Tag: ipad

Room Locator now makes it possible to control smart home devices in individual rooms automatically

Room Locator is a smart motion detector that triggers smart home actions when entering or leaving a room.

Munich, March 6, 2017 – Room Locator by LinkDesk is the smart motion detector that controls smart home devices simply upon entering or leaving a room. A smartphone or tablet uses Bluetooth to recognize Room Locator and on doing so, triggers preselected actions. When combined with the iOS app “Devices”, it enables HomeKit devices to be easily managed, conveniently linked, and simultaneously controlled. An IFTTT connection provides additional application options when used with additional smart home devices and online services. 

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The facts at a glance:

• Room Locator is the smart motion detector that makes it possible to control smart home devices automatically, when entering and leaving a room
• A smartphone or tablet recognizes Room Locator via Bluetooth and triggers programmed actions
• It manages, links to and controls HomeKit devices, thanks to the intuitive “Devices” app (iOS 9.0 or later)
• An IFTTT connection makes it possible to link additional smart home products and online services
• Suitable for room sizes between 10 and 40 square meters
• Compact design: 5,1 centimetres in diameter and 1,2 centimetres deep
• Weight: 19 grams
• Battery-powered with a service life of two years
• Items delivered: Room Locator including battery
• The Room Locator is now available for €29.95 in stores and online on Amazon and other retailers

The room as a control unit

Early in the morning, upon entering the kitchen, the light goes on immediately, the heat is turned up, the radio is switched on, and the coffee machine is already brewing coffee. This scenario has been triggered simply by an inconspicuously mounted motion detector. Working in conjunction with the “Devices” iOS app, the Room Locator by LinkDesk has automatically turned on HomeKit devices to increase comfort inside the four walls of the kitchen. Upon entering the room, the iPhone or other Apple device has recognized the smart motion detector via Bluetooth and automatically triggered programmed actions. It is just as easy to define what is supposed to happen upon leaving the room.

The Room Locator is optimized for room sizes between 10 and 40 square meters, is battery-operated, and can be mounted anywhere in the room using the adhesive pad that comes with it.

Intuitive app for the operation of HomeKit devices

The “Devices” app by LinkDesk was specially designed for managing and controlling HomeKit devices. It provides an organized overview and an intuitive user interface. HomeKit-enabled lamps, electric sockets, thermostats, and many other devices can be logically grouped and allocated to individual rooms. By establishing scenes, the actions of these devices can be networked and controlled simultaneously. The Room Locator triggers the relevant scene in each case. In order to optimally match smart home activities to individual needs, additional settings such as time or the status of particular devices can be set as conditions. For example, the light is only switched on if the room is entered after a certain hour. Or the baby monitor is only activated after leaving the room if the night light was left on.

IFTTT opens up even more possibilities of usage

With an IFTTT connection, the Room Locator can be combined not just with HomeKit products but also with other smart home devices and online services. With simple if-then commands, the smart door lock can lock the front door, for example, as soon as the entry area is left. Or, when you enter and leave your home office, the time you spent working is automatically recorded in a document and filed online.

Availability and price

The Room Locator by LinkDesk is now available in stores and online at Amazon at a price of €29.95.

LinkDesk

LinkDesk is a future-oriented startup, founded in 2014 in Munich. The company’s goal is to simplify significantly the use of modern smart home technologies, and thus enable a particularly intuitive kind of smart home best suited to everyday life. The young developer team has put lots of love into its software and hardware solutions, offering users an unusually simple and yet outstanding user experience. www.linkdesk.com

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A recent eMarketer study has shown that ebook readers are holding their own, but that was before Apple’s changes.

The iOS 9.3 update brought the “Night Shift” feature to iPhones and iPads and comes with the controversial claim that it has reduced the amount of blue light emitted by the mobile devices and may, therefore, help to push the ereader further toward being obsolete.

The reason is that while Apple says its devices may no longer interrupt sleep patterns, ebook readers still might.

The design of the “Night Shift” is meant to decrease the blue light emitted by the device. Those wavelengths of light are often blamed for disturbing people’s ability to sleep, so by removing them, the thought is that it will stop people from harming their sleep cycles through the use of tablets at bedtime. With this in mind, some have predicted that the use of the ereader, a device that is not backlit and that does not emit any blue light, will decline.

Some people have been using an ereader to read ebooks at bedtime in order to avoid wakefulness problems related to tablet use.

Overall, most doctors and sleep specialists recommend that patients stop using any kinds of mobile devices for an hour to 90 minutes before they go to bed. That is meant to decrease exposure to blue light but also to the stimulation these gadgets can bring with their use. Many doctors also recommend that patients use only dim lighting throughout that same span of time in order to help to encourage the production of melatonin (a sleep-promoting hormone that is light sensitive).

For that reason, eink displays from dedicated ereaders have been seen as great ways to take advantage of a certain limited amount of internet connectivity, as well as the comfortable ability to read an ebook, such as a favorite young adult fiction novel or the latest murder mystery in a series you’re enjoying.

So far, eink ereader displays haven’t been connected with sleep struggles and have been very appealing to people who are trying their best to give themselves a restful night of sleep. What has yet to be seen is whether the Night Shift in combination with the iPad mini from Apple will be enough to replace ereaders by providing a full tablet experience without the blue light exposure.