On this episode of Smart Tech Today, Mikah and I talked about:
Tag: HomeKit
On our tenth episode of Smart Tech Today, Mikah and I talk about these stories:
- Sony brings AirPlay 2 and HomeKit to select 2018 and 2019 TVs
- Ikea’s smart blinds won’t work with Apple’s HomeKit until ‘early’ in 2020
- Studio Neat Apple TV Remote Stand
- Amazon launches new battery-powered Echo exclusively for India
- Amazon’s Ring is making its first smart light bulb, FCC documents reveal
- Google Assistant supports more bedroom, kitchen appliances
- Google Assistant now follows your dietary restrictions when recommending recipes
- Google Assistant is ready to give you holiday updates from the North Pole
- White balance and color temperature – what it means for your home (and on camera)
- Mikah’s pick of the week: Wemo Wi-Fi Light Switch 3-Way 2-Pack Bundle
- Matthew’s pick of the week: Philips Hue Smart Button
On episode 8 of Smart Tech Today, Mikah and I talked about:
- Amazon Music now free for Android, iOS, and Fire TV
- Amazon expands its free, ad-supported streaming music service to iOS
- The Verge Guide to Amazon Alexa
- Spotify adds recommended commands on Google Assistant
- Google Assistant’s latest feature is a personalized audio news feed
- Spotify adds recommended commands on Google Assistant
- Google Assistant Launches ‘My Storytime’ Feature for Families to Read Together When Apart
- Google Assistant uses ‘Duplex on the Web’ to buy your movie tickets
- The new Apple Maps is now available in more than half of the U.S.
- HomeKit Secure Video is a privacy win, but expect some missing features for now
- Abode delivers promised HomeKit support for its Iota DIY home security system
- Sonos acquires voice assistant startup, says not building Siri competitor
- Sonos Acquires Voice Assistant Startup Snips for $37 Million
- Shortcuts User Guide
- Logitech POP Smart Button
- Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box
- Philips Hue Play White & Color Smart Light
- Mikah’s pick of the week: Philips Hue for Android
- Matthew’s pick of the week: OneCast for Mac, iOS, and Android
I’m a huge fan of the HomePod – after bearing the investment cost, it’s improved my daily interactions with music and opened access to controlling my smart home gear, plus provides a new medium for everything I’ve built in the Shortcuts app.
But one of the nagging problems with HomePod is the way Siri, regardless of the current time of day, will respond loudly at whatever volume you’ve previously set.
Whether it’s the middle of the night or super early in the morning, it’s all too common to ask Siri something and the answer shouted backed at you, only because you listened to music loudly sometime yesterday. Hopefully nobody wakes up, you curse at how dumb your supposedly “smart” speaker can be, and frantically try to turn it down.
Thankfully, iOS 13.2 provides a route to a solution by adding HomePods and AppleTV to scenes and automations – the HomePod didn’t fix this on its own, but, with a Home Automation, you can make it “smart” enough yourself.1
On Monday, Mikah Sargent and I recorded episode 1 of Smart Tech Today in person at the TWiT studio. In the show, we:
- Attempt to create nicknames for the major voice assistants. Be sure to share your ideas for Siri, Alexa, and Google nicknames by emailing stt@twit.tv!
- Discuss all the products Amazon announced at its recent press event. Matthew gets Mikah to change his mind about the smart oven Amazon launched.
- Ponder the future of voice-based operating systems given the fact that every company seems to be announcing earbuds that work with smart assistants.
- Give a brief rundown of their smart home setups.
- Answer questions about automating alarms using Siri Shortcuts and NFC tags.
- Give a shout-out to the one-and-only Gemmy the Twerking Bear.
Here’s Mikah and I after recording – had a blast! We’re off to a great start, but any help sharing the show to new people still goes a long way.
Once we hit 30,000 subscribers, we’ll have a full video feed of each episode too, available on our YouTube channel:
Plus, here’s a set of Siri Shortcuts for subscribing and listening to the show:
- Open Smart Tech Today website
- Subscribe to Smart Tech Today
- Tune in to Smart Tech Today live on Twitch
- AirPlay Smart Tech Today
- Rate Smart Tech Today in Podcasts
We’ll be live every Monday at 4pm PST, with the episode dropping later each evening. Thanks for listening!
Links for the show: