On the latest episode of the HomeKit Insider Podcast, Dan Turk joins to talk about the OpenAI acquisition of Jony Ive’s company, more new deadbolts, and solar-powered garden lights.
Dan Turk, PR professional with Max Borges agency, joins once more this week. As an industry insider, he helps provide useful insight into the world of smart homes.
Starting out in the news, SwitchBot has two new products to officially announce after we’d previously leaked them on the show. They are the new facial recognition deadbolt and its third-generation Matter hub.
The SwitchBot Lock Ultra Vision Combo uses facial recognition to allow you entry into your home. It does with with connection to a paired keypad that has the camera built in.
The third-gen hub has a sleek new look, comes in black, and features a rotary dial on the front. 30 commands can be programmed in for use with Apple Home or Matter and bridges the company’s products to both as well.
ThorBolt X1 is a new deadbolt from Sleekpoint. It is Apple Home over Thread and supports Home Key, fingerprint recognition, passcodes, and more.
Finally, Nanoleaf has two new products as well. It has a new Matter-enabled rope light for creating cool images on your wall as well as solar-powered garden lights.
The rest of the episode revolves around the speculation-heavy acquisition of Jony Ive’s IO hardware company. It plans to create a family of AI products with OpenAI.
Dan leads the conversation, including leaning into industry sources who speculate on an ear-worn companion device to help you day-to-day. Of course, we also get into how it may — or may not — be able to control your smart home.
That includes how users may have to give up privacy for future home AI automation, unless Apple is able to step up to the plate.
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