Happy Monday! We have just a few stories for you today, but you’ll find them all quite interesting…
- Design a new home or a home improvement with BeLight Software’s Live Home 3D, this week’s AWT sponsor.
- iPod co-creator Tony Fadell is suing Android co-creator Andy Rubin, saying that he stole trade secrets
- Another manufacturer joins the HomeKit parade, with Sylvania adding a soft white LED smartbulb and an LED flex strip
- Ireland gains Apple Maps transit instructions
The text version of the podcast can be read below. To listen to the podcast here, click the play button on the player below. Apple News readers need to visit Apple World Today in order to listen to the podcast.
Text Version
This is Steve Sande for Apple World Today, and you’re listening to the AWT News Update podcast for Monday, October 16th, 2017. This week’s sponsor is BeLight Software, developers of Live Home 3D. If you’ve ever wanted to design your own home or create a virtual model of an existing home to see how improvements change its looks, then Live Home 3D is for you. The $29.99 app is powerful and easy to use, and you can get full information on Live Home 3D at this link.
Remember iPod co-creator Tony Fadell? He’s the guy who went on to found home automation firm Nest, and he has moved on to another startup called Keyssa Inc. Nest, of course, was bought out by Google and is now an Alphabet company. Well, another co-creator of another device is being sued by Fadell in US Federal Court in San Francisco, and we’re kinda chuckling about it. Fadell is accusing Essential Products Inc, which is a smartphone startup founded by Android co-creator Andy Rubin, of stealing trade secrets. This isn’t entirely far-fetched, as many believe that Rubin stole iOS to create Android and Rubin was apparently in talks with Fadell’s company for 10 months. It should be fun to see how this lawsuit pans out.
We keep hearing more and more about HomeKit compatible home automation products, and the latest is from Sylvania, which announced two more products for its hub-less Smart+ line. The products are two lights — the LED Flex Strip and an A19 LED Soft White bulb. The company says that a smart plug will be available soon. The Soft White Bulb is an easy replacement for standard incandescent bulbs, and costs $26. That’s more expensive than the white Hue bulbs from Philips, but those require a hub for control. The Flex Strip is $60, and is used for accent lighting. That’s 33% less than the Philips Hue LightStrip that sells for $90.
Apple added one more country to the list of those that have Apple Maps transit directions. Ireland is the latest country, with coverage currently available in major cities like Dublin, Cork and Kilkenny. The Maps upgrade couldn’t have happened at a worse time. Hurricane Ophelia has hit Ireland and has left about 120,000 homes without power. Many transit systems have shut down because of the storm, so many people will have to wait until later this week to give the transit directions a try.
That’s all for today; I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon with another edition of the AWT News Update.
