://www.technology.fm/thesmarthomeshow/ via Knit

Guest: Greenwave Systems Nate Williams. I was going to talk to Nate about Greenwave today, but given the huge amount of news the last few days (Google buying Dropcam, Quirky's Wink spinout), I also figured I'd tap into Nate's smart home brain to talk shop. We talk about Nate's background in connected home, what exactly Greenwave does, and then we dive into the news of Google's acquisition of Dropcam, Quirky's Wink launch and their partnership with Home Depot, and we also talk about what Nate thinks of HomeKit. You can find out more about Greenwave at www.greenwavesystems.com You can listen to and subscribe to the Smart Home Show at http://www.technology.fm/thesmarthomeshow/ via Knit