CES 2018: Kitty-Litter Cleaning Robots and Bean-Roasting Coffee Makers

Two things delineate the extremes of my life: cleaning out the kitty litter box and drinking coffee.

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https://www.soundandvision.com/content/ces-2018-kitty-litter-cleaning-robots-and-bean-roasting-coffee-makers

New Yale Smart Lock Designed to Secure Andersen Hinged Patio Doors

Smart locks have been widely available for some time for the front door. And that’s a good thing given the fact that most break-ins happen through the front door. To offer even greater home protection, Yale Locks & Hardware brings the security and convenience of its keyless electronic locks exclusively to Andersen hinged patio doors.

The Yale Assure Lock is a sleek new keyless lock featuring Z-Wave for compatibility with a wide range of smart home platforms, and Bluetooth for key free unlocking. It offers voice control via Alexa when used in conjunction with a smart home hub, and can be unlocked by entering a PIN code using the lock’s backlit touchscreen.

“By extending keyless, electronic control to patio doors, our new Assure Lock provides homeowners with a whole new level of control over their homes,” says Jason Williams, president, ASSA ABLOY U.S. Residential Group, which includes Yale Residential. “And we’re very pleased to have worked with Andersen on the development of these locks for their industry-leading line of hinged patio doors.”

The new Assure Lock is a slender lever lock that is compatible with Andersen’s Architectural Collection hinged patio doors. Its slim, low-profile one-piece design complements the Andersen doors, regardless of style, to enhance both their appearance and function.

The lock is easily integrated into a Z-Wave smart home or alarm system to provide remote operation of the lock from anywhere, and, thanks to Andersen’s VeriLock Security Sensors technology, can alert the homeowner whether their patio doors are open, closed, locked or unlocked via a self-monitoring or professional monitoring system.

“This is a great next step for Andersen’s Verilock technology. Our customers can not only monitor the status of their patio doors, they can now take action on remotely locking or unlocking their hinged patio doors,” says Rob Garofalo, senior business manager of Andersen’s Architectural Collection product.

A companion Yale Assure app allows homeowners to send digital keys to others, control when each digital key holder has access, view recent access history, and permanently revoke a digital key at any time. Unlocking the Assure Lock with a smartphone is easy – a patented unlocking method called Twist & Go prevents unintended unlocking by requiring the user to rotate the phone 90 degrees before tapping the check mark on the keypad.

The new Yale Assure Lock for Andersen hinged patio doors will be available in March 2018 and priced between $400 and $450.

The post New Yale Smart Lock Designed to Secure Andersen Hinged Patio Doors appeared first on Electronic House.

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https://www.electronichouse.com/home-security/new-yale-smart-lock-designed-to-secure-andersen-hinged-patio-doors/

EPA Recognizes Electronics Brands for Sustainability and Recycling Efforts

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized several electronics manufacturers and retailers for “making significant contributions in designing products sustainably and diverting electronics from landfills by sending them to third-party certified recyclers” as part of the agency’s Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Electronics Challenge.

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https://www.soundandvision.com/content/epa-recognizes-electronics-brands-sustainability-and-recycling-efforts

2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Coverage

We kicked off the new year by covering the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) which is held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada. Our own Marshall Guthrie scoured the showfloor on a mission to seek out the latest AV electronics and cover them for Audioholics. He looked at the latest UHD OLED displays, AV receivers and Processors that break the 7.1.4 Immersive Surround barrier, smart powered speakers, and uber expensive "performance" Soundbars vying to lure the audiophile tight on space for discrete speaker systems, but not on budget.

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http://www.audioholics.com/trade-shows/2018-consumer-electronics-show-ces-coverage

Monitor Audio Announces ‘Fun’ Speaker Series

U.K.-based Monitor Audio has announced a new six-model “fun” speaker series featuring a contemporary design and a compact bookshelf model with an unconventional driver layout.

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https://www.soundandvision.com/content/monitor-audio-announces-%E2%80%98fun%E2%80%99-speaker-series

GoldenEar DigitalAktiv 3 Wi-Fi Bluetooth Speaker Preview

Speaker manufacturer GoldenEar released details for their ultra-high performance powered/wireless DigitalAktiv 3 Bookshelf speaker. With a 6” cast-basket bass/midrange driver, the same HVFR tweeter used in the Triton Reference, and two inertially balanced 8” passive radiators, if these speakers sound as good as the numbers suggest, they may be among the best new wireless speakers we've seen in 2018…period.

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http://www.audioholics.com/soundbar-and-satellite-speaker-reviews/goldenear-da-3

2017 Top Picks Of the Year

The year 2017 in the world of audio/video gear proved mostly evolutionary, with a touch of the revolutionary thrown in. The former was seen clearly in the flat-panel television category, which wholly gave itself up to not just Ultra HD resolution this year but also to the idea of high dynamic range (HDR) and wide color gamut displays. We saw Dolby Vision finally make its way to a few UHD Blu-ray Discs, and critically, watched OLED mature into a commanding market presence. Meanwhile, we got more, and cheaper, options for 4K signal-friendly front projectors.

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https://www.soundandvision.com/content/2017-top-picks-year