All Articles Tagged Smart Appliances

Julie Jacobson | 02/16 07:57 AM, 0 Comments

Home energy management systems (HEMS) and smart appliances have “so far, failed to take off as many had expected,” ABI Research concludes in a recent report. “Many products are still involved in small pilots and have failed to hit retail outlets in any large number.” We couldn’t agree more, which is why we excluded smart appliances and energy monitoring systems in our 5 Home Technology Opportunities for 2012. But ABI suggests we’ll see some traction in in the smart-appliance market by 2017, with 24 million units shipping worldwide by then:… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 10/20 06:04 AM, 3 Comments

Back in 1994, when we launched CE Pro, most integrators came into this business by way of home security or car audio. Then came the stereo guys and electrical contractors, followed by the IT pros and commercial integrators. So where will the next wave of CE Pros come from? Would you believe … retailers of furniture, bedding and major appliances? That’s my conclusion from the recent PrimeTime Expo hosted by Nationwide Marketing Group, a buying group that represents over 3,000 dealers selling a broad range of products – bedding, furniture,… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 08/23 06:30 AM, 1 Comment

Frankly, I’m tired of reporting on “smart appliances” that email you when you’re low on milk or let you fire up a roast from the road. Where are they? Surely, we will see them some day, but I can tell you that smart appliances will not make our list of 5 Top Home Technology Opportunities for 2012. Here at the Nationwide PrimeTime mega-conference in Dallas, people are talking about smart appliances but no one is showing them. Unless you consider anti-vibration washing machines and feature-packed ice dispensers to be all… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 08/22 09:53 AM, 5 Comments

Nationwide Marketing Group, whose dealers represent about $12 billion of buying power, celebrated its 40th anniversary last night during the biannual PrimeTime buying and educational event. Held at the sprawling Gaylord resort and convention center near Dallas, the event is expected to draw about 3,500 individuals from some 900 different member companies. “It’s the first time ever we broke 900 members. It’s by far the highest attendance ever,” said CEO Robert Weisner during the kick-off reception. “It’s hard to believe we’ve gone from seven dealers to over 3,000 in 40… View this story

Grant Clauser | 01/07 11:41 AM, 6 Comments

"Smart" has been the word of the week for LG Electronics at CES 2011: Smart TVs, Smart Appliances, Smart Phones. The overriding theme is that most new LG products will have some Internet-connected aspect allowing the user broader access and in some cases, broader control. LG’s new Smart TV platform will appear on many new LG TVs and a separate set-top-box. The platform, which sounds very similar to Google TV and expands on LG’s previous connected TV experience, involves an improved user interface with a Home dashboard. The dashboard, like… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 01/06 09:31 AM, 5 Comments

Every major appliance manufacturer has shown “smart” refrigerators, freezers, ovens, washers or dryers at some point in the past five years, but none has amounted to anything. Luxury brand Sub-Zero may have the first viable plan for the so-called “smart appliance” category, as we saw in a sneak preview at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2011) in Las Vegas. The company is exhibiting with Control4, its first home automation partner. In a demo at the Control4 booth, project engineer Steve Nackers pre-heated a stainless steel Sub-Zero oven to 350 degrees.… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 05/18 05:26 AM, 1 Comment

GE Appliances & Lighting claims to be the first company to achieve ZigBee Smart Energy certification for its smart or smart grid-enabled appliances. The Smart Energy profile, finalized in April of this year, ensures interoperability between compatible devices and the smart grid – normally via a ZigBee-enabled electrical meter. There are several such meters now on the market. There are also a variety of compliant thermostats, in-home displays and gateway products – all of which an communicate two-way with ZigBee Smart Energy meters and the utilities that employ them. (View… View this story

Jason Knott | 09/15 10:31 AM, 0 Comments

PARA Conference 2000 in Monterey, Calif., was an eye-opener for me. I attended Jeff Hoover's breakout seminar on the ABCs of Home Networking. I was so spellbound by his vision of the future that I actually sat through his session twice. Hoover painted a picture of the specialty industry which has now come to life. He spoke of broadband, computers and home-entertainment systems networked to security devices, lighting, sprinklers and telephone systems. He even mentioned Internet appliances. Hoover spoke eloquently of the connected/smart home. A New Iteration Six years later… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 03/01 07:37 AM, 0 Comments

Tens of thousands of CES attendees braved long lines to stroll through the Next Gen Home, a real house (don't use the toilet, though) erected on the parking lot of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The house was a tribute to the convergence of multimedia and automation, starring HP, Intel and Microsoft on the media side, and Exceptional Innovation and Vantage on the automation side ... with kitchen appliances, security, gaming and audio gear thrown in for good measure. It had all the makings of a next-gen experience, featuring the… View this story