Back in November last year, Google added some new abilities to the Assistant, including direct control of household appliances and scene support. With the latter, you can activate or change scenes linked to things like LIFX lighting systems or a SmartThings hub using the Google Assistant. Philips Hue lighting also has scenes, but until now you've only been able to use them in the Hue app. Some are now seeing the functionality in the Google Home app, too.
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One of the most requested features in the SmartThings app has been scene support. I'm new to the system, so I'm sure there were some enterprising solutions to the lack of scenes, but there wasn't any native and easy way to do it. That changes with the latest update to version 2.10 of the SmartThings app.
Scenes reside inside the My Home tab, next to Things and Rooms, and allow you to change multiple lights, switches, and devices to different presets to suit a certain mood. So if you're working, you can have the lights go all the way up but if you're watching a movie, they can be dimmed down.
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A new version of the Google app is making the rounds to users that have opted into the beta channel. This update is a bit tamer than some other recent version bumps. The only change popping up in the live interface at this point is a command to return the Google search widget to its original styling. However, there are quite a few small topics in the teardown, including the addition of Scenes to the upcoming support for Routines (a.k.a. multi-action shortcuts) and a couple more details about Quartz and devices that may be related to it.
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Amazon took to its developer blog today to announce that Alexa, its very successful smart home speaker, will be supporting scenes. These will allow users to speak simple commands to set predefined conditions on various connected devices. Prior to this announcement, interaction with them was limited to specific manufacturer apps.
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Alarm.com sounds like a website whose sole purpose is starting your day with a broken laptop. Turns out it's a home automation service. The site can manage your security alarm systems, locks, lights, thermostats, and garage doors. Using "scenes," it can manage multiples at once with a single button press.
With the latest update, this functionality has come to the Android app.
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Now that we've seen new videos for the Moto 360, Moto Hint, and the new Moto X and G, there's one more promo video to watch - this one, revolving around the "Choose Choice" tagline, gives some behind-the-scenes looks at the "choices" that went into the other videos, including some of the construction work that went into the crazy set used in the other four videos. Like the other videos, it's around a minute long, so it's worth checking out while we wait for more updates to Motorola's website. Conveniently, the video includes YouTube annotations linking to the other product videos we've already covered.
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