What does IoT mean for your consumer business?

Question: To warmup a bit, could you please tell us a bit about your role here in Cozify?

Antti: I am responsible for business development, which in practice means working with our channel partners to introduce smart home solutions to their customers.

Question: Internet of Things (IoT) has been around some time and the hype around it has been huge. Why IoT is relevant to me?

Antti: IoT affects our everyday life already today, even though we don't necessary recognize it. For businesses, IoT is a huge megatrend that is sweeping across industries creating opportunities for increased operational efficiency and data driven business logic.

From the consumers point of view, for example TV's, amplifiers, speakers, game consoles are connected to the internet. It starts to be difficult to buy devices that are not somehow connected. The issue is most of them are point solutions that are good in the one thing they are designed for. This results in a clutter of apps in the smartphone and none of them interact with each other, thus wasting a lot potential benefits.

Question: What kind of benefits do you mean?

Antti: Well, you may already have a wireless multi-room speaker system, such as Sonos. And then you might have a Belkin Wemo motion sensor. Wouldn’t it be nice to make them play together? You would want to turn on the music when you walk into the kitchen at a time when you typically prepare food. Or play a loud dog bark when you are not around and there’s movement on the porch.

Obviously just the imagination is the limit once you start exploring the possibilities. Use cases can range from convenience to security to energy efficiency. For example, motion sensors are very handy in many cases: it is possible to automate lights as you move around the house and have the right kind of light based on the time of day/sunrise/sunset/darkness level. Or movement can trigger video recording if nobody is supposed to be at home.

Question: I’m interested in saving energy. How can I do it without compromising comfort?

Antti: If you have an air-to-air heat pump (like they are called here in Scandinavia) or an air conditioner, you probably don’t want the AC to run when the door has been left open for more than a minute. Or only heat the room or house when somebody is around. When devices are connected, everything happens automatically and best part is, it is remarkably easy to adjust rules and scenes whenever you want.

Question: What about data security?

Antti: That really is a hot topic and it makes sense to have a bit of patience to look at the implementation. Some systems rely entirely on cloud services, i.e. all the data is transferred to a remote server, which then determines what should be done with it. This could be a bit of a risk if you value your privacy or reliability of the system. I would recommend looking at products that are based on a hub that resides in your home. This way it is possible to make it more secure and much more responsive as it doesn’t rely on your internet connection.

To ensure everything is in order from the security point of view, we conduct security audit at least once a year, where third party company completes a full security review of our backend, hub software and mobile application. If issues are found, everything is fixed and audit is done again. This way we can be sure all possible issues are fixed and the security is not compromised.

Question: Can service providers benefit from IoT?

Antti: Yes, definitely. It is possible to start offering smart home as a service to your consumer customers and complement your current offering. Once your customers get used to the perks of the system, it is unlikely that they want to churn to another service provider. This way you can increase customer stickiness and be relevant in their everyday life. There is strong evidence that this increases your Net Promoter Score.

Question: Great! Are there any other benefits?

Antti: There are examples where the core business benefits directly from the smart home. Take e.g. the insurers: they can offer their customers an open smart home system that is making their life more comfortable every day while protecting against water leaks, fires and burglaries. The insurer saves on the number and value of claims and can proactively take care of repairs if the damage happens.

It is also good to remember the IoT derived data is the potential bonanza for the service providers. With careful analysis, it is possible to segment your customers very specifically and offer only relevant services to them. For the insurance industry, this paves the way towards usage based property insurance products. However, one must be extremely conscious about communicating the benefits the consumer can expect in exchange of submitting data generated in his home to a 3rd party. Naturally, we don't share our users' data in any way without asking permission to do so from our users. And all shared data must be anonymized anyways.

Question: Sounds interesting, where can I find out more?

Antti: Cozify is a Finnish consumer IoT startup that has developed a full-stack smart home solution. We sell our solution directly to consumers while building our channel partner network internationally. If you’d like to learn more in your consumer role, feel free to explore our website http://en.cozify.fi/. For your business needs, just head to http://en.cozify.fi/pages/for-partners or request a meeting with me (antti@cozify.fi).

Antti Vihavainen
Business Development & Sales, Cozify Oy

ZigBee devices - Overview

One of the most popular technologies for wireless smart home communication is ZigBee, Z-Wave being its closest competitor. Both are several generations ahead in features compared to the classic radio based wireless remote control devices that operate e.g. on the 433 MHz radio band.

ZigBee offers a robust communication channel between the devices so that each message can be either delivered successfully or the failure to do so is detected and reacted upon. Another great advantage is the mesh networking capability where each mains powered device propagates and routes the messages to extend the range of the Zigbee network.

ZigBee radio operates with low power consumption which enables the devices to be running on batteries. The radio communication is encrypted to secure your home from hackers or from unintentional controlling.

Cozify & ZigBee

We at Cozify have had good experiences with ZigBee devices in general. All devices are tested thoroughly before official support is announced. Recommendations are only given to devices that are proven to work reliably.

Here are our top-3 ZigBee device recommendations of March 2017:

Philips Hue Lights

Philips Hue lights are stylish and most reliable wireless lights we’ve met so far. Available as bulbs, table tops, wall/ceiling lamps and led strips.

Philips Hue Motion

Affordable, reliable and stylish motion detector, that also comes with an in-built temperature and daylight sensor.

Osram Lightify Plug

Reliable, simple to use power plug.

Tips'n'Tricks

Before moving into solving problems and issues, it is important to emphasize the easiness of installation and use, and most often design of modern ZigBee devices. In most cases, ZigBee devices are reliable. However, like with everything where software is involved, we sometimes face problems and need a few useful tips to recover.

1. Once taken into use, Zigbee devices are rather reliable. But in case issues are faces, first thing is to check, and if needed, replace the battery. 
2. This is simple and sounds obvious, but bring the device closer to the hub. If this improves the reliability, then either the distance between the device and the hub is too long, or the signal is blocked by for example a wall.
3. Always ensure that all your Zigbee devices are on. Sometimes lamp or bulb is switched off, which means the mesh network might get broken. If the lamp which is switched off is crucial node of your mesh network, other devices connected to the hub through these devices, will be unavailable.
4. Sometimes the Zigbee mesh network needs to be rebuild. Devices don't always route the signal from and to the hub optimal way. To rebuild Zigbee mesh network, turn all your Zigbee devices on, unplug the Cozify Hub, and leave it off 10 to 15 minutes. This is something that might help if newly added devices don't work reliably. Or if issues begin when you change the location of your Zigbee devices.
5. A bit more advanced way to do troubleshooting is to ensure the Zigbee channel the hub uses is as free of wifi networks as possible. Please check out this article for troubleshooting tips. If channels collide, try changing either the hub or wifi router channel as far from each other as possible. The channel Cozify Hub uses can be changed from the Cozify app (settings). Note, that if you change the Cozify Hub Zigbee channel from the app, you must re-pair all your Zigbee devices.

Security of the technology 

Even with encryption all the wireless devices suffer from the fact that the radio signals can be jammed by skillful hackers. Then it is up to the system’s design to decide what happens when a device becomes unreachable; does it make an alarm or just plays “robust” to device failures and ignores them. The security of Zigbee devices in general is good. For the absolute highest level of security (and reliability), we suggest installing wired sensors, for example FutureNow relay units, for places that are prone to attract skilled burglars. For the rest of us, the wireless sensors are great for keeping the home secure from unwanted visitors.

ZigBee vs Z-Wave comparison

Although very similar, there are a few differences between the ZigBee and Z-Wave technologies. The prices have come down a lot over the past few years on both device families, and they will continue to drop, but still the Z-wave devices are a bit more expensive. For the money, the end users have enjoyed a better interoperability between the Z-wave certified devices. ZigBee is an open standard and the increased competition has had an impact on the pricing.

ZigBee uses the same radio channel as WiFi and can therefore potentially cause interference. Z-Wave uses unlicensed radio bands that are different in EU and USA due to their regulations. That’s why the end users' needs to select the correct version of their devices. On paper Z-wave has a slightly longer range and ZigBee has a higher data rate, but in real-life these differences are not noticeable.

Both protocols have evolved during the past years to be closer to each other in feature wise. In the end, it boils down to the support available in the selected smart home system. At this very moment, the Cozify Hub supports ZigBee out of the box and the support for the Z-Wave is coming soon. The hub has already all the needed hardware inside, so only a software update is needed for all the existing Cozify users to begin using Z-Wave devices, once it is available.

Read more about Cozify Hub and supported devices from our home page, www.cozify.fi

Cozify, Rosendal Real Estate and TMPL have built 1st fully cozified apartment building to Uppsala, Sweden

Finnish startup company Cozify Oy has today announced exciting news about 1st apartment building project called Tiunda Park built by Rosendal Fastigheter, Sweden, to include Cozify smart home features and functionalities in all 34 apartments. Cozify offering complements TMPL solution, that offers ways to inhabitants to follow electricity and water consumption, and be in touch with neighbors, landlords and service providers from the area.

Cozify Hub and a set of high quality smart devices, including motion and fire detectors, door sensors and wall switches, were installed and configured in building construction phase. “It is important to take into consideration the needs of both residents and the landlord. Residents need a modern, easy to use and safe home for all family members. Whereas the landlord needs to handle issues like changes in user privileges when people move in and out.”, says Cozify founder and CEO Kimmo Ruotoistenmäki. “During the past year, there has been an increasing demand to add support for devices, like relays, to serve the needs of builders. This is definitely an interesting new business area for us”, he continues.

“We were looking for a modern and robust solution that is easy to integrate with our own TMPL platform and the mobile app. Building management and apartment level user privileges control were important selection criteria for us. With Cozify, we can provide highly appreciated increased security level for our customers. Open platform and extensibility were also important topics for us. We evaluated several different home automation entities, and found out Cozify fulfilled our needs best.”, says TMPL CEO, Eric Anderbjörk.

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Cozify Oy is a Finnish startup company founded in March 2013, that offers home automation platform and toolset to fulfill increasing and fast growing home automation demand from both consumers' and different businesses point of view. Cozify is headquartered in Espoo. Team behind the company has been responsible for the creation of several successful companies and service concepts. http://en.cozify.fi

TMPL Solutions AB develops digital solutions for safe and environmentally friendly housing and living environments, with a focus on sustainable urban planning and community development. TMPL is a subsidiary of the Rosendal Fastigheter AB, based in the Uppsala/Stockholm area. The company was founded in 2015 and has 12 coworkers. Read more on www.tmpl.se



Additional information:
Kimmo Ruotoistenmäki, CEO, GSM. +358 40 352 8898 / kimmo@cozify.fi
Eric Anderbjörk, CEO, GSM. +46 706 200107 / eric@tmpl.se

Cozify News: Security Challenge 2016 - Summary

Cozify participated the Information Challenge finals hosted by Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority November 2016. Event was part of Junction Hackatlon -2106, where tech enthusiasts meet, design and develop ideas into actual projects with like-minded hackers. Cozify and a few other companies gave their smart home hub and supported devices for the teams to hack. The target for each team was to find as many security vulnerabilities as possible during the given time.

The results were as we expected. The feedback we received from the teams was excellent quality and most importantly, the teams could not break the security of our system during the event.

“It was interesting to follow how different teams work. I think it is important to offer challenges like this for talented and extremely professional young hackers to really show what they can do. Good result was not a huge surprise for us. We audit all components of our solutions at least yearly, including Cozify Hub, Cozify application, and our backend systems. Security is top priority for us and have been taken into consideration from the begin.”, says Kimmo Ruotoistenmäki, CEO, Cozify.

This was the first-time Security Challenge event was organized. “We are happy to join security challenge event also in the future, if such events are arranged. To challenge yourself and the way how you work time to time is always useful. And if security issues are found, it is better to find possible those in controlled environment and fix immediately, compared to some vague notifications. This was a great event and we want to thank Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority for taking care of all the arrangements.”, he continues.

The aim for the security challenge was to challenge teams to solve information security related questions and search vulnerabilities from different kind of systems; devices, applications, backend systems, and combinations of these all. “Security challenge was a huge success, not only because teams were talented and highly professional, but also because of great support from companies who joined the challenge. During the event it was obvious, that there are huge differences between companies and products in means of security. Companies coming from Finland tend to take security more seriously compared to other similar companies. Still, there are always something need to be improved, and companies must develop their own security competence all the time.", says Jarkko Saarimäki, director of cyber security centre, Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority.

Espoo, 16. February 2017

A cozier and a more energy efficient home - air conditioner support published!

It is great to publish heating and energy efficiency related new features in autumn. Controlling an air conditioner using a Cozify Hub has been on our customers' wish list for a long time. Now it's possible! I've pointed out here the basics of how to take AirPatrol into use, and what kind of new and exciting features we support for it.

AirPatrol WiFi

Ultimately the decision to user AirPatrol was easy. AirPatrol WiFi supports over 700 different air conditioner models from several different manufacturers. With one integration we were able to reach a truly comprehensive support for a wide selection of air conditioner models. Already own an air conditioner? Check the complete list of supported models here. It is important to take into account the fact that the support was implemented for only the AirPatrol WiFi version. SMS controlled GSM versions are not supported.

Setup and installation

Setting up the AirPatrol Wifi is easy and straightforward, and is done according to the instructions of manufacturer found in the AirPatrol WiFi sales package. Ensure that during the setup, the AirPatrol WiFi is connected to the same home network where Cozify Hub is connected to.

Tip: Always before pairing 3rd party devices with Cozify hub, ensure that the device is working as expected using the manufacture's own mobile application.

When the AirPatrol WiFi is installed, you can pair the device with Cozify Hub.

Pairing is done by following these steps:

• Initialize the pairing by selecting the (+)-icon at the right top corner of the Devices screen
• Select ADD MANUALLY button
• Select Add WiFi devices (by technology) or AirPatrol (by manufacturer)
• Type in the AirPatrol WiFi serial number from the back of the device, and select OK
• Press the pairing button on the right side of the AirPatrol WiFi device
• And finally select the OK button

Tip: If you don't want to type in the lengthy serial number using your phone or a tablet keypad, write down the number using your laptop and send it to yourself via email, and copy-paste it directly into the input field.

The manufacturer of the climate control unit is copied from the settings you made in the initial setup. Name the device and define the room the device is in, and you are ready to go!

Use

Basic controlling of the air conditioner is done using the Cozify application. You can

• Turn air conditioner on and off
• Set the mode to cooling, heating, fan, dry or auto
• Set the fan speed
• Turn swing mode on and off

These are the basic features, but the real value comes from the fact that Cozify Hub allows you to control air conditioner automatically using motion detectors, door and window sensors, wireless temperature sensors, and several other Cozify Hub supported devices. Different modes of the air conditioner can be stored into a theme, allowing you to take your own preferred setting into use with a press of a single button. For example, you could have separate themes for cooling and heating without need to remember the setting you had before.

Tip: Schedule cooling or heating to begin 30 minutes before you wake up or arrive home from work or school. What a nice wake up or homecoming treat!

Tip: Set the air conditioner to begin the heating or cooling automatically when you arrive home (rule: when mobile at home, turn scene on). Or control the heat pump manually using a wall switch.

A few examples of the rules

"Turn off the air conditioner if any of the home's exterior doors are open for more than 3 minutes. And turn on the heat pump when the door is closed."

When in a hurry, the front door is easily left open by accident. I love the possibility to leave it to Cozify Hub to automatically take care of controlling the air conditioner: It's rather expensive and frustrating to heat or cool the outdoors. Adjust the delay the way you want.

To create this rule, you need a door/window sensor for example from Centralite.

Another nice rule that adds the comfort of your home, is turning the air conditioner on only when someone is in the room.

"Turn on the cooling when motion is detected. And turn the cooling off when the room has been empty for 5 minutes."

Like in the previous example, you can adjust the delay the way you want.

To create this rule, you need a motion sensor for example from Centralite.

Other examples of possible air conditioner related rules:

• Turn on the air conditioner (cooling or heating), when certain room temperature is exceeded or fallen below (the level can be defined freely)
• Turn on the air conditioner, when certain relative room humidity level is exceeded or fallen below (the level can be defined freely)
• Send notification (push, sms or email) when certain room temperature is exceeded or fallen below (the level can be defined freely)
• Send notification (push, sms or email) when certain relative room humidity level is exceeded or fallen below (the level can be defined freely)
• Turn a theme on or off based on the room temperature
• Turn a theme on or off based on the room relative humidity level
• Turn the air conditioner off automatically after 2 hours of use (set the time freely)
• Turn off the air conditioner if smoke is detected (requires smoke detector) 
• Turn off the air conditioner if water is detected (requires water leak sensor)

Order the AirPatrol WiFi from Cozify Store from here.

If you don't yet own a Cozify Hub, a nice way to start exploring how your smart home could improve your home safety and energy efficiency, is to begin with one of our well thought starter bundles.

Cozify User Story - Home of a young couple

We've been using Cozify in our home for a little bit over a year now. I’ve grown to like the convenience that when the morning or night comes, I don’t need to walk through all the rooms to switch on or off all the individual lights separately. Especially for us who prefer atmospheric lighting, Cozify has given a flexible and convenient way to use individual lights in selected locations.

We have currently a total of 7 different individual lamps across the rooms and balcony in our apartment. This gives us creative and flexible possibilities to use lighting as part of decoration which is constantly evolving. If I’d need to manually to go to turn them on and off every time I 1) wake up, 2) leave the house, 3) return to the house and 4) go to sleep, it would require me to visit to switch those lights on and off 28 times during one day. If we left the house two times per day instead of one, the number would be a total of 42 times switches of lights per each day. It is 2016, and it should be easier, and it is.

You can automate traditional “non-smart” lamps ON and OFF via a smart power socket

Once we leave the house empty, we turn on the AWAY mode on our way out, and all the 7 lights go off + the Sonos music speaker if it’s on. Once we return home and open the door, the Nyce contact sensor tells Cozify to turn on the HOME -mode, switching on all the lights we want with desired settings regarding the time of the day. Once we go to sleep, I will set Cozify to NIGHT mode at the same as I put on the wake up for the next day from my mobile. In the morning as I shut down the phone’s alarm, I turn OFF the NIGHT mode, and all the lights are back on + music/radio in bathroom for a morning routine if we feel like it.

While still in AWAY mode, when you enter your home (by opening the door), the Nyce door sensor turns automatically ON the HOME mode

Of course, as soon as we’d get geo-location tags attached to our keys, going away from home could be also detected automatically, and I believe the geo-tag device support is coming still during this year to Cozify. But meanwhile, I will take the manual AWAY-switching using Cozify application anytime over the manual light switching across the rooms.


Another convenient use of lights in addition to switching them and off, or changing the mood according the time of the day, is at night. If there is movement in the hallway at night time (detected by the Nyce motion sensor), the desired set of lights turn ON and OFF automatically (dimmed at 20% brightness not to blind you in the dark) if one of us visits the bathroom.

Proove outdoor power socket enables controlling also your balcony’s traditional lights and for example heating.

It's also possible to decide when the lights are off, even if someone is at home - I’ve used Cozify’s timer function to turn off the balcony lights when there’s enough light outside. Proove‘s outdoor smart power socket does the job beautifully. Cozify knows when the sun rises and falls, and the balcony lights and some of our indoor lights’ timings are based on that. I have added one hour buffer for those events through Cozify, being: the lights go off 1 hour after the sunrise, and 1 hour before the sundown as the sun in Finland doesn’t often tend to be too bright.

Another fun example we have connected to Cozify is the Sonos wireless speaker which is located in the bathroom. With Proove remote switch I’m able to change a Spotify-playlist or radio channel in the speaker depending on what kind of mood I’m having - without the need to have my phone and Cozify mobile app there with me. Enjoying sauna is often an essential part of a Finnish house party and for that it is also convenient to have switchable music at hand at the sauna premises. I have three dedicated playlists attached to the Proove remote switch. One of them being called “saunaChill” which contains chill out songs to be played in random order while having sauna or in the mornings. If I've been listening music/radio, the speaker goes off automatically with the lights via Cozify’s AWAY-mode as we leave the house for work.

If we are on a holiday elsewhere, we know that everything in the house is fine. In case the front door would open while we are on holiday, or if the temperature or moisture levels (detected by the NyCe multi sensor) would change unexpectedly, Cozify would send us an sms or push notification to our mobile notifying about it. As the camera device support is about to be included to Cozify, via a video camera we will also see then remotely exactly what is happening in the house.

As we’ve grown to the convenience of having Cozify, it definitely is giving added value and convenience to our home experience making every day living more convenient and enjoyable. We’ve just scratched the surface so far regarding the possibilities Cozify. Cozify Hub will introduce a bunch of new features still during this year, such as the video camera support etc.

Here is our Cozify setup:

Cozify Hub 249.00 €	Philips Hue Bloom x2 69.95 €	NyCe Multi-Sensor - Ceiling 55 €	NyCe Door/Window Sensor 45 €
Sonos Play:1, white 225.00 €	Proove wall plug x3 9.90 €	Proove Outdoor wall plug + 8-button remote 17.90 €	Osram Lightify Smart Bulb, Color 45 €

The total cost of this home automation setup of ours is 806.5 € . What is to be noted though is that over half of the price is formed by the powerful high fidelity speaker of Sonos and the decoration lights, which cost always - them being smart devices or not. The difference in them compared to traditional solutions is of course that they bring now more value and convenience as I have them all working and connected together through Cozify in the house.


One cool aspect is that once you’ve gotten your basic home automation up and running, adding affordable new features to it little by little makes the future of your home and living gradually even more convenient and evolving. Next I am waiting for the camera, and a way to more precisely detect when someone is at home and when not. In the near future I’m considering adding probably a couple of affordable 433 MHz wall switches to control the Cozify’s currently manually controlled AWAY and NIGHT modes. There's also newly added security devices such as water leak detector, which as a home owner I'm motivated to setup next to our washing machine and fridge.

Smart Home Summit 2015

Cozify attended the Smart Home Summit in London in late September. We introduced people to Cozify Hub at our own stand and also participated in a few interesting panel discussions. Read on to learn more about the event and our observations.

The organiser had booked a relatively small space, to be on the safe side, but widespread interest in the event meant that the event was sold out even after extra space was added. The event drew some 400 participants who represented an interesting range of industries. Perhaps the largest group consisted of mobile phone and broadband operators, but the event also attracted insurance companies, energy companies and consumer electronics retailers. In addition to Cozify, the exhibitors mostly comprised manufacturers of various smart devices, such as smart thermostats, sensors and lighting systems. 

Research

Several research companies were invited to the seminar to discuss their recent findings. Martin Garner from CCS Insights encouraged businesses in the smart home space to take decisive measures to share their knowledge and expertise. He also pointed out that many older routers used in today’s homes are unable to serve the dozens of devices that a modern home can contain. This means that the routers will have to be replaced in the near future. This gives operators the opportunity to integrate smart home functionality into their own routers. Cozify was also asked about this possibility by a European operator. 

Bill Ablondi from Strategy Analytics was on hand to talk about his research on different user groups and their interest in smart homes. He highlighted two groups in particular: Green Nesters, meaning people with families who value the environment, and Impressers, meaning those who want to impress other people with their homes. According to research conducted by Strategy Analytics, these two groups are more likely to invest in building a smart home, although their motives for doing so are obviously quite different. 

Becoming a mass market

The event participants also included representatives of traditional home automation. Some were clearly annoyed by us new entrants thinking that this is a market that is only just being created. They made several comments to remind us that home automation has already been done for 20–30 years. I don’t think anyone denies this, but the traditional home automation companies way of working has unfortunately restricted the comfort and security of home automation to a very small segment of the population. We, along with other new entrants, have a mission of bringing this comfort and security to everyone, even those who rent rather than own their homes. 

However, I do agree with the representatives of traditional home automation that this will become a mass market through entertainment and convenience rather than security and energy-efficiency. Of course, it makes sense to incorporate all of these areas into a single user interface to make the system easy to use. 

Big numbers 

We should also note that between traditional automation and today’s era of the Internet of Things, there is a first class of rebels. Manufacturers such as the Germany-based e-Q3 have been developing and selling inexpensive devices using the 868 MHz frequency for several years. According to them, a device that fails to exceed half a million units in sales is a failure. 

AT&T from the United States has invested a lot in their own security-oriented product, with rumours suggesting that they are now selling tens of thousands of units per month. In Hong Kong, which is considered similar in size to the Finnish market, Huawei says they received 50,000 home automation orders through a local operator in just six months.

These numbers mean that home automation among ordinary consumers have already got off to a strong start in certain markets. Europe is trailing these markets slightly, but this is also the region that is developing the freshest concepts at this time.

Read more about Cozify Hub at www.cozify.fi.

Antti / Cozify

What is so special about Sonos loudspeakers?

I was asking myself the same question. Until I had the chance to try them.

I immediately fell in love.

I have been a fan of Tivoli radios for some time. The impeccable audio quality, solid structure and portability are important features for me. Tivoli meets these requirements well.

When I got the chance to test the Sonos Play:1 loudspeaker I immediately understood what I had been missing.

No more fruitless searching for radio stations: Sonos is able to play almost any music and audio you find on the internet. The splash-proof loudspeaker is resistant to moisture and considering its compact size, the audio quality is incredible.

Let me tell you more.

First of all, the loudspeaker is very stylish. It weighs just as much as a loudspeaker the size of a Play:1 should weigh. Not too much but enough to make you aware of its quality. One of my good friends often says that you know a good loudspeaker from its weight. And he is right.

The loudspeaker is splash-proof, so you can safely use it outdoors in your garden or take it with you into the sauna or bathroom. As it is an active speaker, it requires mains current. A little water vapour won’t do it any harm but you will need to be careful in wet rooms. As indicated in the instructions, it will not hold up if liquids are poured directly onto it.

It is very easy to install. The downside of the installation is that Sonos has not developed an application for Windows phones. You will need a phone or a tablet with Android or an iOS operating system in order to install it.

The usability of the Sonos application could be a bit better. It does work, but it takes some effort to understand the logic how the application works. The targeted searches can also be confusing at times.

But when you access the system’s full potential, it’ll be a moment you never forget.

You can find any music you ever dreamed of from the Spotify and Deezer services. Hundreds of thousands of podcasts and thousands of radio stations will take your breath away. The pleasure does not stop here: you can get additional content from your own media server or music saved on your phone.

Unlike Bluetooth loudspeakers, Sonos does not need a separate player or source: it can play online music independently even if your mobile phone battery is running out or you took it in your pocket more than ten metres away. This is a good feature and I personally find this downside quite annoying in Bluetooth loudspeakers.

There is one nice detail worth mentioning about the radio stations. I live in a place where it is very difficult to capture radio signals. If I don't place the radio on the right place and point it in the right direction, the audio crackles and audio disturbances occur when there is movement near the radio. Sonos resolves this issue. I can find all Finnish online radios on the list and the audio quality is good. If national radios are not enough for you, you can search content from foreign stations as I already might have mentioned.

With Sonos, you can form a stereo pair out of several loudspeakers very easily. You can also group several loudspeakers and place them in different rooms to play the same music throughout the whole building. This is particularly useful for parties: there is no need to blast the volume in one room in order to hear the music in the adjacent rooms.

Sonos and Cozify Hub

Sonos is a great product all by itself, there’s no doubt about it. But we wanted to take loudspeakers to a whole new level.

First of all, Cozify's app works on Windows phones. No restrictions in that regard. Everyone, regardless of their preferred phone manufacturer, are able to control their Sonos speakers.

With Cozify's hub, it is easy create different combinations out of Sonos loudspeakers, lights, intelligent power sockets and motion sensors to improve your everyday routine and to add some luxury to your life.

I’m able to create a dawn simulator to wake me up 15 minutes before the actual wake-up time. At 6:30 am the radio channel or play list I choose kicks me out of my bed. If I want, I could also set a different play list for each morning and all devices and lights in the house are turned off automatically when I go to work.

During the day I get a notification if there is any movement at my home when it should be empty. At that moment bright lights turn on and Sonos activates a loud signal, which could be growling and barking sound if you like. It will certainly not replace a watchdog but it is better than silence!

The lights and the selected radio station or playlist turn on automatically when I come home from work.

My wife loves the romantic night theme which dims the lights to a pleasant warm light and plays Rod Steward's version of the song "I Only Have Eyes For You." I am able to turn on the romantic theme with a simple touch of my finger.

You can do all sort of useful things and have fun with modern wireless devices - your imagination is your only limit. It is extremely easy with Cozify's hub and app.

Find out more about Sonos loudspeakers and Cozify's hub at our online shop at http://shop.cozify.fi

- Tony / Cozify

Cozify now and tomorrow

Controlling home appliances and smart devices with smartphones and tablets is finally becoming mainstream. This development has been enabled by the decreasing price of connectivity and widespread utilization of the advanced features of smartphones. 

However, these are usually separate islands of functionality and therefore a link between them is needed.  

In this blog post we are going to take a peek into the great features of Cozify hub.

Cozify home automation is a new way to control the appliances and smart devices at home. You can automate things to happen based on time, movement, start or stop of an appliance or many other triggers.

We have paid special attention to the set-up process. You don’t have to hire an electrician for the installation, since everything is plug and play.

When you start the application for the first time, it searches for smart devices and connects them automatically. It also comes with pre-installed themes and rules that are typical for us all: home, night and away. It is very easy to add rules to the themes, or create new themes according to your preferences. 

BelowI've listed a few examples how you can improve your life using beautiful Cozify home automation.

Pleasant wake-up

Tired of being woken up abruptly with an unfriendly alarm? Just set the Cozify Hub to start gently raising the brightness of your smart lights in the bedroom. After a while the system can start playing your favorite music from Sonos loudspeakers. 

Worried about leaving the iron on?

Never mind, now you can check the status of all electric appliances that are connected to the smart wall plug even if you are not at home. If you want to automate this, you can set the maximum time a smart plug can stay on thus eliminating the danger of overheating of the iron or any other electric appliance. 

Welcome home 

Lights turn on and music start flowing when you come home. Your home welcomes you the way you want. 

Motion guard

You get notification when your child comes home from school. You can also set the system to notify you if it detects any movement when nobody should be at home.

Party or romantic moment?

You can set the color of lights, brightness and music to match your mood.

What next?

All of the above will be available at the time of launch. However, we have no intention to stay put. 

The first new area to be covered later this spring is home security. By adding window and door sensors, cameras and smoke sensors you can increase security significantly. A smart water valve can sense even a small leak and shut down the water supply in order to minimize damage while Cozify Hub sends a notification to you. 

Later on we’ll expand to energy efficiency and heating. Smart thermostats benefit from the information Cozify Hub can provide about the usage of the house and external conditions. 

All of this will be added to the existing system thus creating a truly silo-breaking solution. 

Supported devices 

Cozify has no intention to re-invent the wheel when it comes to smart devices. Quite the contrary – we support the best-of-breed products that you would be buying anyway. For the moment we have chosen to start with Sonos wireless speakers, Osram Lightify lights and bulbs, Belkin Wemo smart electricity plugs and Philips Hue lights. 

We have not limited the number of devices that can be connected to the system. If you already have connected devices, chances are they are already supported. 

In fact, the Cozify web shop is open, so hurry up and get a sample of our earlybird edition. 

Cozify and the IoT Hotpot

The Internet of Things (IoT) is like a huge kettle with a big fire underneath and too little soup in it. It bubbles like crazy and droplets fly across to other kettles nearby.

In this metaphor, the fire is being fed by venture capitalists and corporate acquisitions that want to get a piece of the soup. Nearby kettles are industry verticals that are effected by the phenomenon: either by threat of new entrants with new value propositions or by the desires of the incumbents to reinvent their business models. The effects range from simplest consumer products like coffee machines to giant industrial equipment like locomotives.

Some experiments will certainly fail as standalone connected products if the value proposition to the Average Joe is not appealing enough. Some smart devices will only prevail if their standalone functionality can be enriched by intelligently linking it with other smart devices, and thus automating their actions.

Even in the area of home automation there are now several waves of companies. Some have taken the physical hub approach – like Cozify, and others rely on the intelligence residing in the cloud or in the handset. All of the approaches have benefits and drawbacks. However, we believe that the most important factor for widespread acceptance is the customer journey from interest to education and from purchasing to set-up, not to mention the daily use.

Our aim is to exceed expectations in all those phases. This means making sure the sales channel knows how to best sell our product. It means that they are fairly compensated for their efforts. It means that our logistics process takes into account the information we have received from the customer in order to personalize the hub before it reaches the customer. It means that consumer is not confused by a complicated set-up process which would result in a distressed call to the support line of the channel partner. Furthermore, it means that the user is not left alone when starting to use the system but first themes and rules have been thought out according to usual daily habits of people.

The user journey has become the focus of the development recently at Cozify and we are so proud of the result that we will be showcasing it at the giant CeBit exhibition in March. Oh, did we forget to mention it? We were awarded a booth at the Internet of Things –hall by Code_n organization.

If you would like to become our reseller, please let us know by sending an email to partners@cozify.fi. We’ll even give you an entrance ticket to CeBit.

See you there!

Something small into Santa's bag

The holidays around New Year are just around the corner. The last moment to purchase gifts for your close ones is, well, about right now.

We listed here a few interesting products to help you with your last minute gift shopping.

Adidas miCoach Smart Ball
A football that can tell you the power of your kick and the spin of the ball. The best results are stored into your smart phone and you can compete against your friends and team mates.

Sonos Speaker
Tons of music, podcasts and radio channels at your finger tips. Easy to use, excellent quality.

Babolat Play Pure Drive
A tennis racket that tells the number of hits, the speed of the ball and the spot you hit with the ball. Store the results and compete with your friends. Just like with the Adidas miCoach Smart Ball.

Polar Loop and Garmin Vívosmart™
An activity wristwatch that gives an alarm to your phone in case you are still for too long. It also provides other feedback based on your activities.

Whistle
In case you are not sure if the amount of exercise you give to your dog is enough, the solution is to purchase this new IoT dog necklace.

Beddit
A small band that can be located in your bed under the bed sheets. It is able to analyze the quality of your sleep and give hints on how to improve the quality of your sleep.

Parrot Flower Power Plant Health Sensor
This device is placed into a flowerpot and it throws an alarm in case you have forgotten to water your flowers.

Nest
A thermostat that learns to adjust the room temperature automatically based on your preferences.

iHealth wireless scale
A scale that helps you to reach your weight target.

Samsung WW 9000

A laundry machine that shows the remaining course time in your smart phone. You can set the start time from your couch. The course programs are updated automatically from time to time to ensure the best possible washing results.

Withings wireless blood pressure monitor
A blood pressure monitor that stores all the information about your blood measures. The results can be followed from your phone screen and sent directly to your doctor.

Osram Lightify and Philips Hue
Change the ambience at your home easily. Changing the mood at your home has not bee this easy before.

...these just a few to mention! With Cozify, which is soon to be released, you will be able to control several manufacture devices through just one, easy to use interface.

Did I forgot something from the list? Send us your own suggestions and discoveries into our Facebook-feed.

Happy holidays to everyone!

- Tony / Cozify

Btw, a great way to follow what is going on in the IoT space, remember twitter tags #IoT, #homeautomation and #smarthome.