It’s all too easy to forget about the puns we come up with on a daily basis, I’m sure there awards for this kind of thing!
OK, OK, let me tell you what we have been up to this month – There is going to be a huge update on our API with a fully overhauled billing platform for hobbyists (free) and our B2B customers (not free).
Here is a sneak preview. It’s Launching July 2018
In our office, we have been testing what’s on offer from the latest voice assistants: the Amazon Echo, Apple HomePod and the Google Home. It’s undeniable that the sound quality from the HomePod wipes the floor with the competition. The noise it can generate really is simply tremendous and it doesn’t deteriorate when you want to turn it up; believe us when we say: it goes LOUD! You can also talk to Siri more naturally than you can Alexa or Google Assistant. You don’t have to say: “Hey Siri” and then take a gigantic pause while it registers you want something from it. Despite all the mixed PR the HomePod’s had, we love it! That said, we also think the Echo and Google Home have many redeeming features: Alexa is undeniably the smartest AI engine and has the most ‘skills’ meaning integration with third-party apps is a breeze. She is also more intuitive and seems to be able to use her ‘initiative’ more when you ask her to execute commands. The Google Assistant’s most useful feature is the fact it leverages Google’s search engine and can answer all manner of questions on just about any topic.
Most online articles that discuss the functionality of voice assistant hardware present features as a kind of choice but in a modern household, with different preferences and gadget loyalty, we think it’s about to become more of an ‘and’ issue than an ‘or’ one…
Over the next year, we don’t think it will be uncommon for a typical family to be a multi-assistant household. After all, it’s not unusual to see a mixture of Android and Apple phones all under one roof.
But that’s where the complications begin – there are a number of devices that work with two of the three voice platforms and a few that work with one. Devices that respond to voice commands from all voice assistance are few and far between. This can somewhat tedious for the end user who wants to be able to control everything from everywhere.
Introducing WIFIPLUG: In just a few minutes, you can be using your Android phone or Apple HomePod to control your electrical appliances and that control will be absolutely seamless. Turn your lamp on with Siri and then back off With Google Assistant. It couldn’t be easier!
It was no mean feat teaching WIFIPLUG to speak all languages but we did it and not to sound like a playground show-off, but we’re pretty sure we did it first! We’ve worked tirelessly and relentlessly to make our product top notch and multilingual, all in one smart (in fact, the SMARTest) little plug.
Hello Pluggers! It’s been another busy month for us. We’ve launched a new firmware, a new iOS and Android app, and made significant changes to our cloud services. We are confident you will benefit from these updates and enjoy a great end-user experience. We’re still the only plug to work with all voice platforms without the need for any additional hardware and we’re pretty proud of that!
We’ve written a couple of blogs on IFTTT this month too. We really don’t want to go on about it too much but we are sure that if you check it out, you will absolutely love it! IFTTT is a great way to get your apps and devices talking to each other. For a number of people, the prospect of integrating WIFIPLUG with another app might seem pretty daunting but it’s honestly a piece of cake and you can find out how to do it here. We’ll even help you to get set up if you’re struggling! Once you get up and running, you can do things like set your lamp to come on when the sun goes down. IFTTT automatically updates the timers for you according to daylight changes and simply put, it’s brilliant! There are thousands of possibilities – in our office, we have the lights flashing every time the International Space Station goes by – but we appreciate that’s not for everyone (even though it’s probably the coolest thing we’ve ever heard of). We have put together a ‘Fun Things to Try’ page for our users so they can take advantage of some of the great uses for WIFIPLUG.
On that note, we’ve also started hearing about our customers’ positive experiences of WIFIPLUG. Last week, we heard from a customer who had integrated WIFIPLUG with a motion sensor in order to turn a light on when motion was detected, as well as sending a notification to the their phone. We thought this was a great integration (and again, wouldn’t be possible without IFTTT). Whether you are using your WIFIPLUG to operate a lamp or to set up a complex rule-based system, we hope you love the experience. We would love to hear about any other ingenious or inventive ways you are using your WIFIPLUG – get in touch on Twitter @wifiplug
So what’s the future looking like? Pretty good actually! We are developing some very cool features with Alexa, Siri and Google so watch this space for some combined functionality! We always like to dedicate some text to thanking our early adopter customers and acknowledge that without you, none of this would be possible.
As we’ve previously said, we’re a small company with big dreams and your commitment to us makes those dreams a reality – so once again, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you.
Happy plugging!
It’s been a huge month for WIFIPLUG – our new product, WIFIPLUG HOME hit the shelves with an Apple-certified HomeKit chip inside, our new app was launched and next week, we are going to Las Vegas to exhibit our kit at CES. This really is the crème-de-la-crème of technology exhibitions and we hope that WIFIPLUG becomes the standout product in our industry. We have been entered for several innovation awards for our new features and we are hopeful that we will gain plenty of recognition in a week’s time. If you follow us, you can keep up-to-date with how we get on.
So what’s new this month? Well, first of all and as always, we would like to thank our customers. We’ve had some incredible feedback on WIFIPLUG HOME and we are genuinely thrilled that so many of you love it as much as we do! The HomeKit functionality seems to be going down a storm and our new Apple-certification means that WIFIPLUG integrates seamlessly with your Apple TVs, iPhones and other HomeKit accessories. But that’s not all – we are the only plug on Planet Earth to work with everything: Alexa, Siri, Google, IFTTT – WIFIPLUG really is the plug that speaks all languages!
This month, we are tweaking our back-end infrastructure: our server is being upgraded to handle the load of our ever-increasing customer-base, our databases are being redesigned and we are developing new firmware to roll out with the new app – so it’s all go at WIFIPLUG! Our goal is to deliver the perfect user experience and we’ll stop at nothing to make it happen.
So – to CES! We have been talking to just about everyone about our exhibition plans: Apple, Amazon, tech bloggers and journalists, IoT businesses – the list goes on (and on!). Our plan is to make some meaningful connections as our product continues to grow, so watch this space for more HomeKit functionality, added Amazon features to work with Alexa and some super nifty Google and IFTTT commands.
What does 2018 have in store? Here’s a hint of things to come: you may have noticed ‘HeartBeat’ mode on the current app. We are working to develop an intuitive AI Engine that will allow the plug to learn user routines meaning when you’re out, people passing will think you’re in. We see this feature (for which we have a patent pending) as the future of SMART technology and by bringing it to market first; we hope to lead the way to the future!
As always, we will keep you up to date on Twitter, our website and through other media throughout the month and year. We would like to wish all of our customers a Happy New Year and prosperous 2018.