When you leave home and arm your security system, shouldn’t your robot vacuum know, without being told, that it’s time to get to work? Amazon thinks so. That’s one of… Read More
Sue Bird is plenty busy these days, trying to guide the Seattle Storm to their fifth WNBA championship and getting set to chase her fifth Olympic gold medal as a… Read More
New product: The spotlight is once again shining on Seattle-based smart home products maker Wyze Labs, which announced Tuesday that it’s taking preorders for a new Wyze Floor Lamp. Priced… Read More
Amazon is bringing new voice control capabilities to Microsoft’s gaming consoles with the surprise release of a new “Alexa for Xbox” app. The announcement goes far beyond the Alexa skill… Read More
A week after launching a smart vacuum to clean up around the house, Seattle-based Wyze Labs is unveiling another new product, to help keep the grass green outside. The Wyze… Read More
Wyze Labs’ vision of a smarter home, full of its cameras and other products, is also going to be a cleaner place. The Seattle-based company announced a new Wyze Robot… Read More
Amazon is launching a new service for property managers called “Alexa for Residential” that makes it easier to deploy and manage voice-enabled devices and experiences in apartment buildings. Residents don’t… Read More
Six years after the launch of the original Ring video doorbell, the Amazon-owned company announced the next generation of its signature product on Wednesday. The updated version of the home-security… Read More
“Porch pirates” take pause. A smart appliance designed to guard against the theft of packages is making its U.S. debut in Seattle in the hope that disappearing deliveries can be… Read More
Shyam Gollakota has come a long way since his first day as a university undergraduate. “I didn’t know how to program. In fact, I didn’t even know how to type,”… Read More
IOTAS, a Portland, Ore.-based startup that helps landlords install and manage smart home devices, has raised $8.5 million. The Series A investment round was led by TELUS Ventures along with… Read More
Wyze, the Kirkland, Wash.-based maker of a popular low-cost smart home camera, is expanding its product line with a new connected wall plug. The smart plug, which sell for $15… Read More
Seattle startup Deako raised $3.5 million to kick production of its “plug and play” smart light switches into high gear. Founded in 2015, Deako sells a modular light switch that… Read More
Smart home devices are everywhere, but getting them to work together smoothly remains a headache to even the most tech-savvy of homeowners. That’s a problem that Salt Lake City-based Control4,… Read More
Apple has cancelled the long-awaited AirPower wireless charging mat. For our newest Geared Up podcast, I go over what went wrong and why it was an uphill battle from the… Read More
Buddy, a Seattle-based company that manages building energy, today announced its intention to acquire LIFX, a smart light maker based in Silicon Valley. Buddy will pay $51 million in cash… Read More
Instead of using our fingers to push the buttons on a microwave keypad over the past couple months, we here at GeekWire have relied on a voice-enabled unit featuring Amazon’s… Read More
LAS VEGAS — From a laundry-folding robot to Alexa-enabled mirrors, smart home technology is all the rage at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Among this year’s recipients of the… Read More
With $15 million in funding and a “laser focus” on customers, Deako is ready for serious growth in the smart lighting market. “We’re just rapidly scaling the business now,” said CEO Derek… Read More
In a small apartment just a couple blocks from the waterfront in downtown Seattle, windows looking south over the Alaskan Way Viaduct usually afford a view of Mount Rainier. Clouds… Read More
“New plug named First plug found. To control it, say ‘Alexa, turn on First plug.’ “ My jaw dropped when I saw that notification pop up on my iPhone lock… Read More
Amazon’s march into the smart home continued this week with an investment in Plant Prefab, a Rialto, Calif.-based startup that builds prefabricated single and multi-family homes. Amazon invested in Plant Prefab as… Read More
I have three Amazon Echo Dot devices in my home, which is kind of an ironic admission to make at the start of a rant about new devices from the… Read More
It’d be one thing to not recognize Batman, since the famed superhero has been played by so many different actors. But what if your smart doorbell didn’t recognize you, and… Read More
You might not need another smart speaker in your house, but a smart-aleck commercial about not-so-smart speakers is worth your time. The folks at Sonos are touting the new Sonos… Read More
Ring, the smart-home security company that was acquired by Amazon a month ago, is harnessing the power of its users to fight crime with the launch of a new Neighbors… Read More
Samsung’s newest smartphone, the Galaxy S9, is set to launch this Friday, but Geared Up podcast co-host Andru Edwards already has his hands on the new phone. We go into… Read More
Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary, aka “Mr. Wonderful,” was blown away when he saw Amazon’s agreement to acquire video doorbell maker Ring for a reported price of more than $1 billion.… Read More
Amazon’s acquisition of smart doorbell Ring marks a sea change for the smart home market. Amazon has been upping its smart home game in recent years and positioning its Echo… Read More
Amazon has reached an agreement to acquire Ring, the Santa Monica, Calif.-based maker of video cameras, doorbells and other smart home technologies, GeekWire has learned. The companies are expected to… Read More