Zigbee Smart Home technology goes to Mars
Zigbee, a long-time smart home standard, powering many smart home devices, is the communications standard enabling communications between Mars Rover Perseverance and its Ingenuity companion drone. ZDNet
dis-rup-shun: If it’s good enough for NASA, it is good enough for my home. For many years, a silly debate existed in the smart technology space between standards bodies — each one professing why theirs should be the only. About five years ago, long after Wi-Fi became the de-facto standard for PC communications, the standards wars cooled down as proponents realized there is room for multiple protocols. Many smart home lighting and energy applications have been built on Zigbee’s standard, and the Alliance’s maturity and long presence in the market was certainly well-endorsed when NASA sent the standard to Mars.
Smart Home fitness company Tonal partners with Nordstrom
Tonal, a hot new at-home connected fitness device, like Peloton is hot and picking up popularity quickly. Tonal, unlike Peloton, is a wall-mounted monitor, camera, with variable tensioning cables. Owners can join classes from their homes, and can monitor their strength and conditioning progress. TechCrunch
dis-rup-shun: It used to be the tech needed retail and, for many years, struggled to find profitable outlets. Then BestBuy figured out the right balance, and the Apple Store defied the odds and made bricks and mortar locations red hot. With Amazon effect bleeding retail establishments, adding tech to the mix is breathing new life into retailers. Target has beefed-up its electronics with more Apple products, and now Nordstrom is getting a needed infusion by becoming the retail outlet for the hot home gym company, Tonal. Retailers are quick to jump on the one thing that Amazon cannot provide — hands on display of products.
Have you been invited to the Clubhouse?
The by-invitation only Internet chat experience, Clubhouse, is getting plenty of attention. Elon Musk’s recent appearance is still being discussed. Facebook, adept at copying competitors, is fast at work to create an alternative to Clubhouse. The trendy app is an online forum for by-invitation-only invitees to listen to, and converse with celebrities, big thinkers and innovators. New York Times
dis-rup-shun: Clubhouse has quickly defined a new online forum — a cross between a podcast, Messenger, talk radio and Zoom. Invitees come together at a designated time (unlike a podcast) and have the opportunity to just listen, or converse with a big thinker and a community of followers. It is unlikely a coincidence that the app has grown virally during a time when concerts, lectures and in-person classes are almost non-existent. The new media format will likely deal yet another cut to serial radio and TV programming, and will siphon a number of hours from podcasts, despite the strong growth of latter.
Apple to be a significant Mixed Reality player
Apple’s Tim Cook has indicated that virtual reality and its variants will be a big part of the company’s future products — from a VR helmet, to glasses, followed by contact lenses in 2030. Apple follower Ming Chi-Kuo expects a helmet to be released next year, with glasses following in 2025 — precursors to contact lenses. CNET
dis-rup-shun: Mixed reality versus virtual reality versus augmented reality — what’s the difference. Virtual reality is all about visiting a far-away land through the use of technology. Mixed reality blends virtual sounds, sights and feedback with reality — overlaying an actual location, person, or object that is near you with sounds and sights. One often cited application is being able to look up and down a street and have changing images of what is inside the buildings on the street — pictures of the sushi boat at a restaurant across the street. Apple’s aggressive push into services, such as Arcade and Apple +, lays the foundation onto which mixed reality experiences can be built.