The annual CEDIA Expo is always an exciting time for us, because we get to discover the newest products and technologies we’ll be bringing you in the coming year. It’s certainly fun listening to all the new audio gear and marveling at the latest in 4K video devices, and the wide variety of smart home gadgets on display truly underscored the event’s “future home experience” theme. But it’s particularly exciting to see something that already exists in our customers’ homes get some new bells and whistles as well.
Our smart home automation partners at Control4 unveiled their hugely-anticipated operating system update, OS 2.8. The new system builds upon everything that our customers loved about their Control4 smart home, and added some much sought-after features that add new levels of convenience to your connected life. Here are five things to like about OS 2.8:
New Streaming Music Integrations
We love Pandora for its intelligent music streaming, and so do many of our customers. In fact, it’s one of our most requested features. It’s finally here – native streaming is now available for Pandora, as well as Deezer and TIDAL. This is in addition to the existing support for Rhapsody, Napster and TuneIn Radio. Now you can enjoy your favorite music and radio throughout your home, and the best part – there’s no extra equipment necessary to make this happen.
Updates To My Music and My Movies
Control4 has also completely refreshed the interface for accessing your locally stored content, making it easier – and more visually appealing – to navigate your music and movie collections. Cover art is high-resolution, new grid and list views make selection easy, and you can easily filter and search your media to get to exactly what you want. The “Details View” gives you lots of helpful information on your media as well.
Airplay Support
If you have Apple devices, you’ll be pleased to hear that OS 2.8 brings native support for Airplay-enabled devices with a new feature Control4 calls “ShairBridge.” You can stream music from your iOS devices and computers running iTunes to different zones throughout your home.
Mockupency Mode
One of the most interesting updates in OS 2.8 is the “Mockupency Mode.” Instead of scheduling lights to come on at certain times, the system learns about all the events that occur in your day-to-day routine – like the operation of blinds, lights, TVs and so forth – and creates a random simulation of these things to make it look like the house is occupied when you’re away. This feature makes it extremely difficult for thieves to tell that you’re not home by recognizing a set schedule.
More Security Features
Security gets a much-needed facelift in OS 2.8, giving homeowners a more intuitive interface with their security systems. An all-new interface puts users in control of smart locks across the home. A new, searchable event history provides a birds-eye view of all security incidents inside the home as well.
