Smart Home (connected home, home networking) News

Smart speakers are fastest-growing consumer technology
Jan 4, 2018 – The global smart speaker market is poised to grow to 56.3 million shipments in 2018, as the technology prepares itself for accelerated adoption in the consumer market, according to Canalys Research.
News categories: Canalys, Lucio Chen, Vincent Thielke, Market Research, Smart Home, Worldwide

Select Hisense Smart TVs add Amazon Alexa for 2018
Jan 3, 2018 – Hisense has announced that Alexa capabilities will be available on select models of Hisense 4K Smart TVs for the very first time. This is part of Hisense's larger initiative to make interacting with Smart TVs easier and more intuitive than ever before.
News categories: Hisense, Amazon, Mark Viken, Steve Rabuchin, CES2025, Smart Home, Smart TV, USA, UX

Roku adds audio and voice assistance to the TV user expereince
Jan 3, 2018 – Roku has unveiled plans to make it easy for Roku TV customers to add audio to their TV experience. The company has also announced plans to develop and launch a voice assistant, the Roku Entertainment Assistant, optimized for home entertainment.
News categories: Roku, Anthony Wood, CES2025, Digital TV, Set Top Box, Smart Home, Streaming, USA, UX

SoftAtHome Smart Wi-Fi powers Swisscom WLAN-Box
Dec 12, 2017 – SoftAtHome has announced that its Smart Wi-Fi solution powers the Swiss incumbent’s new WLAN-Box. The all-new WLAN-Box is a 3-in-1 Access Point device (Repeater, Extender, Video bridge) improving Wi-Fi reception throughout the home.
News categories: SoftAtHome, Swisscom, David Viret-Lange, Marcel Burgherr, CPE, Smart Home, Switzerland

Silicon Labs to acquire Sigma Designs
Dec 7, 2017 – Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB) and Sigma Designs (NASDAQ: SIGM) have announced a definitive agreement under which Silicon Labs will acquire Sigma Designs for $7.05 per share in a cash transaction valued at approximately $282 million.
News categories: Silicon Labs, Sigma Designs, Tyson Tuttle, Thinh Q. Tran, Digital TV, MandA, Semiconductor, Smart Home, Worldwide

Orange makes OCast casting software open source
Dec 1, 2017 – Orange is to make OCast software available as Open Source. OCast is a technology that allows a smartphone to be used to play videos on devices including TV set-top boxes, TV Sticks or TVs and control playback of the video.
News categories: Orange, Viaccess-Orca, Deutsche Telekom, Thierry Souche, Paul Molinier, Randolph Nikutta, Digital TV, Middleware, Mobile, Set Top Box, Smart Home, Worldwide

HDMI Forum releases Version 2.1 of the HDMI specification
Nov 28, 2017 – HDMI Forum has announced the release of Version 2.1 of the HDMI Specification. The latest specification supports a range of higher video resolutions and refresh rates including 8K60 and 4K120, and resolutions up to 10K. Dynamic HDR formats are also supported.
News categories: HDMI Forum, Robert Blanchard, Blu-ray, Digital TV, Gaming, Set Top Box, Smart Home, Smart TV, Worldwide

UKTV offers voice-enabled search on Amazon Fire TV
Nov 24, 2017 – UKTV has become the first UK broadcaster to make its on demand programming easy to find through voice-enabled search on Amazon Fire TV. Viewers can find shows using their TV controls, by speaking into their Fire TV Stick with Alexa voice remote or the all-new Amazon Fire TV.
News categories: UKTV, Amazon, Digital TV, Set Top Box, Smart Home, Streaming, UK, UX

U.S. broadband households to buy almost 55 million smart home devices in 2020
Nov 15, 2017 – Parks Associates has announced research showing U.S. broadband households will buy almost 55 million smart home devices in 2020. Currently many smart home devices are still in the early adopter stage, at adoption levels less than 15% of U.S. households.
News categories: Parks Associates, Elizabeth Parks, Market Research, Smart Home, USA