Bosch wants to run the power for all of your connected kitchen appliances

Until today, we thought that Bosch's HomeConnect system would only let you turn your washing machine on if you had Bosch (or Siemens)-branded hardware. Turns out, however, that the company wants to be the middleman for all of your internet-connected appliances. At an event in Turkey, a spokesperson revealed that HomeConnect will become a platform that'll let you control all of your kitchen gadgets, no matter which company makes them. That way, instead of having a smartphone chock-full of apps, each one dedicated to a separate appliance, it could all be run from HomeConnect.

On the downside, such controls would be limited to turning the units on and off, as well as alerts if something goes wrong. Then there's the fact that we don't know what other manufacturers would want to contribute, rather than locking users into their own, proprietary, systems. Still, Bosch's market research has found that, unlike in the smartphone business, people often buy appliances from a wide variety of manufacturers, so a unified control system makes a lot of sense. According to Bosch, the HomeConnect platform will launch in Germany on iOS in September, coming to Android at some point in 2015. All we need now, of course, is a robot that'll go through our laundry and hang it up when it's done.

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Via: Pocket-lint

Source: BSH

Tags: Bosch, HomeConnect, IFA 2014, Internet of Things, Siemens Next: The Engadget Podcast is live at 12PM ET! .fyre .fyre-comment-divider

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Samsung's Smart Home service ready to control new wave of TVs and appliances

Samsung has just taken a big step in its home automation plans by launching its Smart Home service in the US and Korea. That means you can now download an Android app that, in conjunction with Samsung's cloud service, will give you control over certain (crazy expensive) Samsung smart appliances. In the US, those include Samsung's T9000 Smart French Door refrigerator, the WF457 smart front loading washing machine, all 2014 Smart TVs and, later in the year, the Smart Bulb, Gear Fit and Smart Ovens. On top of an app for any Android 4.0 or later device, a Tizen app will soon arrive to Samsung's Galaxy Gear 2 smartwatch, as well. Once all that's installed and connected, you'll be able to fully control a wash cycle, check the temperature of the fridge or even say "good night" to the TV remote to shut down all connected devices. Samsung has promised that all of this is encrypted and secure, so let's hope that's the case -- all this is just the beginning of its "grand plan" to enhance your home.
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Source: Samsung
Tags: appliances, samsung, SmartFridge, SmartHome, SmartOven, SmartTV Next: Intel aims at China with its speedy LTE Cat 6 solution, shipping in Q2 this year .fyre .fyre-comment-divider

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