Feb 11, 2019
Craig is on WGIR at the Auto Fair listener lines with Jack and Justin. They talked about Lowe's Iris smart home technology shutting down on March 31st as well as the things you can teach your Amazon Alexa.
These and more tech tips, news, and updates visit - CraigPeterson.com
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Related Articles
Loweโs Smart Home
Device Platform Shuts Down March 31st
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Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors.
Airing date: 02/11/2019
Lowes Iris Smart Home Technology Dies - Amazon Alexa Tricks And Tips
Craig Peterson 0:00
Hey good morning everybody. I kind of have a voice left that we get
this bug it's been going around. Thank goodness I don't have the
flu but I'm kind of congested and here I am making videos doing all
of the training this week. I just finished the firewall video
explaining what they are, how to use them, when you should turn
them off, when you should turn them on, how to use the free
firewalls in your computers. And I was just struggling through
this. It's I guess it's that time of the year right everything's
closed up and you're indoors who knows maybe it's even an allergy
but anyhow. So I'm a little clogged up today. What am I gonna do?
What am I going to say well this morning I was on with Mr. Jack
Heath and we've talked about a couple of technology things when it
comes to smart homes Lowe's and if you've seen their Iris displays
that's about to change. That's Lowe's whole foray into the smart
home technology platform. And we also, this morning, talked about
Amazon and the Alexa and the Dot and, and Justin got a new one. So
talk a little bit about how I use them in my home and what Justin
thinks of them as well. So here we go with Jack Heath.
Unknown 1:16
Hey, right now Craig Peterson our Tech Talk guy. And Craig joins us
for a few moments on this Monday morning on the Auto Fair listener
lines. Craig I guess maybe the Smart Home app by Lowe's may not be
around much longer.
Unknown 1:31
Hey, good morning, Jack. Yeah, this is an interesting turn. But
it's something that could be pretty easily predicted. You know, in
every industry, when it starts out, there's a lot of players. We
had hundreds of automobile manufacturers at the turn of the last
century and goes it narrowed right down as there was consolidation.
Well, Lowe's you might have noticed has something called Iris.
You've probably seen it on the end caps at the local Lowe's stores.
And this was their answer to home automation. And it was a pretty
decent little package but you know, I kind of kept an eye on it and
never saw anyone standing there looking at it. And apparently
Lowe's has decided that maybe having their own smart home
technology brand isn't the way to go. So they have announced that
the app for Iris as well as their devices are going to be shut down
on March 31, Jack, and that means that they're going to be
reimbursing some people. They will be giving out some gift
certificates to people. It looks like Samsung is going to kind of
step in and trying to help with this whole transition, maybe take
over some of the devices. But as Justin and I were talking about
during the break here is Amazon man they seem to be winning this
game and Lowe's is obviously lost.
Unknown 2:54
Interesting. Hey are you just as you were saying earlier what would
you say you have in your home now Justin?
Unknown 3:00
I got that Amazon Alexa Dot thing. I got a subscription to
something. They sent me one for free. So listen, I know Bezos
probably knows everything about me at this point but I don't care.
I love the thing. You can spy on me all you want.
Unknown 3:14
Well it's just the pictures I think he's after but the other story.
It doesn't spy on you. It's a real interesting technology the way
it's set up. But basically when you give it the wake word, and by
the way you can change that wake word. It doesn't have to be Alexa.
It can be computer. It can be Amazon. You can change that. But when
it when you give that wake word that's all local. It is not sending
your data. It's not sending your audio up to the cloud for people
to spy on. It is being processed locally. And then once it wakes up
and start sending the data to the cloud. But Justin I agree with
you. I've got some of these Alexas in my house too. I've got the
show. I've got the Dot and I have pre-ordered the Amazon Alexa for
the car. It's a little thing that's going to sit on the dashboard.
But I don't know about you Justin. I have found it to be really
really handy. I use it to tune into WGIR. I use it to listen to
music. I get the weather report. I get a recap of the news. It's
incredible.
Unknown 4:21
So here's what I do Craig because my my kids don't listen to me.
But the listen to a machine. I set a reminder to tell it to tell my
daughter it's time for her to go, you know, get the shower at night
because she's stuck on her phone. But when she hears Alexa, yell at
her. She'll do it. It's like wow. Alexa could parent for me now too
it's great.
Unknown 4:41
Alexa. Yeah. Wow. What's the next one? What is next? All right.
Craig Peterson. Good stuff on this Monday morning. Thanks, Craig.
Joining us in the Auto Fair listener lines.
Unknown 4:51
Take care guys.
Hey, a reminder, by the way. If you are trying to do computer cybersecurity yourself, for your business where you're just trying to keep them safe. Right. You know, you're not trying to become an expert or anything. That's what I'm doing this week. So make sure you are on it. Go to http://CraigPeterson..com. Sign up right there on the homepage. I'm giving away my best stuff for free. This is not a pitch fest. http://CraigPeterson..com,right there at the top of the page, click the sign up button. Sign up for that webinar will tell you about all of the other stuff we're doing this week and get you a little bit more information. Let's put it that way about what to do and how to do it to keep them safe. Take care. We'll be back tomorrow. Bye bye.
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