Smart Homes

I assumed I hadn't heard of them because they were things that didn't need to be made smart, except so the company making them could charge more and I was mostly right (bed? Tap/faucet?). Mostly:

Kohler Numi 2.0 smart toilet

A smart toilet might seem like a strange idea at first, but for smart home enthusiasts with especially deep pockets, it might just be worth splashing out on. After all, it's already known as the throne, so why not make it feel like one? The Kohler Numi 2.0 offers hands-free lid opening and closing, a heated seat with the exact temperature customizable through the app (yes, there's an app for this toilet), and even ambient lighting to make the whole experience feel a little more dramatic.

Bizarrely, it also comes with a built-in audio system, so you can listen to your favorite playlist straight from your toilet. Other features include smart water-saving tech and cleaning jets with warm water to ensure optimal hygiene when you've finished your business. For all that tech, there's an eye-wateringly steep price to pay: the Numi 2.0 retails for $11,500, although at the time of writing, it's on sale on Amazon for a slightly discounted price of $8,625.

😱

cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/stallmanwasright@lemmy.ml/t/487981

Today’s story is about Philips Hue by Signify. They will soon start forcing accounts on all users and upload user data to their cloud. For now, Signify says you’ll still be able to control your Hue lights locally as you’re currently used to, but we don’t know if this may change in the future. The privacy policy allows them to store the data and share it with partners.

(more in the article)

Amazon has announced that it’s shutting down Alexa Guard — a DIY security feature for Echo devices that listens for intruders or household alarms when you’re away from home. The free version of Alexa Guard that listens for household disturbances was included as a standard feature on Amazon Echo devices.

In a recent email to customers, Amazon said that some of Guard’s features like smoke and CO alarm detection will instead be moved to its new Emergency Assist service, which is available for $5.99 per month or $59 per year.

Guard features like Home and Away modes (to arm and disarm your Ring Alarm) and Away Lighting (which switches on your lights to make it look like you’re at home) will still be available for free as part of the standard Alexa experience. Other features like glass break sound detection will require an Emergency Assist subscription “starting soon.”

According to Amazon, Ring Protect Pro customers who linked their Ring and Alexa accounts as of September 20th, 2023, will receive Alexa Emergency Assist for free until October 31st, 2024.

And to really turn the screws on Alexa Guard users, the Emergency Assist signup page also notes the $5.99 subscription for Emergency Assist is an introductory price that will expire on January 8th, 2024. After this, the $5.99 subscription will only be available for people who subscribe to Amazon Prime (which starts at $14.99 per month). In a statement to The Verge, Amazon spokesperson Deanna Kugler said that pricing for non-Prime subscribers will be confirmed “later this year.”

And this hot on the heels of them announcing a subscription to use their Look as a picture frame.

Amazon is finally turning its Echo Show into a proper digital photo frame, but you have to pay extra for the privilege. Announced at its fall hardware event this week, the new Echo Show 8 Photos Edition costs $10 more than the standard edition of the new smart display but lets you make your photos the “primary home screen content.”

The Show 8 Photos Edition is coming this Fall for $159.99 and has all the same features as the new Echo Show 8 (third-gen). But for the extra $10, you get a six-month subscription to Amazon’s new PhotosPlus service, which enables this new “enhanced photo mode.”