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When it's working, I like PEQ's smart home platform, which starts at $120 for a starter kit. The interface is absurdly easy to use and it covers all the basics pretty well, giving you a way to automate various aspects of your house in a variety of simple ways. For example, you can set up a simple rule so that any lights connected to your PEQ hub turn on whenever you open a door. You can also just have the lights flip on and off at predetermined times. Or, you can pull out your smartphone or tablet and flick various lights, plugged-in devices and other appliances on and off at will. Where PEQ falls short is that it costs a fairly steep $10 per month to use. And once you factor in that aspect, in addition to the pretty high cost of PEQ's bundles and piecemeal add-ons, I'm less enthused about this smart home platform. Read more: http://www.tomsguide.com/us/peq-smart-home,review-2958.html

What is a smart or better said, a connected city? By 2020, more than 50 billion smart sensors devices, connected objects or embedded sensors will be connected to the internet as part of a gigantic IoT (Internet of Things) network; the fabric of a connected city. An enthralling potent network, constantly generating large data sets, defining a new world where just about anything is virtually connected, communicating and exchanging data in real time. Data? What data? Your data, my data, the entire city’s real time data. As sensors spread across almost every industry, the internet of things is going to trigger a massive influx of big data. The IoT will massively increase the amount of data available for analysis by all manner of organisations. Read more: https://wtvox.com/2015/07/what-is-a-connected-city-iot-big-data-and-why-you-should-care/

If it seems odd for a car company to get involved in home automation, it’s because Honda is actually looking at the bigger picture. Honda and UC Davis researchers are looking at how devices work together, and how they can influence climate change, according to Smithsonian Magazine. The dishwasher is from Bosch and KitchenAid made the refrigerator, but the energy management system is Honda’s. The company also wanted someone in the family to drive about 30 miles per day, testing its electric Fit and accompanying charging equipment. Read more: http://www.digitaltrends.com/home/honda-smart-home-inside/

Domestic appliance manufacturers and technology companies have big plans for our homes. From remote controlled heating devices such as Nest and Hive to intelligent fridges, smart TVs and connected washing machines, our appliances will become smart, automating many of our everyday tasks. But true to the notion of the internet of everything in which both things and processes are connected, smart devices won’t just eliminate everyday tasks such as supermarket orders, they will also establish new business relationships. Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2015/aug/03/smart-home-data-underclass-internet-of-things

Smart homes are the wave of the future. Many fans of home automation are enamored of the technology behind these systems, which allow us to program our vast array of electronic household devices and operate them from afar. However, beyond the fascination of technology for its own sake, smart home systems can be harnessed for a vital purpose -- helping Americans age in place. The AARP reports that 90 percent of seniors would prefer to stay in their home as long as they possibly can. Couple this with the fact that the number of Americans over the age of 65 is expected to nearly double by the year 2030, and you’ve got a potentially huge population segment that can benefit from home automation. Read more: http://walpole.wickedlocal.com/article/20150730/NEWS/150739664

My own quest to create a smart home started in the mid ’90s, back when I was single and living in a studio apartment. Now, after 20 years of wrestling with various systems—from X10 to the recently released Apple HomeKit-certified products—I’ve come to a stark realization: Until all the kinks are worked out and the set up is simplified, the best way to create a home of the future is to use products from the past—those tried and true devices that just work, whether or not they have a steady Wi-Fi connection. Below, five tricks that any house can learn, without your having to configure complicated gizmos. Read more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-set-up-a-just-smart-enough-smart-home-1438385443

Connecting a computer to a television has long been a dream of PC gamers. In theory, it provides the best gaming experience possible, combing the big-screen beauty of an HDTV with the graphical firepower of a fully armed and operational desktop computer. Consoles can’t hope to keep up. Yet a number of problems can block what seems an easy route to gaming nirvana. Desktops don’t easily fit in a home theater, and those small enough to squeeze in often do so by limiting the performance options. Plus, controlling a computer on a couch can be a pain, and the price of a powerful PC makes even the latest consoles look cheap. Read more: http://www.digitaltrends.com/desktop-computer-reviews/origin-omega-review/