The humble TV has been crying out for the right kind of innovation for a long time, but nobody seems to be able to get it right. Enter Caavo, a San Francisco startup that is currently making waves with its universal remote and entertainment hub. Today, it's introducing some new capabilities alongside a price drop.With Family Care, Caavo is adding parental monitoring tools to safeguard younger family members. You can check what's playing on the Control Centers in your home, get notifications when R-rated content is accessed, and send messages to your TVs from the new Caavo Control mobile app (iOS only for now) when out and about.
The new app will also allow you to turn TVs on and off, switch sources, tune to a channel, launch apps, and play movies, no matter whether you're in the house or not. An example put forward by Caavo for when this might come in handy is switching the TV on for your dog while you're out of the house, but I don't know how likely anyone is to do that. It could be good for helping elderly relatives when you leave them at home, though.Another useful new addition to the Caavo Control Center is Sonos integration, so you can use your TV to play, pause, skip, and so on, plus you'll also get album art displayed on the screen. At the same time as announcing these new features, Caavo is lowering the price of the hub and remote bundle to $60, which is $40 cheaper. You can grab it from Best Buy, Amazon, or directly from Caavo. You'll also require a service plan to make the most of it, pricing for which is as follows: $3.99/month, $39.99/year and $129.99 lifetime.
PRESS RELEASE
Caavo Expands Ecosystem To Make the TV the Hub of the Home
Launches Family Care for Parental Monitoring and Messaging
New App to Control Your TV From Anywhere; Adds Sonos Integration
Drops Retail Price of Control Center to $59.95; Service Plan Now $39.99 yearly
San Francisco, CA -- May 1, 2019 -- Caavo, a San Francisco-based startup on a mission to unite entertainment for everyone, announces it has expanded the capabilities of its platform to create one simple interface for everyone and everything connected to your TV and smart home. Available today, Caavo now provides more meaningful tools and resources to bring families together with Control Center.
“Control Center transforms the TV into the first-ever shared home interface,” says Andrew Einaudi, CEO and
co-founder of Caavo. “We want everyone to be able to use the TV and everything connected to it. As we expand the Caavo ecosystem of TV and Smart Home, it is an honor to partner with exciting entertainment brands like Sonos.”
Caavo introduces Family Care, a suite of monitoring tools that give parents and caregivers the ability to check in, monitor and notify family members of TV use in the home:
● Monitor: Check-in and see what’s playing on any Control Center you’ve been given permission to view
on your home TV or via the Caavo mobile app using Telescope™
● Manage: Set content notifications for any Control Center within the home. For example, receive a
notification when R-rated content is launched through Control Center in the kid’s room, or get notified if
Grandma's TV hasn’t been turned on.
● Message: Any TV connected to Control Center can be sent messages from your mobile app. The
message will appear as a pop-up, or as a full takeover of your screen. For example, send a message that
it’s time for a kid to turn off the TV and go to bed.
Universal Control Of Your TV - Anywhere
Want to play Animal Planet for your dog while you’re at work? Now you can control your Control Center
remotely using the Caavo Control mobile app. Available for iOS and downloadable in the App Store, the Caavo Control mobile app now provides full universal remote functionality including:
● Turn the TV on/off, switch sources, tune to a channel, launch apps, play movies from anywhere.
● Play a movie for your grandparents in their living room if granted permission to manage their Control
Center from your Caavo Control mobile app.
Sonos Controls on Your TV
Connect Control Center with your Sonos system for a new way to manage the music playing in your home. Using your TV, you can skip to the next song, pause, and play music on any Sonos speaker throughout your home.
● Control music in every room with a Sonos speaker from Control Center.
● When Control Center is paired with Sonos in a room, play and manage music by selecting the Sonos tile with the room’s name.
● While the music is playing, Control Center will display the album cover art on your TV.
Starting today, the retail price for Control Center has been lowered to $59.95 and is available at Best Buy, Amazon.com and Caavo.com as well as select Home Depot and Walmart stores. Using Control Center requires a service plan for a richer interaction: $3.99/month, $39.99/year and $129.99 lifetime. For consumers who would like to purchase two Control Centers to access Family Care and Sonos multi-room integration, the Caavo Two Room Starter Kit includes two one year service plans, two Control Centers and four Spotlight HDMI cables for $349.99.
The new app will also allow you to turn TVs on and off, switch sources, tune to a channel, launch apps, and play movies, no matter whether you're in the house or not. An example put forward by Caavo for when this might come in handy is switching the TV on for your dog while you're out of the house, but I don't know how likely anyone is to do that. It could be good for helping elderly relatives when you leave them at home, though.Another useful new addition to the Caavo Control Center is Sonos integration, so you can use your TV to play, pause, skip, and so on, plus you'll also get album art displayed on the screen. At the same time as announcing these new features, Caavo is lowering the price of the hub and remote bundle to $60, which is $40 cheaper. You can grab it from Best Buy, Amazon, or directly from Caavo. You'll also require a service plan to make the most of it, pricing for which is as follows: $3.99/month, $39.99/year and $129.99 lifetime.