The rebranded Sony Entertainment Network (previously Qriocity) is to offer MUZU.TV music videos to Sony customers via selected range of Bravia HDTVs, Blu-ray players and home theatre systems. With more than eighty thousand music videos in the MUZU.TV library plus those from Sony means viewers will have an endless choice of artist and genre to choose from.
Like Verizon and Rogers Cable, Swisscom is planning to offer a home automation and monitoring service to its Swiss customers. They have teamed up with iControl Networks, the provider of the OpenHome platform to develop the “Smart Living” solution for the Swiss and European markets. Both companies said through the Smart Living platform customers will be to stay connected with their home when away and be able to control home electrical appliances.
With the growing popularity of home cloud solutions such as Apple’s iCloud and and Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet. ZyXEL said they are entering the home cloud solution market with a new solution that does not require a third-party cloud service. They will leverage Polkast’s cloud solution on their platform to allow users to access personal data on any device that has an Internet connection.
Just two weeks after Vodafone and Alcatel-Lucent said they are looking for more areas to test their Femtocell solutions, O2 today said today they are switching on their 4G (or LTE – Long Term Evolution) network in London. The Telefónica subsidiary is the first to offer 4G wireless to the capital and is expecting over 1000 individuals to take part in the trial. This includes businesses, social bodies plus demonstrations will be offered at O2 stores.
Control4 has release an upgraded version of its home automation operating system software, OS2. The company said OS2.1 comes with a host of new features that allow for easier and faster installs. One of the core enhancements is an advanced diagnostic tool “Detective Suite”, which is an installer’s tool set. Home users can expect better performance, stability and the option to have customised user interface for each room in the house.
Silver Spring Networks, a leading smart grid networking platform and solutions provider, has been selected by Maui Electric Company (MECO) and the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute at the University of Hawaii (HNEI) to deploy a strategic and innovative smart grid project on the island of Maui. The project will test the effectiveness of smart grid technologies in helping MECO and its customers reach and exceed the State of Hawaii’s goal of meeting 70% of its energy needs with clean energy by 2030.
The entire energy sector eyes are on Hawaii’s second largest island of Maui. The island's electricity provider Maui Electric Company (MECO) and the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute at the University of Hawaii (HNEI) said they want to reduce their dependency on imported Diesel Oil. Currently 15 percent of the island’s electricity is generated by renewable energy and they have set themselves an ambitious target of increasing this number to 70 percent by the year 2030. Therefore, Maui Island has become a test bed for the latest in smart grid technologies under a Japanese-businesses and US joint partnership.
Officials are celebrating the groundbreaking of a two-megawatt solar array in Los Alamos that will be part of a smart grid collaboration between researchers in New Mexico and Japan.
Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization is teaming up with Los Alamos County and Los Alamos National Laboratory for the project at the county's capped landfill.
The Japanese group is also working on a related project in Albuquerque.
Netia a multi-screen television service provider based in Poland has chosen to build its hybrid IPTV solutions on Netgem. Netia started as a fixed line broadband provider expanded added voice and now they are adding Netgem services to offer the complete triple play experience. Part of the agreement, is Netgem will provide Netia with its middleware and hybrid DTT/Internet Set-top boxes.
The Digital Home refers to a residence where different devices are connected through a computer network – it is considered a network of consumer electronics, mobile and computer devices that cooperate transparently to simplify usability in the home. The Digital Home facilitates the automatic or semi-automatic control of lighting, doors and windows, and security, surveillance systems and control of home entertainment systems. In this article we will discuss the minimum requirements for a digital home and propose how a digital home should be configured for successful operational use.