Dec 22, 2024 | Updated: 11:35 AM EDT
Sep 03, 2015 11:57 PM EDT
Technology is all about making humans’ lives easier, and Samsung is gearing to cash in on that.
Aside from being the primary Android mobile maker, Samsung has tried its hand at creating everything a home needs to run smoothly. It may not always excel at all of those appliances, but a home or office could certainly run on Samsung as a brand, all on its own.
So it is only logical that Samsung would also work on the hub that can control all these things.
Samsung isn’t alone in the drive to create a home network that users can control from their smartphones or other mobile devices. The “Internet of Things” started as a movement that went into a large-scale planning across tech companies in 2014. The community of tech companies envisions that there would be around 26 billion devices powered by the Internet of Things by the year 2020.
The first Internet-connected thing was a Coke dispenser at the Carnegie Mellon University in the year 1982. It reported data such as its inventory, and whether the drinks on the machine are cold or not. The Internet of Things started picking up in terms of companies creating machines to join the “revolution” in 1999. However, initial forays were already being done as early as 1993.
Today, it’s a race for whoever can secure relevance. Apple already announced that they have a smart home platform in the works in June 2015, while Google purchased Nest Labs. Nest Labs was originally founded by former Apple engineers Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers, in 2010.
Samsung may be a late entrant into the smart home game, relatively, but it is the first company, however, with a more concrete plan in how to tie things up and give their potential users a life of ease via their smart home platform.
Samsung unveiled its SmartThings platform at the 2015 IFA convention in Berlin, showing a system that not only allows a homeowner to monitor their home when away, it also adds security to the homeowners.
SmartThings founder and CEO Alex Hawkinson presented how the system anticipates motion, so just as a resident of a SmartThings-powered home moves, the cameras connected to a SmartThings system would already be able to detect the motion and record it. The function would be useful to document, anticipate, and ultimately ward off break-ins and other security incidents that may threaten the safety of the home.
More than that, the function may also prove useful for parents who monitor their children in the interest of their safety.
Other concerns around the home are also monitored by the SmartThings hub. Gas and water leaks, smoke from things overcooking in the kitchen, as well as electrical malfunctions and other incidents can be monitored by the system. SmartThings is not just about being able to turn a home’s appliances on and off from a distance, it’s all about overall safety and protection.
The system may prove perfect for homeowners who are traveling. More than that, it may also be the perfect solution for harried individuals who would like their microwave to start their dinner just as they hop onto the train home. While that would require that the frozen dinner just sits there the whole day long, surely, the SmartThings homeowner could figure it out.
The world is entering the decade that The Jetsons showed on their episodes for years. It’s both an exciting and intimidating time, but it’s also an increasingly convenient time.
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“IFA” is defined as “Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin,” which translates to “International radio exhibition Berlin,” or “Berlin Radio Show.”
“The Jetsons” was a cartoon show created by Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. It aired from September 23, 1962, to March 17, 1963, then was later aired in syndication, with new episodes in 1985 to 1987. It was the futuristic, space-age counterpart of the hit cartoon show “Flintstones,” also from the same animation production company.
