O'Grady's PowerPage

Tag: HomeKit Secure Video

  • First images of Philips Hue smart cameras surface, offer some technical details

    First images of Philips Hue smart cameras surface, offer some technical details

    There’s some very cool stuff en route from Philips Hue, which seems to be on the verge of launching its first smart home cameras.

    The story, which was noticed by Hueblog.com, cited that two of the four new Philips Hue smart home cameras made it through the FCC approval process.

    The filings also include pictures of the devices as well as technical details. While these may not be their final finished form, they offer a good hint as to what to expect. As noted on the caution sticker, Philips has included magnets in the cameras which may be used to connect to mounts and stands which are not pictured below.

    Per the images, both of these cameras appear to feature Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and ZigBee connectivity. It’s also been predicted that Bluetooth will be used for setup while WiFi will be leveraged for video transmission. Zigbee will be used to connect to the Hue Bridge.

    Here are the expected prices from Hueblog:

    • Hue Camera Wired (black/white) €199/$214.92
    • Hue Camera Wired Desktop (black/white) at €229/$247.32
    • Hue Camera Battery (black/white) at €249/$268.92
    • Hue Flood Light Camera at €349/$376.92

    Signify CEO Eric Rondolat has said that the new Hue smart cameras will feature end-to-end encryption as a unique selling point. But any camera with HomeKit Secure Video does that too which goes for well under $100.

    It’s unknown exactly when the Philips Hue smart cameras will launch in the open market.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via 9to5Mac and Hueblog.com

  • iCloud Drive folder sharing, other features, pushed back to 2020

    Sometimes a project takes a bit longer than expected.

    Apple has quietly informed customers that its shared iCloud Drive folders feature, which would have directly competed with Dropbox, has been pushed back to 2020.

    Prior to Tuesday, the macOS All Features page had an asterisk for iCloud folder sharing that said the addition would be coming later this fall. Overnight, the text has changed to “coming this spring.”

    The Communication Limits for Screen Time feature has also been pushed back as well.

    The corresponding iOS 13 All Features page has not yet been updated to reflect the new timeline. It seems almost certain, though, that it will also be pushed back to the spring.

    The iCloud Drive system was overhauled during the iOS 13 beta period, adding new features such as folder sharing and the ability to pin files to stay downloaded. Unfortunately, a number of beta testers reported issues with data loss and data corruption. Apple, in turn, reverter the iCloud Drive daemon to its previous version prior to the recent release and updates of iOS 13.

    Shared folders would have allowed an Apple user to share a folder once with friends, and have everyone be able to see the contents of that folder as it changed. Shared recipients would also be able to add and edit files in the folder. This has been a key feature of Dropbox for years. Apple’s current iCloud Drive system only allows users to share and edit single files, not whole directories.

    Other features that were demoed but might have to wait include Announce Messages with Siri, HomeKit Secure Video, AirPlay 2 speakers in automations, Image Capture API, and HomeKit-enabled routers. It seems as if these features might arrive via iOS 13.2 down the line.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via 9to5Mac and Apple