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Elgato HomeKit

Product Review
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Google Home

by Google Inc.

While Amazon Alexa was very visible at CES 2017, some companies like Elgato had a strong showing of Smart Home products which support Apple's HomeKit.  With Apple HomeKit, you can use Siri based voice commands though your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV to monitor and control lights, thermostats, locks, security systems, and power outlets in your home.

Elgato displayed a selection of their Apple HomeKit friendly Eve products like Eve Energy, Eve Weather, Eve Room, Eve Light Switch, Eve Motion, and Eve Door & Window as well as their upcoming Eve Smoke, Eve Extend, and Eva Aqua,   These products all use Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy to connect to your Apple products and you can use the Apple Home or Elgato's Eve App to control all these devices.  Note that Elgato's Eve Energy display at CES also claims WI-FI support although that is not supported on the current shipping product.

Apple does use Apple TV (2015) as a kind of gateway where you can more easily connect to Bluetooth Smart based HomeKit devices but Elgato's Extend allows you to bridge Bluetooth devices to your WI-FI network so you can control them even when the Apple TV (2015) or iPhone is not nearby.

Amazon Alexa which has a series of dedicated voice controlled assistants like the Amazon Echo, Amazon Tap, and Echo Dot (2nd Generation),  while Google also has Google Home.  Apple has to date eschewed this approach, focusing mostly on users controlling devices through their iPhone or iPads.  Users who are more concerned about privacy and using services from companies that have user data driven advertising business models may prefer to sticking with Apple HomeKit and Elgato's Eve devices.

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