Hasta La Gadget!

SmartThings doesn’t just come to Vegas and set up a boring old booth. These guys rented out a palatial villa just outside of downtown, both for the practical purposes of giving themselves a place to crash, and also to give them an easy way to show off their product and platform for building a whole home “open physical graph.” Home automation and mobile remote control were a tent pole theme of this year’s CES, so doing a TC Cribs episode at SmartThings’ made a ton of sense.

The house was impressive, more so thanks to the SmartThings-enabled gadgets littering the premises than because of the actual house itself, which, while nice, potentially hid a somewhat salacious history. The SmartThings team said they were constantly finding glitter on themselves while staying there, in a house that’s obviously often rented out on a short-term basis: Glitter doesn’t just come from nowhere.

Internet-of-things startup, SmartThings, this year’s winner of the Dublin Web Summit’s startup competition, has closed a $3 million seed round. The round was led by First Round Capital and includes contributions from SV Angel, Lerer Ventures, CrunchFund, Max Levchin, Yuri Milner’s Start Fund, David Tisch, A-Grade Investments, Chris Dixon, Vivi Nevo, Alexis Ohanian, Loic Le Meur, Martin Varsavsky, Kal Vepuri, Ryan Sarver, Jared Hecht, Steve Martocci, Emil Michael, Aaron Levie, Zorik Gordon, and Nathan Hanks.

The startup is building a platform for developers to connect everyday objects such as door locks and lights to the internet, allowing the physical objects to be controlled and monitored via apps and other digital interfaces — hence its talk of an “open physical graph”.

Individual smart object systems — such as the Philips Hue lightbulbs — are already popping up in the marketplace but SmartThings is aiming to build momentum behind an open platform approach, allowing multiple device makers to sit within the ecosystem, and multiple devices to be powered by the same core smart hub. “It will take a significant ecosystem and the participation of many of these innovators to realize the full potential of the physical graph,” it notes.

The startup said it now has more than 1,000 developers and makers signed up to its way of doing things. Growing that community is going to be key to SmartThing’s success. To increase support for its platform, SmartThings plans to use a swathe of the seed funding to launch the first SmartThings Developer and Maker Competition — to reward “innovation on the physical graph” — noting

Based on community feedback and more than 1,000 developers and makers that have signed up on the SmartThings platform, we’ll be choosing 5 key themes representing the most exciting areas of innovation on the physical graph. In each theme, we’ll be awarding a winner for the best software developer / SmartApp, and the best hardware/device maker. In April 2013, we’ll announce the overall winner.

The competition will be judged by a panel that includes First Round Capital, SV Angel, Lerer Ventures, Matt Williams, EIR at Andreesen Horowitz, Loic Le Meur, David Tisch, and Alex Hawkinson, CEO of SmartThings. Winners will receive cash prizes — with $100,000 in total prize money, including $25,000 each for the top app and top new connected Thing — as well as “investor exposure, media coverage, manufacturing and design consulting and be[ing] featured across the SmartThings customer base and ecosystem”. SmartThings said it expects the amount of money in the prize pot to increase further in the near future via inbound sponsorship cash.

SmartThings has previously secured $1.2 million via a Kickstarter campaign, and is partnering with Instacube — to allow the cube to display notifications for things like visitors arriving or leaving the lights on.

SmartThing’s release follows below

SmartThings Announces $3M seed round and Developer/Maker Contest to Drive an Open ‘Internet of Things’

At SmartThings, we believe the next and perhaps most life-altering evolution of the Internet will be the creation of the physical graph; the digitization, connectivity and programmability of the physical world around us. Whether you call this the Internet of Things, sensor networks or home and life automation, the implications for how we live, work, and have fun are profound. At our core, we also believe that for the ecosystem to be healthy, it must be open. An open physical graph is the only way to bridge the innovation, inventions and brilliance of the many device manufacturers, hardware makers, developers, and everyday people who are working to change our lives today and in the future.

SmartThings sits at the center of this open ecosystem. We provide a platform that enables developers and makers to build smart and connected devices, an interactive and mobile user experience for consumers to manage and install apps into their physical world to make it behave more intelligently, and unique combinations of SmartThings and SmartApps packaged to solve real world problems, out of the box, with no professional installation required.

We appreciate the immense support we’ve received to date in making that open vision a reality. Our Kickstarter backers embraced this vision and made us the second largest technology project of all time, and the largest Internet of Things project by more than 2x when we closed. This momentum continued across the globe with SmartThings winning the Spark of Genius award at the 2012 Dublin Web Summit against a field of over 4,000 original startup competitors from 36 countries.

Today we’re announcing 2 significant events in our continued success and progress in bringing the open physical graph to the world.

The SmartThings vision is a big one. But it’s clear the world is ready. The entire Le Web conference in Paris this week is based around the Internet of Things, and new projects aiming to connect our physical world are emerging almost daily. It will take a significant ecosystem and the participation of many of these innovators to realize the full potential of the physical graph.

Fortunately, some of the best and most dynamic investors and entrepreneurs out there believe in our vision as well. Today we’re announcing the successful close of a $3 million funding round lead by First Round Capital and including SV Angel, Lerer Ventures, CrunchFund, Max Levchin, Yuri Milner’s Start Fund, David Tisch, A-Grade Investments, Chris Dixon, Vivi Nevo, Alexis Ohanian, Loic Le Meur, Martin Varsavsky, Kal Vepuri, Ryan Sarver, Jared Hecht, Steve Martocci, Emil Michael, Aaron Levie, Zorik Gordon, and Nathan Hanks.

This is the perfect group to both help us in our direct growth and to make investments in the ecosystem of developers and makers who will create a breathtaking array of connected devices, intelligent and learning applications, and breakthrough innovations.

With this funding, and in direct support of the open ecosystem vision, today we’re also announcing the first SmartThings Developer and Maker Competition. Based on community feedback and more than 1,000 developers and makers that have signed up on the SmartThings platform, we’ll be choosing 5 key themes representing the most exciting areas of innovation on the physical graph. In each theme, we’ll be awarding a winner for the best software developer / SmartApp, and the best hardware/device maker. In April 2013, we’ll announce the overall winner.

The judging panel for this contest includes First Round Capital, SV Angel, Lerer Ventures, Matt Williams, EIR at Andreesen Horowitz, Loic Le Meur, David Tisch, and Alex Hawkinson, CEO of SmartThings.

Winners will receive cash ($100,000 overall including $25,000 each for the top app and top new connected Thing), investor exposure, media coverage, manufacturing and design consulting and be featured across the SmartThings customer base and ecosystem. You can learn more about and sign up for the competition at build.smartthings.com.

We expect this to be the first of many competitions driving an explosive growth in innovation on the open physical graph. Thank you so much for your continued support. Together we will create an open physical graph and a smarter world!

Move over, software: the London and Cambridge, U.K.-based accelerator, Springboard, is launching a dedicated program for hardware startups, focusing on the Internet of Things. The new three-month accelerator bootcamp — called Springboard Internet of Things — is backed by program partners ARM, Unilever, Neul and Raspberry Pi, who will play an active role in supporting Springboard founders and providing senior mentors to participants.

Here’s how Springboard describes the new accelerator, which will be based in Cambridge

Springboard Internet of Things (“IoT”) is an accelerator program that accepts the ten best teams in any area of IoT technology — from bright idea to Series A funding.  Participating founders receive more than $150,000 of free services, seed capital and mentoring from more than 100 industry leaders around the world, in an intensive three-month bootcamp.

Springboard founder Jon Bradford said he believes the time is right for a dedicated hardware accelerator, with the rise of Internet of Things projects on crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter (now accepting U.K.-based projects), and a general sense of growing momentum and energy in the maker community. He also points to Chris Anderson’s new book Makers, which talks of a new industrial revolution powered by garage tinkerers and enthusiasts, and references a recent post by YC co-founder Paul Graham on why hardware is ‘having a moment’.

“We believe that there is a massive untapped opportunity with low power device technology — which has been demonstrated by the maker and Kickstarter community,” Bradford added in a statement.

Eben Upton, CEO and Founder of the low cost mini computer Raspberry Pi, said in a statement: “To date, the Internet of Things has been largely the playground of corporates. Dramatically falling hardware costs are shifting innovation toward smaller teams in a similar manner to how web technologies have evolved over the last 10 years.”

Springboard IoT will sit alongside Springboard’s other programs — as a supplement to the London-based Springboard web and the Springboard Mobile accelerators. Mentors for IoT include Hermann Hauser (Amadeus), Sherry Coutu, Niall Murphy (Evrythng & The Cloud), Usman Haque (Cosm & Pachube), Pilgrim Beart (AlertMe) and Brad Feld (Foundry Group & FitBit).

Entrepreneurs wanting to bag a place on the Springboard IoT program have until January 6, 2013 to compete for one of ten available slots. To apply for a place on Springboard IoT visit www.springboard.com.

If a Bluetooth sensor doesn’t already have iOS support, pairing it up will often involve a patient wait for an official app or some not-quite-official tweaking, at best — Apple won’t allow just any old unauthenticated device through the gates. Byte Works’ TechBASIC 2.3 update takes those barriers down. The mobile app lets those of us with a new iPad or iPhone 4S create programs that talk to, and read from, a wide range of Bluetooth LE devices without having to write any Objective C code on a Mac. Only a TI key fob has a fully ready example program, but large swaths of devices will communicate with help from intrepid programmers — whether they’re heart rate monitors, home theater gear or seemingly anything in between. Existing TechBASIC owners can add the Bluetooth LE support through a free update; it’s a relatively pricey $15 to buy the app if you’re new to Byte Works’ world, although it may be worthwhile to give any unused sensors a new reason for being.

Continue reading TechBASIC 2.3 links iOS to world of sensors through Bluetooth, no pesky computers in the way (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables

TechBASIC 2.3 links iOS to world of sensors through Bluetooth, no pesky computers in the way (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Aug 2012 04:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel’s announced a new system-on-chip that jams a 3G power amplifier directly onto radio circuits for smaller, cheaper cellular modems. SMARTi UE2p is designed for entry-level 3G phones and machine-to-machine modules that’ll let your fridge talk to your oven. The Santa Clara chip foundry will be offering the gear to interested parties toward the end of the year, so if all the Microwaves released next Summer suddenly have the ability to access Twitter, you’ll know Intel’s to blame.

Continue reading Intel’s SMARTi low-cost 3G systems show off their wireless prowess

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Intel’s SMARTi low-cost 3G systems show off their wireless prowess originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jul 2012 10:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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