Eve today announced that it is bringing its popular Thread-enabled version of the Eve Energy to the United States, debuting the new Eve Weather with Thread and introducing Thread firmware for the second-generation Eve Aqua. Eve has been investing in Thread like other HomeKit accessory makers, and has now unveiled several Thread-powered devices.
As an always-on device, the Eve Energy US with Thread can serve as a router within a Thread network, adding stability and improved reach throughout the home. For those unfamiliar with Thread, it's a mesh network that lets smart home products better communicate with one another.
The Eve Weather with Thread is designed to track local outdoor temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure, either on the iPhone or on the device itself, which has a small display to relay weather information. The Eve app aggregates current and past climate data, and it is HomeKit compatible so the weather data can be relayed via Siri. The Eve Weather will launch on March 25 and it will be priced at $70.
Eve is also bringing Thread support to the second-generation Eve Aqua smart water controller, which is priced at $100. As an accessory meant to operate outside the home to monitor yard water usage, the Eve Aqua will benefit from the increased range added through Thread. Eve Aqua will gain Thread support in April 2021.
Apple's website continues to state that the first vehicle models with next-generation CarPlay will "arrive in 2024." With less than three days remaining in the year, however, that timeframe is looking more and more unlikely.
It would not be entirely Apple's fault if the stated 2024 target is missed, given that it is ultimately up to automakers to roll out the software in vehicles, but it is...
Friday December 27, 2024 2:43 pm PST by Juli Clover
Even though iOS 18.1 and iOS 18.2 added multiple Apple Intelligence features like Image Playground, Genmoji, Writing Tools, and more, there are still new Apple Intelligence capabilities that we're waiting on. Apple has at least one more major Apple Intelligence update coming in 2025, and the functionality that we're expecting is outlined below.
Priority Notifications
Notification summaries...
Thursday December 26, 2024 10:35 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple this week began teasing some kind of upcoming Apple TV+ surprise that's set to happen on January 4 and January 5, telling customers to "stay tuned" and "save the date" in social media posts.
Apple's images have a tagline that says "See for yourself," but it isn't clear what Apple has planned. Some users on Reddit have speculated that Apple might be planning to launch a promotion that...
Monday December 23, 2024 6:30 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
Saturday December 28, 2024 12:03 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Starting with iOS 18.2, released earlier this month, Apple News+ subscribers in the U.S. have access to daily sudoku puzzles in the Apple News app.
There are easy, moderate, and challenging difficulty levels for the daily puzzles. A scoreboard tracks your sudoku stats, including your total number of puzzles solved, fastest completion times per difficulty level, and more.
Sudoku is the...
Tuesday December 24, 2024 8:35 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple is expected to release an AirTag 2 next year, and a few new features and changes have already been rumored for the item tracker.
Below, we recap what to expect from the AirTag 2:
The new AirTag is expected to be equipped with Apple's second-generation Ultra Wideband chip for longer range. The chip debuted last year in the iPhone 15 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2, and Apple said it...
Sunday December 22, 2024 8:09 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr. The report cites a source within Apple.
The report said that iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that is capable of running iOS 18, which would mean the following models:
iPhone 16
iPhone 16 Plus
iPhone 16 Pro
iPhone 16 Pro Max
iPhone 15
iPhone 15 Plus
iPhone 15 Pro
...
Monday December 23, 2024 4:18 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Despite being released over two years ago, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 continue to dominate the wireless earbud market. However, with the AirPods Pro 3 expected to launch sometime in 2025, anyone thinking of buying Apple's premium earbuds may be wondering if the next generation is worth holding out for.
Apart from their audio and noise-canceling performance, which are generally regarded as...
Definitely! These Eve Power switches will replace a few iDevices switches that are on my WiFi. The fewer IoT devices on my network the better. And since, if I understand correctly, these switches will act as Thread border routers, that makes them even better. Now they need to update Eve Motion and Eve Button to really make this Eve system killer.
What I most want is a keypad that fits in a single gang box that can act as a controller and information display. Similar to this from Insteon:
They allow for custom etched or standard key caps, making it easy to know what the switch controls. Each button has an LED behind it, so it can also be used as a state display - either for a device controlled by the switch or just something with a binary state (like alarm armed).
It would make it easier to use HomeKit smart bulbs and plugs, as they could easily be controlled by switches without requiring that I use the Home app or talk to Siri. It would also allow someone not in your HomeKit control group to easily turn things on or off.
It does not. Thread is an open standard and anyone can build a border router. This is what makes it so nice. The router does not need to know anything about the devices and does not need to translate protocols (like Zigbee bridges must do).
In addition to that, Stuart Cheshire is a rep on the Thread Group.
For those who don't know, Stuart has been at Apple for 30+ yrs now, and throughout that time his constant mission has been to make Apple networking better and IP networking better. Many of his initiatives (like Bonjour/ZeroConf) have taken years and years to pay off (not least because there are so many companies willing to save a dollar at the cost of perpetual customer hassle, and so many people willing to excuse this behavior).
But the point is, Stuart has strong ideas about how networking should be easier, more reliable, and should just work; and will do whatever he can to ensure that that's part of the vision of Thread and Apple's implementations of it.
But Eve only does bluetooth doesn't it? So not on Wifi anyway.
I was not referring to Eve in that context, but to the majority of my HomeKit gear with is WiFi. I am glad to get Eve off of Bluetooth as it has all sorts of latency and range issues that are solved by a move to Thread.
It’s a bit hard to believe Thread is going to be the new standard for smart homes if it all depends on one device, the HomePod Mini, that is not even available in many countries.
