The connected home began in fits and starts. There were smart thermostats with Nest, connected light bulbs, and Wi-Fi-enabled smoke alarms. For a while, all these devices were operating independently, but hubs such as Wink promised to unify smart homes. Now comes NUZii, which dubs itself “the world’s first smart-life hub.”
NUZii can get all your smart devices talking, but the hub wants to be your one-stop shop for everything: cloud storage device, music player, security system, and router. Soap also offers a hub-as-router but with not quite as many features.
“We’ve seen an influx of connected devices that all do amazing things, but they all function independently,” said creator Simon Watfa. “We’ve created a product that will harness the power of these smart devices and allow users to control them from one central location.”
NUZii’s list of features is impressive: HD webcam, temperature and humidity sensors, motion detection, malware protection, and encrypted cloud storage. Everything is controlled through NUZii’s app, sending users alerts and updates as conditions inside their home change.
Though it starts of smart, NUZii promises to get smarter, learning your favorite music and temperature preferences. It connects to your phone and can start playing Taylor Swift as soon as you walk through the door — provided you’re not trying to stream her songs.
The device is pretty small, too; check out the video above to see the four-inch-tall hub fit in a pocket. It’s definitely an advantage over other hubs.
Right now, NUZii is crowdfunidng on Kickstarter. The early bird price starts at $75; the device will retail for $130. That’s cheaper than something like Piper, which is designed solely as a security system, but it remains to be seen whether NUZii is a jack of all trades and master of none.
Outdoor security cameras are not always practical if you live in an apartment or rental. Drilling into an exterior wall may be off-limits, while pointing a regular indoor camera through a window can create another problem once reflections start showing up after dark.
Baseus is trying to solve both issues with the new PrimeSentinel W1, a $69.99 security camera designed specifically to monitor the outdoors through glass. It mounts directly to a window without drilling and uses a 4K Starlight sensor with an F1.0 aperture for full-color monitoring during the day and at night.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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With AI progressing so fast, it's only a matter of time before we start getting AI companions like the ones we used to see in movies like R2-D2, Wall-E, or Baymax. Now, Singapore-based OKA Technology has unveiled Mori, a cute little AI companion that looks less like a conventional home robot and more like someone turned the Pokémon Foongus into a table lamp.
Mori isn't meant to clean your house or control your smart home, but to serve as what OKA calls a "Nature Companion." It uses subtle movements, warm lighting, nature-inspired sounds, and small reactions to make its presence around the house feel calming rather than distracting. Mori can sit quietly while you read, sway along to music, welcome you when you enter a room, or encourage you to slow down for a moment without requiring a screen or a conversation.