Google Home makes scheduling home events easier
New updates to Google Home enable you to set commands for the future — up to seven days. Some applications might include turning lights on at 6 am, or turning on holiday lights at 5 pm. CNET
dis-rup-shun: Home automation for the mass market is now Google and Amazon’s turf to lose. These companies have, moreso than any other, placed the smart home hub into the homes of nearly 30% of the U.S. population, according to Interpret. Three variables will enable these companies to slowly own a larger part of the connected home: keep integrating third party products; keep device prices low; make connecting devices mind-numbingly easy. Apple, with HomePod is not playing this game, and therefore, will not be a major player in smart home, but Google and Amazon already are.
And if you liked the story above, here are the best, inexpensive smart plugs
Want to have Google start the coffee maker at 6 am? Plug it into these very inexpensive and (getting smaller) smart plugs and you have instant smart home. TP-Link’s Kasa, Wyze and Wemo make small smart plugs, all of which communicate with Alexa or Google Home and range from $15 to $50. CNET
dis-rup-shun: Smart speaker and smart plugs are a game changer for holidays. If you have lights on your house or a Christmas tree, then there is no more plugging and unplugging, and no more struggling to program complex outdoor timer mechanisms, whose instructions are hopelessly tiny or lost after the first season of use. Using a smartphone app or voice to control holiday decorations is reason in itself to automate.
What is open banking and how is it changing consumer finance?
Open banking is the concept of big banks with lots of customers sharing data about your accounts with other vendors that you desire to connect to your bank account. The movement enables new fintech companies with interesting savings or payment capabilities to use financial data housed by your bank. The U.S. startup Plaid, that Visa seeks to acquire is an example. Swedish fintech Tink has received 85 million euros to reach a valuation of 680 million euros. The company is backed by PayPal. CNBC
dis-rup-shun: Open banking will make for a far more interesting life for consumers. We will be able to open an app, release our credit score, and instantly receive offers for loans with various terms — much like choosing a credit card. Transferring accounts from multiple sources will be a breeze. Scamming will also likely increase — a price we are all paying for online convenience.
Apple AirPods Max for $549
Apple has gone toe to toe with Sony and Bose with high end over the ear headphones, leveraging the popularity of AirPods’ brand. The headphones are driven by Apple’s own H1 chipset and feature adaptive noise cancellation features. TechCrunch
dis-rup-shun: What do you do if you have started making your own silicon (processors) and the economics of silicon manufacturing bring profits only after higher volumes are reached? If you are Apple, you make more products in order to have more internal customers for your semiconductor fabrications. Expect Apple to ramp up the number of products, and numbers of variations of products in those lines, to keep the company and profits growing.