Mercedes Gets SmartThings
SmartThings is teaming up with Mercedes-Benz to integrate its Mercedes-Benz User Experience Voice Assistant with SmartThings devices, enabling drivers to control their smart home devices…by voice…when driving. Forgot to turn off those lights when you left home? Ask Mercedes to do it. This is the first example of a native in-car voice assistant system integrated with a smart home platform (rather than the voice assistant) and will first be available with 2021 Mercedes S-Class.
The NPD Take:
- Car-to-home/home-to-car smart integration is a logical step as the smart home continues to expand beyond our living rooms to our kitchens, and beyond the walls of our homes. Of course, many smart home consumers presumably already have routines set up to enable their lights to automatically turn on/off or their thermostat to adjust temperatures when no one is home…but it doesn’t hurt to have Mercedes as a backup.
June is Heating Up
June’s third generation smart oven is now available for pre-order – perfect timing for those who aren’t partaking of restaurants and have some extra cash (it goes for $599, for the base model). The biggest change in functionality for June is the ability to control each of its six heating elements individually. For smarts, the AI camera system is capable of recognizing where the food is placed for optimal cooking and can identify hundreds of food types. The app allows for remote preheating and time/temperature adjustments, as well as live video to see what’s cooking from afar.
The NPD Take:
- High price tag aside, now is the perfect time for cooking aficionados (or maybe it is better suited for cooking novices) to experiment with smart ovens. This is a definite step up (in functionality and price) from those ever so popular Instant Pots and air fryers.
Flume Wading into New Waters
Smart water monitoring company Flume has announced its second generation Flume 2 Smart Home Water Monitor. Once affixed to the water meter, the app enables users to view and monitor indoor and outdoor water usage from all plumbing and fixtures and provides alerts when it detects potential leaks depending on water behavior. For the environmentally conscious consumer, the app can also help budget water usage.
The NPD Take:
- If the company’s claims that more than 70% of all Flume users have found a leak since installing the device, the $199 monitor could soon pay for itself – certainly so if that leak ultimately results in a flood and home damage.