Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve seen plenty of IR blasters around the Engadget trailer but few, if any, include WiFi and Z-Wave home automation radios. But that’s exactly what the boys over at Square Connect have planned as a followup to their existing SQ Blaster product. A trick that lets you control your home theater equipment, window coverings, lights, and HVAC systems from the company’s own SQ Remote iPhone app. At least that’s the plan when it ships sometime around Q2, possibly touting WiFi Direct capability and Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS). The device above is a non-working prototype that just happens to look nice with the Apple TV. It features cutouts for a USB port (power and setup), IR extenders, built-in blasters, and removable antenna. Working models are already in field testing with shipments expected to land in the homes of consumers sometime in Q2.

SQ Blaster Pro is a WiFi, Z-Wave, and IR blaster home automation powerhouse originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 17:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The urge to kill a chicken is surprisingly strong when operating in the dead space between sleep deprivation and a caffeinated buzz of hyper alertness. The fact that the beast is giant and in space makes it downright compulsive especially when given the opportunity to team up in combat with Max Planck over an 802.11n WiFi Direct connection… without an access point and without any lag. This isn’t your father’s Bluetooth connection, son. See the carnage go down after the break.

Continue reading WiFi Direct helps you kill space chickens without an access point (hands-on)

WiFi Direct helps you kill space chickens without an access point (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 08:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WiFi cameras are hardly anything new, but there are a few features on this Samsung SH100 that caught our attention. For one, this 14.2 megapixel imager lets you use your Android smartphone — Galaxy S is specifically mentioned here — a “real time” remote viewfinder and trigger over WiFi! Additionally, users will also benefit from the camera’s DLNA and wireless PC sync capabilities. While this sounds all awesome, we’ll have to wait until March before our wallets take a $199.99 damage. Full spec sheet after the break.

Continue reading Samsung’s WiFi-enabled SH100 shoots in 14.2MP, uses your Android as a viewfinder

Samsung’s WiFi-enabled SH100 shoots in 14.2MP, uses your Android as a viewfinder originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 11:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG just exhausted 1,000 words to announce its new range of smart appliances built around Thinq technology. Unfortunately, for all the hyperbole there’s not much detail about the appliances themselves. We do know that Thinq features smart grid, access, diagnosis, adapt, and food management capabilities. At the center of Thinq is the concept of an intelligent WiFi grid built around a smart meter enabling home owners to schedule the oven cook time, washing machine cycle, and refrigerator defrost at the most cost-effective or convenient times. Smart Access allows homeowners to control and monitor appliances from outside of the home and, better yet, control LG’s HOM-BOT robotic vacuum cleaner to clean or remotely view the house and even feed the dog. LG’s smart refrigerators can count and display the number of times the door is opened and alert home owners when the door is ajar. Alerts can also be scheduled when the ice-maker is switched off or the washing machine is off balance or a load is finished. LCD displays on LG’s Thinq appliances show daily, weekly, or monthly reports detailing each appliance’s energy consumption. Naturally, you can access daily totals from your smartphone or tablet as well. New Smart Diagnosis features include downloadable diagnostic information and the ability to hit a few buttons on the appliance to emit a series of tones to assist LG technicians troubleshooting problems over the phone. The food management feature works by dragging and dropping food icons around the LCD display or by using built-in voice recognition. Unfortunately, the inventory must be managed manually making this feature pretty useless for all but the most obsessive of home owners. All the appliances are software upgradeable with the ability to download new features like pre-programmed recipes and advanced wash cycles. It all sounds very intriguing but we’ll have to see it demonstrated live before we’re convinced of its usefulness. Until then we’ve got a few pics of the user interface and one of washer and dryer pair in the gallery below.

Continue reading LG Thinq linqs your smart appliances with WiFi and smartphone apps

LG Thinq linqs your smart appliances with WiFi and smartphone apps originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 01:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We definitely know quite a few people (including this very editor!) who bought their parents Kodak Pulse WiFi photo frames over the holidays, since they seem like a perfect way to share pictures without any fuss — you can just email the frame directly. Unfortunately, it seems like this cloud service has a dark, dark lining: Kodak’s backend email servers have been down since at least Christmas Eve, rendering the Pulse’s most interesting feature essentially useless. What’s worse, that status display above is more or less buried on the Pulse web site, so it’s not even immediately clear that the problem is on Kodak’s side — and when things turn back on we’re guessing more than one Pulse owner will find tons of duped photos on their frames from multiple email attempts, since the system doesn’t confirm email receipt. We’ve heard a few anecdotal stories about email photo delivery slowing down / stopping during previous high traffic periods, so you’d think Kodak would have sorted this out by now, but we guess not — we’ll let you know when the company tells us about a fix.

Update: Kodak emailed us to say things are working again — here’s the statement:

We experienced slower performance of the Pulse server over the holiday weekend due to much higher than anticipated volumes. This resulted in a delay of pictures that were emailed to the Pulse frame. We did immediately address this issue and any pictures consumers emailed have since been delivered. We apologize for the inconvenience this caused our customers. It is our goal to ensure a great experience for all Pulse owners.

Kodak Pulse email-to-photo-frame system down for days, millions of memories trapped in the cloud (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Dec 2010 11:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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