Finally an app for your kitchen sink
The Kohler Sensate smart kitchen faucet includes built in voice control — powered by your choice of Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant. And of course, there is an app to configure it, control it, and to view water consumption. Just tell Sensate that you want a two cups of water, and hold out the vessel. Power connection under the sink is required. CNET
dis-rup-shun: Smart home is here to stay and gaining traction fast. If you are worried about data security and privacy, you won’t like the fact that your kitchen sink is listening in on every conversation, but resistance is futile, as soon most every appliance and light switch in new homes and upscale hotels will be smart. For $895 to $1100 it should listen to your every command. Your grandchildren will be fascinated to learn that you once had to actually touch the handles on faucets around your home.
Cisco shells out $1 billion for Thousand Eyes
Thousand Eyes is a network health monitoring company providing diagnostic services to high-growth cloud businesses including Microsoft, PayPal, Slack and Lyft. Cisco, feeling left behind from slowing core network equipment growth has shelled out one billion dollars for the growth company, keeping things interesting. CNBC
dis-rup-shun: The John Chambers-era Cisco seemed adept at going where the action was and remaining highly relevant as it powered the growth of the modern Internet. In past years, the company has been less visible, milking many of its cash cows but seemingly less on the front line of innovation. CEO Chuck Robinson is making a smart play that will keep Cisco enjoying the growth of cloud providers.
GE sells lighting brand to Savant
There are few brands as familiar as GE for lightbulbs, and time will tell if Savant, the smart home systems provider that seeks to address a mid-market, somewhere between Crestron on the high-end and Ring on the low-end, will continue to sell under the venerable brand. GE continues to shed assets in order to restore its former high performance, and the transaction allegedly fetched $250 million. CNET
dis-rup-shun: This acquisition is a product strategy head-scratcher. It is akin to Ruth Chris offering Krystal burgers, or Apple selling burner phones. Perhaps the high ticket Savant business wants a low-priced commodity to keep cash flowing faster, or perhaps it will use GE’s smart lighting line to move people up the food chain from a simple smart light bulb to a complete smart home system.
Time to get serious about home WiFi
Google Nest mesh router is a big step up from Google’s WiFi. If you have an unexpectedly larger number of people working from your home, you may be ready to look at upgrading WiFi. CNET discusses the major differences between the new generation Nest mesh router, and the first generation which can be summed up as easy controls through an app, each “pod” is also a Google Assistant smart speaker, with greater overall range and speed.
dis-rup-shun: WiFi is definitely spottier when three or four people are working from home, each hammering on Zoom on and off throughout the day. Now more than ever, a WiFi makeover is in order. If we had only known, the $300 Google Nest WiFi investment would have been an easy investment on quarantine’s eve.