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August 20, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Sonoff S55 Waterproof WiFi Smart Sockets are Offered in Six Regional Variants

When WiFi smart sockets (aka smart plugs) started to appear a few years ago, they were often only available with either US or China plugs, and users from Europe, UK or other locales may have had to use an adapter instead. Since then, products that ship with multiple versions such as Sonoff S26 or Orvibo Wiwo S20 have launched in order to cater to more people around the world. ITEAD has now launched another WiFi smart socket, namely Sonoff S55, that’s designed to work outdoors thanks to IP55 ingress protection rating, and is offered in six different variants for Australia, Germany, France, the United States, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Sonoff S55 specifications: Input/Output S55TPI(AU) – AC 100-240V 50/60Hz 10A Max S55TPF(DE) – AC 100-240V 50/60Hz 16A Max S55TPE(FR) – AC 100-240V 50/60Hz 16A Max S55TPB(US) – AC 125V 50/60Hz 10A Max S55TPD(ZA)- AC 100-240V 50/60Hz 10A Max S55TPG(UK) […]

July 12, 2019July 12, 2019 by Stephen Vicinanza - No Comments

Google Releases Local Home SDK Developer Preview

At Google I/O 2019 the company announced its latest plans to advance the Google Home and the Google Assistant with the Google Local Home SDK. Aimed at providing developers the ability to run actions and use resources on the local device rather than in the Cloud, the developer preview has been released just a few days ago to the dev community and made available after some testing at partner companies such as GE, LIFX, Phillips Hue, TP-Link, and others. Google is reporting that security and reliability will be enhanced almost immediately throughout all devices that use the Google Home platform. The idea is to release an SDK that can attract a more diverse and user-friendly smart home device list. Thus, offering more options to third-party developers to create devices that can have features stored and run locally. The idea is to create a local pathway through Google Home Speakers or […]

April 18, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

$50 Anker Roav Bolt Car Charger is Optimized for Google Assistant

While it may be tempting to check your messages, make phone calls or checking something on your smartphone while driving, it’s never a good idea. But thanks to Anker Roav Bolt car charger with built-in Bluetooth connectivity and a microphone array, you can perform those tasks through Google Assistant while keeping your eyes on the road. Anker Roav Bolt key features and specifications: Voice Chip – Far-Field Voice Processor Audio 2x MEMS Microphones 3.5mm audio jack Noise cancellation, acoustic echo cancellation Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.2 Misc – 1x physical button used to trigger GVA (Google Voice Assistant), 4x RGB LED Power Input – 12V-24V cigarette lighter sockets USB Output – 24W, 5V/2.4A max per port, Anker PowerIQ Technology So you get to charge your phone, while it is connected to your car audio system over Bluetooth or the audio jack, and make calls, start listening to a podcast, or ask […]

January 14, 2019January 14, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

SEI 520 is a 2-in-1 Android TV Hybrid Set-top Box and Smart Speaker

SEI Robotics has showcased a new device at CES 2019 that looks like a smart speaker, and SEI 520 is indeed a smart speaker with Google Assistant support, but it also adds a digital TV tuner and a quad-core Cortex A53 processor running Android TV 9.0 operating system to allow you to watch live TV, and stream videos. Preliminary specifications for SEI 520 smart speaker: SoC – Quad core Arm Cortex-A53 processor, possibly Amlogic S905X2 System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 16GB eMMC flash Video Output – HDMI up to 4K UHD Video Decode – VP9 and H.265/HEVC Audio Output – HDMI audio + optical S/PDIF Input – Far-field microphone Speaker – No technical details provided Connectivity – Ethernet, 2T2R MIMO WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0 Tuner – DVB-S2X/T2/C, ATSC, ISDBT USB – 1x USB 3.0 port, 1x USB 2.0 port Misc – IR blaster Power Supply – 12V DC via […]

November 7, 2018November 9, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 108 Comments

Giveaway Week – ESP32-LyRaTD-MSC Audio Misc HDK

ESP32-LyraTD-MSC is a smart audio hard development kit based on ESP32 WiSoC that I plan to send to one of my readers as part of Giveaway week. I had the chance to test ESP32-LyraTD-MSC with Baidu DuerOS voice assistant back in February which requires you to speak Mandarin, but now the board has become more useful outside of China with the release of Espressif ESP-ADF audio development framework and support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. To enter the draw simply leave a comment below. Other rules are as follows: Only one entry per contest. I will filter out entries with the same IP and/or email address. Contests are open for 48 hours starting at 10am (Bangkok time) every day. Comments will be closed after 48 hours. If comments are open, the contest is still going on. Winners will be selected with random.org, and announced in the comments section of […]

July 27, 2018July 27, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Lenovo Launches the First Smart Display with Google Assistant for $200 and Up

Android Things based smart displays were announced at CES 2018 with companies like Lenovo, LG, JBL, and Sony promising products later this year. In May, Google announced Google Assistant was now supporting smart displays, and released Android Things 1.0, the first production-ready version of the operating system. With all main software components released a few months ago, the first smart displays with Google Assistant support have now started selling for $199.99 and up courtesy of Lenovo. The smart display is available with either a 8″ or 10″ display. Lenovo Smart Display specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Home Hub Platform based on Snapdragon 624 octa-core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.8 GHz System Memory – Up to 2GB RAM Storage – Up to 4GB eMMC flash Display (one or the other) 8″ IPS display with 1280 x 800 resolution, 86° Wide Angle 10″ IPS display with 1920×1200 resolution, 86° Wide Angle Audio 8″ […]

May 23, 2018May 23, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

A Closer Look at Mediatek MT8516 Cortex A35 SoM / Devkit for Android Things

Earlier this month, Google released Android Things 1.0, the first stable release for the IoT operating system, and announced several certified SoMs (systems-on-module) based on NXP i.MX 8M, Qualcomm SDA212 & SDA624, and MediaTek MT8516 SoCs. However at the time, beside some information about the processor itself, there was not many details about MT8516 system-on-module. Since then, MediaTek wrote a blog post about their Cortex A35 solution for Android Things & Google Assistant, so let’s have a look. First the MT8516 SoM is not exactly what I had expected, but instead a complete single board computer, and this is why they call it virtual SoM (vSOM). Google defines the latter as reference design provided by the chip vendors and certified by Google. Mediatek MT8516 quad core Cortex A35 vSoM / development board specifications: SoC – MediaTek MT8516 quad core Cortex A35 processor without GPU System Memory – 4Gbit (512MB) DDR3L […]

May 9, 2018May 9, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Google Assistant Adds 6 New Voices, Supports Smart Displays, Will Expand to 80 Countries

We’ve already seen announcements about Android P and Android Things 1.0 for Google I/O 2018, but the company also took the opportunity to provide an update to the new features coming to Google Assistant. Some of the improvements are specifically related to the audio features (voice assistant): Google Assistant is now naturally conversational so it can understand more complex requests such as asking the weather using expressions like “Will it be cats and dogs today?”. 6 new voices are now available, and John Legend’s voice is coming later this year. More voices should be supported in the future, thanks to improvements in AI and WaveNet technology from DeepMind that eliminates the needs for recording hundreds of hours of audio in a recording studio, and enabled adding new voices in just a few weeks. Continued Conversation – as its name implies – will allow Assitant and you to have a “natural […]