Smart Living 2014: A Year in Review

Highlighting smart home innovations and market trends, SiliconANGLEs Smart Living series has followed this sector closely in 2014. As the year comes to a close, we recap the top developmentsrelated to smart home automation devices, connected cars and other Internet of Things (IoT) devices that make daily livinga heck of a lot more convenient.

The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), a nonprofit trade group dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship and sponsor of the annual conference TiECON, announced earlier this year that home automation is on its list of top 5 most influential IoT technologies for this year.

Others on the list included smartwatches, health and fitness tracking, connected retail, and virtual and augmented reality.

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Smart home platform provider Insteon launchedits official Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone app this year with exclusive features, such as Visitor Mode for allowing guests entrance to a home without giving out spare keys. The release of the app was also combined with the availability of Insteon kits in Microsoft Stores at a starting price $199.

In September, Insteon announcedplans to add new features to its Windows app, including support for Cortana, Microsofts voice assistant that allows users to control their smart homes through spoken commands. The update will also include support for multiple cameras, multi-house control and monitoring, and a new dashboard for easier access to controls.

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Smart Living 2014: A Year in Review