IOT Tech Trends

It’s easy to get spoiled asking Alexa to turn on the lights, play music, tell you the news, and any number of awesome things. But, despite the increasing number of Alexa skills available, you might run into a situation where the perfect skill doesn’t exist or you just want to make something new. Amazon lets you create your own Alexa skills. The easiest and fastest way to create your own Alexa Skills is with Blueprints. This is completely free to do.

Natural disasters displace more than just people. They wreak havoc on native wildlife populations as well. To help determine the full extent of the damage to wildlife, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is using AI and machine learning to analyze impacts. While wildlife specialists can study regions impacted by natural disasters, there aren’t enough people to gather and analyze data over 46 million acres worth of data. This is where AI comes into play.

Utah is taking a major step toward the future by not only investing in digital IDs, but utilizing blockchain technology to do it. It’s an innovative approach that shows United States governments modernizing processes while making security and privacy more of a priority. Utah has become the first state in the United States to sign a bill to create blockchain digital IDs. It’s just a pilot program at the moment, but it’s an impressive first step in merging government and blockchain.

SSH is an awesome protocol for any network. It’s secure, easy, and cheap. Any Raspberry Pi SSH network can be made to include almost any I/O peripheral. In fact, you’d be amazed at how you can control most things wirelessly with an OpenHABian server running SSH. To get you started, I’ll show you everything you need to know about SSH. SSH stands for secure shell. It’s a protocol for communication between computers. SSH always has a server and a client.

If your Google Nest Mini (or Google Home) is stuck on two or four white lights, the speaker will be unable to respond to your voice commands. The problem should resolve on its own in case the bug is temporary but, in many cases, the stagnant LEDs on top wouldn’t budge even after a hard reboot. Learn to fix the Google Nest Mini stuck issue using the following troubleshooting guide.

A smart LED batten light is presently, the most advanced kind of lighting fixture you would need for your living environment. If you need a uniform source of ambient light in your smart home with tunable colors, adjustable brightness, app and voice controls, and a flicker-free experience, smart LED battens are the way to go. Here we will understand what these unique light strips are, and how to connect them to Alexa and Google Home.

Wireless smoke detectors are the latest kind of smoke detectors and alarms which don’t require any electrical installation or maintenance as they can fully operate on wireless networks alone and can be controlled by mobile apps and smart speakers. With these smoke alarms, you receive instant notifications on your mobile apps and smart speakers such as Alexa. This means you don’t even have to be at your home in the event of an accidental smoke hazard.

Many of us have experienced their presence near hands-free sinks at bathrooms and near the automatic sliding doors of storefronts, malls and restaurants. You may have turned one on as a dimmable light switch to detect occupancy inside a room, shop, or commercial building. We have a guide on how to make one with Raspberry Pi to design your own home security system.

If you recently purchased a Philips, Levoit, Mi, Winix, Dyson, or any other modern air purifier, there is a good chance it can be connected to your phones and tablets. Here’s a basic guide that shows you how to do it for Amazon Alexa and Google Home apps on iOS and Android devices. Once you successfully pair the apps, you can further control the air purifier using your own voice on Echo, Google Home and Nest range of speakers.

The demand for smart homes has significantly increased in the last decade. Today’s smart home technologies are becoming more and more ubiquitous and affordable. Whether you’re a homeowner, renter, or property manager, there is something in it for everyone. From avoiding hazardous situations with smoke and fire alarms, to improving one’s comfort using AI-based smart shelves and smart thermostats, these connected devices touch multiple aspects of our busy lifestyles.