Apple-Backed 'Project CHIP' to Start Smart Home Device Certification in Late 2021
In late 2019, Apple along with Amazon, Google, and the Zigbee Alliance announced plans to develop a universal standard for smart home products, leveraging existing protocols like Apple's HomeKit, Amazon's Alexa, and Google's Weave.
The so-called "Project Connected Home over IP" or "Project CHIP" aims to make it easier for device manufacturers to build devices that are compatible with a variety of smart home platforms and voice assistants by defining a specific set of IP-based networking technologies for device certification. The new open source standard will rely on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE, and Thread for device setup and connectivity.
According to a webinar hosted by the Zigbee Alliance earlier this week, highlighted by The Verge, companies participating in the project will be able to get devices certified beginning in late 2021. The standard will be available across several categories, including lights, locks, cameras, thermostats, window coverings/shades, TVs, and even smart home bridges to bring Project CHIP to older smart home products.
If the Project CHIP standard is successful, customers will have greater confidence that smart home products they purchase are compatible with a wide variety of smart home platforms and smart home products they already own.
Related Stories
Google today announced that its Google One VPN is available to iPhone and iPad users, one and a half years after promising to bring it to iOS devices.
The service, which has on Android smartphones and tablets since October 2020, is available for Google One members who have the 2TB Premium plan. Google One Premium is priced at $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year, and in addition to VPN...
The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), which includes Apple, Samsung, Google, Amazon, and others, today announced the launch of the "Matter" smart home standard has been delayed until the fall of 2022 (via The Verge).
Matter seeks to unify and simplify the smart home ecosystem with a new interoperable standard. Announced in 2019 as "Project CHiP," Matter is a unified IP-based...
The iPhone 14 could offer better battery life and feature Wi-Fi 6E connectivity thanks to a new 5G chip, supply chain sources claim.
Taiwan's Economic Daily News reports that TSMC has obtained all of Apple's orders for its 5G radio frequency (RF) chips for the iPhone 14 lineup, taking over from Samsung. The chips, likely related to Apple's selection of Qualcomm's Snapdragon X65 modem, are...
Apple's team of employees working on the company's long-rumored electric vehicle has "been dissolved for some time," and must be reorganized soon in order for mass production of the vehicle to begin by 2025, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in a tweet today.
Apple's electric vehicle plans have reportedly faced numerous setbacks since the project was approved in 2014, including several leadership...
Sonos is today participating in an antitrust hearing on the smart home, where Sonos legal chief Eddie Lazarus had some commentary to share on the smart home market and the dominance of companies like Amazon, Google, and Apple.
Headed up by Amy Klobuchar, the Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights is today hosting a hearing on "Protecting Competition and Innovation ...
Apple today introduced a redesigned website for its Open Source projects, which houses Apple's open source work like Swift, WebKit, ResearchKit, FoundationDB, and more. The updated site can be found at opensource.apple.com.
The site includes two main sections, including Featured Projects to showcase a selection of Apple's open source work, and a second section for Releases.
The Featured...
Aqara HomeKit accessories are now available from the Apple Store Online in a range of European countries, the company has today announced.
Aqara products will be available from the Apple Store Online in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK. To date, Aqara products have only been stocked in Apple Stores in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macao.
Review: Aqara Camera Hub G2H and Sensors...
TP-Link today at CES 2022 announced that it will be expanding its Tapo line of smart home accessories from Europe to the United States, and some of the accessories will also be gaining support for Apple's smart home platform HomeKit, allowing the accessories to be controlled with Siri or the Home app on Apple devices.
Some of the HomeKit-enabled accessories will include the Tapo P125 Mini...
Popular Stories
While past rumors have indicated the upcoming second-generation AirPods Pro will feature a built-in heart rate and body temperature sensor, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has cast doubt on those rumors turning out to be true, saying instead such a feature is unlikely to come anytime soon.
"Over the past few months, there have been rumors about this year's model gaining the ability to determine a...
Apple is working on an Apple Watch Series 8 model with a larger display, according to DSCC's Ross Young and Haitong International Securities's Jeff Pu.
In October last year, Young suggested that the Apple Watch Series 8 could come in three display sizes. Now, responding to a query about the rumor on Twitter, Young claims that the additional display size joining the Apple Watch lineup will be ...
The upcoming launch of Apple's redesigned MacBook Air with the M2 chip has some Windows laptop manufacturers "worried" that sales of Intel-based laptops will be negatively affected, according to industry sources cited by DigiTimes.
"A Wintel brand vendor pointed out that at a price point of US$1,000-$1,500, the MacBook Air will crowd out other high-end notebooks," the report claims, with...
European Union lawmakers have approved landmark legislation to heavily regulate Apple, Google, Meta, and other big tech firms.
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA) were proposed by the European Commission in December 2020. Now, collected in a "Digital Services Package," the legislation has been formally adopted by the European Parliament and seeks to address...
Apple today announced that the new MacBook Air equipped with the M2 chip will be available to order starting Friday, July 8 at 5 a.m. Pacific Time. Apple said deliveries to customers and in-store availability will begin Friday, July 15.
MacRumors exclusively reported that Apple planned to launch the new MacBook Air on July 15, and the date has now been confirmed by Apple. Customers will be...
The M2 MacBook Pro has started making its way into customers' hands and we're learning more about how it performs in a variety of situations, but all eyes are really on the upcoming M2 MacBook Air which has seen a complete redesign and should be arriving in a couple of weeks.
Other top stories this week included a host of product rumors including additional M2 and even M3 Macs, an updated...
Apple today announced a new Lockdown Mode coming to the iPhone, iPad, and Mac with iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura. Apple says the optional security feature is designed to protect the "very small number" of users who may be at risk of "highly targeted cyberattacks" from private companies developing state-sponsored spyware, such as journalists, activists, and government employees.
Apple...
Apple today released new firmware for the Siri Remote designed for the Apple TV, updating the software from version 9M6772 to 10M1103. The software is for the redesigned Siri Remote that was released in May 2021, aka the gray remote with the updated interface. In the Apple TV settings, the new firmware will display as 0x0070, up from 0x0061. There is no word on what's new with the Apple TV...
Top Rated Comments
#2 is the most important as buildings have very long lifetimes and no one wants to replace the switches, plugs, lightbulbs and thermostats every three years.
Apple has such a horrible reputation with #2 that until now you'd be nuts to use their products in a building. They really do need a standard that will last as long as a building stands.