wireless

I think security poses the greatest risk to the growth of the connected home market. The many reports of hacking and vulnerabilities in connected home solutions throughout 2014 caused many to raised concerns about the readiness of these solutions for consumers.  I see these issues as signs saying the sector has more work to do to improve security. The good thing is we are still at a stage where we can fix these issues and build better solutions to gain public trust.

Next month IKEA will be selling a range of bedside tables, desks, floor and table lamps, plus work lamps with integrated Qi-powered charging pads that charge your smartphone wirelessly.  All you will need to do is rest the phone in a specific spot and leave it to charge. According to IKEA the “Home Smart” furniture range will be in shops in Europe and North America next month (April) followed by a global rollout.

NETGEAR's AirCard 785 4G LTE mobile hotspot has been named a 2015 CES Innovation Honoree in the Smart Home category.  The device is the world’s first “unlocked” 4G LTE mobile hotspot with simultaneous dual-band WiFi coverage. For homes that have no or limited fixed broadband connection, the AirCard 785 can be and ideal solution, offering 4G broadband connection.  Its unlocked state mean it is not automatically tied to a service provider's service plan.

The last time I checked Zigbee was up to ten standards, all based on different solutions or sector depending on the use of the product.  Neighborhood Area Network (NAN) was the last one I heard about.  with some standards and the possible that one manufactore might might manufacture for different makrets can mean a lot of work.  The ZigBee Alliance has seen this and has unified all its wireless standards under one standard called ZigBee 3.0.

D-Link Canada has launched a new line of high-performance home networking devices with the Wireless AC3200 Tri-Band Gigabit Router (DIR-890L). Packed with advanced features, the DIR-890L router was designed to keep both the latest and legacy Wi-Fi devices running at peak performance.  It combines Tri-Band wireless connectivity with SmartConnect technology to distribute Wi-Fi traffic over three Wi-Fi radios giving you improved performance and reliability.  For those who have suffered from Wi-Fi weak spots or dead zones in the home.  The Wireless AC3200 Tri-Band Gigabit Router features Advanced AC SmartBeam technology which tracks your connected devices and focuses signals towards them for superior Wi-Fi speed and coverage inside and around the largest of homes.

TRENDnet this week announced the availability of its Home Smart Switch with Wireless Extender (THA-101), the device offers a combination of smart electrical outlet and powerful N300 wireless extension capability. You can plug in a light lamp, fan or appliance into the electrical outlet on the front of the THA-101 then use the TRENDnet's free Apple or Android mobile app to turn the outlet on/off from a mobile device with an Internet connection.

The recent release of the Nighthawk X4 AC2350 Smart WiFi Router (R7500), is the latest addition to its award-winning Nighthawk family of 802.11ac routers. Powered by a 1.4GHz dual core processor, the X4 supports Quad-stream WiFi Architecture to deliver the fastest dual-band 802.11ac speed and performance for high intensity gaming, streaming and mobile connectivity.

Femtocell is not a technology many of us talk about neither do we hear about it often; however, the solution is slowly gaining popularity among the masses as an alternative to other in-home wireless technologies.  In 2013 the global femtocell market was worth approximately US $304.8 Million; by 2020, this amount is expected to reach US $ 3.7 Billion, according to Allied Market Research.

TP-LINK has release a new wireless home router, called the N600 Universal Wireless Dual Band Entertainment Adapter (TL-WA890EA). It offers dual frequency of 2.4GHz each with speed of up to 300Mbps, enough bandwidth to stream HD video, music and online gaming.  At less than US $60.00, you can network most of your home entrainment devices to it; there four ports enough for your Smart TV, Game Console, Set-Top Box and Blu-ray Player. It has WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) switch button and a web interface for easy management.

ZigBee Alliance has announced that a number of his members are working of developing a standard for the NAN.  NAN is defined as a utility's last-mile, outdoor access network that connects smart meters and other utility devices to Wide Area Network (WAN) communication points. ZigBee pointed out that an important of the NAN standardization is to help seamless interoperability between utilities and product manufacturers.