Home: On - a DIY home automation podcast from The Digital Media Zone

Amazon makes an infuriating money grab for Ring app features you’ve been using for years, Sonos is expected to use a product launch as an opportunity to raise prices again, and Leviton will be rolling matter support out to 2nd generation Decora Smart products with a firmware update. Finally, several quarters in now, what’s Insteon Technologies up to? Co-founder Richard Sudek joins us to share the latest on Insteon products and services, talk about some new products, and give us a glimpse at what’s in their sights for the future. Cue Richard Gunther’s standard Insteon disclaimer. The post Home: On #155 – Restarting Insteon with Richard Sudek from Insteon Technologies appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Richard once again joins other hosts from the Technology.FM podcasts to share in their annual tradition of the fireside chat. What caught their attention this year, what do they think will be big next year, and how did they fare with last year’s predictions? As always, this special DMZ mix offers fewer ums, fewer digital assistant triggers, and–perhaps most importantly–blocks Mike’s valiant attempt to trick your Echo into sending something very expensive to your home. The post Home: On #154 – Fireside 2022 appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Chamberlain kills its overpriced, unreliable HomeKit Home Bridge, Tado has a money-saving program that might use more energy, Lutron adds to its Caséta lineup, and everyone’s getting into Matter. HomeKit developer Matt Corey talks about some of the ways he’s using HomeKit, Shortcuts, and the Mac to help HomeKit users do more with smart lighting. The post Home: On #153 – Sending Signals with Matt Corey appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

You’re moving into a new home, and you want to do things right from the start. Where do you begin? This is the situation Richard’s friend Kent Fellure finds himself in, and we’re delighted to talk with him about some options for security, lighting, HVAC, and more. And of course, Kent joins in some banter about this month’s smart home news from Wemo, Twinkly, and LIFX. The post Home: On #152 – Starting Fresh with Kent Fellure appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

What do you do when you hit a wall on your smart home projects? You can’t do something, don’t know something, or just don’t have the time. Robert Spivak of DoItForMe Solutions is here to help! That plus, of course, we discuss the latest news and updates from Philips Hue, Insteon, and Wink. Yep, Wink. They’re down. Again. Is it for good? They say No. The post Home: On #151 – Some Help with Robert Spivack from DoItForMe Solutions appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

IKEA has a new smart home hub in the wings with yet another name we’ll all be trying to pronounce, Amazon ditches its old Cloud Cam but makes good on customers’ investments, and Insteon is back and under new management. Greg Rhoades from Leviton joins Richard on this episode to discuss all this plus his company’s recent push into the smart home with its latest generation of Decora Smart products. The post Home: On #150 – Decora Smart with Greg Rhoades from Leviton appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

With Insteon gone, companies are stepping up to fill in the gaps for thousands of smart home customers. Rohan Karamandi, co-host of the Home Assistant Podcast joins us to discuss all of this. And we dive into why Home Assistant might just be the perfect solution for DIYers looking to give new life to their Insteon products. The post Home: On #149 – A New Hope with Rohan Karamandi appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Seth Johnson is here to help make sense of some of the latest smart home news. While it’s a slow product season, two brands, iHome and Insteon, have gone dark with little to no notice! Meanwhile, IKEA’s new cellular shades have arrived in stores, and Seth and Richard try their hand at pronouncing those product names before talking about their latest respective smart home projects. The post Home: On #148 – A Disgraceful Exit with Seth Johnson appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

After a year’s hiatus, we are back to catch up on some of the recent news: A new smart switch from ORRO, more delays in the Matter standard, and a retail pioneer says goodbye. And Erik Glassen joins us to discuss what Kwikset’s been up to in the smart lock space, including a new biometric lock that lets you open your front door with your fingerprint. The post Home: On #147 – Simpler Security with Erik Glassen from Kwikset appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

RESET podcast’s Dave McCabe helps us reset our own show as we prepare for a new year of smart home products and services. We discuss new Ring and Philips Hue products plus a new feature from Ring and Amazon that may just freak you out a bit...but it’s pretty cool. The post Home: On #146 – Let’s Reset with Dave McCabe appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

It’s time for the Technology.FM year-end fireside chat, featuring HomeTech hosts Seth Johnson and Jason Griffing plus Richard's Smart Home Show co-host Adam Justice. The post Home: On #145 – Fireside 2020 appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

There’s still time left to get a smart gift for the favorite geek in your life. Of course, nowadays smart home products are showing up everywhere—in bedrooms, family rooms, and kitchens—and becoming a part of more people’s daily lives. Author and blogger Marlon Buchanan joins us to share some recommendations for the best smart home gifts to give this season. The post Home: On #144 – Smart Gifting with Marlon Buchanan appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Wyze introduces even more new products at record low prices, Cree returns to the smart bulb market, and Amazon is ready to leave packages inside your garage. We discuss all this and more, plus we dive into some innovative Z-Wave products with Inovelli’s Nathan Harte. The post Home: On #143 – The Red Switch with Nathan Harte from Inovelli appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Apple’s Adaptive Lighting is finally starting to come to products in the U.S, Wyze’s new $20 camera works indoors and out, and Moen’s Mason Hall provides some context around how the U by Moen faucet fits into Moen's broader smart water strategy. The post Home: On #142 – Smart Water with Mason Hall from Moen appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Google discontinues Nest Secure while introducing new Nest products that feel a whole lot more Google than Nest. Plus product announcements from Feit, Yale, GE Lighting, and more...all with insights and perspective from The Verge’s Dan Seifert. The post Home: On #141 – Thread’s Back! with Dan Seifert from The Verge appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Consumer Reports’ Dan Wroclawski joins us to run through the latest new products from Amazon, Ring, Wyze, and more! And if you’re interested in CR’s smart home product picks, Dan has you covered. Find out what they think are some of the best security cameras, doorbells, smart speakers, and more...even irrigation systems. The post Home: On #140 – Product Recommendations with Dan Wroclawski of Consumer Reports appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Level one-ups Kevo, Signify announces another expensive Philips Hue entertainment product, and Wink lets customers down...again. But the real news is IFTTT’s new Pro offering, and Linden Tibbets is here to tell us all about that and to advise Richard on how to properly pronounce IFTTT after all these years. The post Home: On #139 – Going Pro with Linden Tibbets of IFTTT appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

ConnectSense CEO Adam Justice joins us to run through some recent industry news stories, and Adam and Richard both have some updates on what’s been happening in their respective smart homes—even since just discussing their own projects in-depth on The Smart Home Show. The post Home: On #138 – The Latest Projects with Adam Justice appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Chris Young, a.k.a. Homekitgeek, joins me to catch up on some smart home news from the past few weeks. We ponder the rash of products and services going away and Wink’s now-started subscription service, among other things. But the real meat of the conversation focuses around Apple’s and Google’s latest smart home announcements at their respective...and very different…virtual events. The post Home: On #137 – The Summer Keynotes with Chris Young from Homekitgeek appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Sonos and Lutron deliver new hardware, Ecobee forces customers to enable its new Eco+ feature, and lots of companies deliver the products they showed at CES. Plus we talk with ConnectedYard founder Justin Miller about pHin, a connected pool monitoring system. The post Home: On #136 – A Smarter Pool with Justin Miller from ConnectedYard appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

We have a terrific lineup of guests for this long-overdue episode, and we're talking with each of them about projects they've been taking on while hunkering down this Spring for COVID: Adam Miarka, Jimmy Hawkins, Dave McCabe, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy and Josh Pollard. The post Home: On #135 – Familiar Voices appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Device manufacturers roll out updates enabling HomeKit Secure Video and HomeKit router support, Level is shipping its stealthy smart lock, and Insteon’s long-awaited app update is now in public beta. We’re joined on this episode by Samsung SmartThings product manager, Blake Arnold, discussing some of the latest platform updates and the company’s renewed push to move customers to the new SmartThings experience. The post Home: On #134 – A Seamless Experience with Blake Arnold from Samsung SmartThings appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Some products we saw at CES are starting to hit the market while both Nest and Ring announce they'll be requiring customers to use two-factor authentication. And Olibra's founder and CEO, Zohar Shinar, joins us to discuss his company's ingenious product, designed to solve a common problem in millions of households. The post Home: On #133 – The RF Solution with Zohar Shinar from Olibra appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

With CES in the rear-view mirror, Josh Pollard joins us to review the smart home products we took most interest in at CES 2020, including some vendor interviews and our favorite picks. The post Home: On #132 – CES Wrap-up, with Josh Pollard appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

CNET’s Molly Price joins the show to review the latest news and updates and to take a look back and ahead at CES. What was hot last year, which companies met the expectations they created, and which ones didn’t? And they look ahead, of course, at this year’s CES happening this very week in Las Vegas. The post Home: On #131 – CES Realities with Molly Price from CNET appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

With the weather getting colder and the holidays right upon us, the Technology.FM hosts get together once again for their annual fireside chat. Now joined by Adam Justice, they discuss some of this year’s biggest smart home stories and consider what they’re each most looking forward to in 2020. So grab a warm cup of cocoa, sit down with them, and enjoy this digital-assistant safe edition of Technology.FM's fifth annual fireside chat. The post Home: On #130 – Fireside '19 appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Wyze disrupts another product segment with the announcement of its new $90 smart lock, ConnectSense introduces some new products, and Abode Systems’ Scott Beck joins us to talk about their products and recent announcement that their security system is now HomeKit compatible. Does that mean we could eventually see Z-Wave devices on HomeKit? The post Home: On #129 – Your Abode, with Scott Beck appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Samsung doubles down on SmartThings, Home Depot confuses customers with new Philips connected bulbs, and the August View is back. Plus: Agnes Lorenz from The Smartest House joins us to dive into Z-Wave and examine the Zooz line of custom Z-Wave products that address specific consumer needs. The post Home: On #128 – The Smartest Products, with Agnes Lorenz appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

The Wink hub seems to be one step closer to death, Google announces a bunch of new Nest products, and Signify acquires Eaton Lighting. Plus Anova Culinary’s Steve Svajian joins us to discuss the latest Smart Kitchen Summit and bring us up to speed on Anova’s latest products and announcements. The post Home: On #127 – Precision Cooking, with Steve Svajian appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

We have highlights from CEDIA, a ton of new products and services from Amazon, useful updates from Yonomi, and our special guest co-host, Joel Sellinger, co-founder of LifeDoor. Joel talks about how LifeDoor solves a problem that can literally make the difference between life and death. The post Home: On #126 – Saving Lives, with Joel Sellinger appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Your devices and services may or may not still work with Nest now, Johnson Controls pulls Cortana from its Cortana-based thermostat, and a recent hub update brings us one step closer to the new Insteon app. Plus: Sense co-founder and CEO Mike Phillips talks about how insight into how we use electricity in our homes can help us save energy and money, and their aftermarket electrical panel add-on enables that! The post Home: On #125 – Saving Energy, with Mike Phillips appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Lee Odess, VP from Allegion, the makers of Schlage locks, joins the us to discuss the latest smart home news, and there are plenty of updates to cover. Then Lee walks us through Schlage’s long legacy of smart home technology and products, helping us understand how they approach this evolving market. The post Home: On #124 – Smart Locks, with Lee Odess appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

In addition to the latest news from Wyze, Nest, and more, we’re trying something different this time. AD Pro Editor Katy Olson joins us to discuss kitchen design trends and how technology might impact choices and decisions when redesigning your kitchen. The post Home: On #123 – Kitchen Design, with Katy Olson appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Insteon reveals what they’ve been working on for the past year or so, new SmartThings and Philips Hue devices will work without a hub, and Wink reminds us it’s still alive by announcing new product support. DMZ guest contributor Jimmy Hawkins joins us to run through this news and more, plus he shares some learnings through his journey adopting smart home technology. The post Home: On #122 – Home Projects, with Jimmy Hawkins appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Apple introduces some improvements to HomeKit at this year’s developer conference; Lutron announces a brilliant, new retrofit lighting controller; and Eaton Lighting’s Bryant Bilal joins us to talk about their residential smart lighting line, Halo Home. The post Home: On #121 – Halo Home, with Bryant Bilal appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Google backpedals after abruptly announcing the shutdown of its Works with Nest program, Ring Smart Lighting products arrive, and the Google Assistant finally lands on Sonos devices. Orro founder and CEO Colin Billings joins us to discuss all this news plus his thoughts on how Orro plans to fill some gaps in the consumer smart lighting space. The post Home: On #120 – The Reimagined Switch, with Colin Billings appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

There’s good news and there’s bad news. Several new devices are offering HomeKit support while Stringify users scramble for alternative automation solutions. Journalist Jennifer Pattison Tuohy joins us to catch up on what is arguably a mixed bag of smart home updates. The post Home: On #119 – Mixed News, with Jennifer Pattison Tuohy appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

We’re sharing a panel Richard moderated at the last Smart Kitchen Summit about commerce in the kitchen. How do you sell stuff to consumers in their own homes without it feeling annoying? And we have a winner for our ultimate smart home kit! The post Home: On #118 – Kitchen Commerce appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Lowe’s Iris is shutting down in just a few days. How is Lowe’s handling the ramp-down process, and where do you go now? Long time friend of the DMZ and Iris user Tony Raynor joins us to discuss what he learned from his experience and share his thought process in moving to a new platform…or two. The post Home: On #117 – Lowe’s Redemption, with Tony Raynor appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

It’s been a while since we’ve checked in on smart home news, so we have some catching up to do. Richard covers a few news stories and updates, and Jianhui He from LEDVANCE joins the show to talk about some recent updates to the SMART+ product line. The post Home: On #116 – Lighting Updates, with Jianhui He appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

When we were at CES, we saw lots of cool, new products. This year was again more evolutionary than revolutionary, but that doesn’t mean it wasn't interesting! The post Home: On #115 – CES 2019 appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

It’s a new year, and we’re ready for CES…so what’s that all mean? It’s time to get together again with our friends from CNET. Andrew Gebhart joins us this time to review last year’s show and speculate about what this year will bring. Plus, we have some old news to catch up on. And robots! Andrew loves him some robots. The post Home: On #114 – Seeking Robots, with Andrew Gebhart appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

This is the DMZ's obsessively edited cut of the annual Technology.FM fireside chat, moderated by Seth Johnson, with Jason Griffing, Mike Wolf, Rose Thibodeaux, and Richard Gunther. The post Home: On #113 – Fireside ’18 appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Richard looks back at last month’s Smart Kitchen Summit, TiVo starts rolling out some smart home features to customers, and Josh Pollard joins us to share his thoughts on some of Google’s new Home product, and he updates us on what’s going on these days in his smart home. The post Home: On #112 – Google’s Home, with Josh Pollard appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

We're excited to be joined again by Ring founder Jamie Siminoff. He helps us unpack all of last month’s product news from Amazon and gives us some insight into Ring’s recent growth and success. We also dive into some of Ring’s latest products and offerings while revisiting our shared quest for more T’s. The post Home: On #111 – Helping Neighbors, with Jamie Siminoff appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Cortana and Alexa trade spaces, IKEA expands its smart home offerings, and Marc Alexander, the CTO and co-founder of LIFX joins us for a great conversation about their company and product offerings. The post Home: On #110 – Creative Lighting, with Marc Alexander appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.