- CNET is helping the real estate industry get up to speed on smart home technology with its just-launched Smart Home Matrix.
- The Matrix is a website that shows consumers how existing products in this space connect with one another.
- New products are being introduced every day and agents need to be versed in this growing home amenity trend.
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If you haven’t been to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, I promise that it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen — even for Vegas standards.
The show started yesterday, and smart home technology will be on display in spades this year. In conjunction with this tech segment’s rapid ascension, CNET launched its Smart Home Matrix, a website developed to show consumers how existing products in this space connect with one another.
CNET.com’s Smart Home Matrix
The site could help real estate agents get a grip on the increasingly expanding compendium of devices in the market and what works with what. Agents can also use it as a study guide of sorts to prepare for the questions they’ll inevitably receive on the topic.
The matrix will be an ever-evolving tool, continually adding new products and updating specifications for their collaboration.
Smart Home Matrix compatibility example.
Users click on a major system, like the Wink Hub, and the ensuing page details all the other tools that it can control.
“From our own testing in the CNET Smart Home, we understand one of the largest hurdles in adopting smart home technology is getting multiple devices to work together. Our Smart Home Matrix helps consumers do just that,” said Mark Larkin, SVP and GM at CNET in the press release.
In May of this year, CNET partnered with Coldwell Banker to develop a smart home technology certification curriculum for agents.
Lenovo Smart Home Assistant with Amazon’s Alexa
The partnership included arriving at a definition for “smart home,” as well as the assemblage of a smart home staging kit.
The kit is a selection of the most common devices covering home systems most often associated with being improved by automation, like heating and cooling, security, and lighting.
Fringe and mainstream brands alike are throwing their propeller beanies into the smart home market. For example, computer maker Lenovo is launching its Alexa-based Smart Assistant at the show.
The show is also holding a “super session” titled, “The Next Big Thing: Smarter Homes For Everyone,” with “Mr. Robot” actress Carly Chaikin headlining.
Panelists include Mike George, vice president of Echo, Alexa and Appstore at Amazon.com; Rishi Chandra, vice president of product management at Google Home; Alex Hawkinson, founder and CEO of SmartThings; and Jason Johnson, founder and CEO of August Home.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe.
