North Shuswap Kicker April 2022

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The North Shuswap Kicker April 2022
Technology Services
We offer comprehensive service for all of your computer,
audio/video, smart home and networking needs as well as new
computer sales & service as an authorized dealer.
Onsite service for your home and business in the
North & South Shuswap, Chase and surrounding area.
CALL JOHN AT (250) 804 8740 FOR ALL YOUR
COMPUTER AND HOME ELECTRONICS PROBLEMS
AND PROJECTS. Advice is always free!
JOHNSEYMOUR@LAKESIDETECH.CA
WWW.LAKESIDETECH.CA
Sit back and relax in your new home by
Eagle Homes. Let us help you design and make
your dreams come true.
Tech News
Big Smart Home
By John Seymour
Many of us have dabbled
with Smart Home devices
whether it be plugs, switches,
doorbells, door locks, thermostats,
light bulbs, cameras or
Google/Alexa voice assistants.
Lots of fun to play with
and definitely useful in many
situations.
However, if you have
several devices like I do, you
very quickly learn that the
different brands and models
you buy don’t always play
nice together. In fact, you
may have found that jumping
from one app to another to
control your devices is quite
annoying and wondered why
there are no standards for this
stuff. Well, the big news is
that’s about to change. The
industry has finally got smart
itself and realised they need
to work together in order to
move the technology forward.
All of the big players in
the Smart Home game have
come together to develop a
new standard protocol for
Smart Home devices that basically
make them universal,
regardless of what type of
device or what brand. They
call this new protocol Matter
and there are already over
200 manufacturers onboard
including the biggies like
Amazon, Google, Apple and
Samsung.
I won’t bore you with
the technical details of how
the technology works but
interestingly enough it uses
blockchain technology, which
is the same tech behind cryptocurrencies
such as Bitcoin.
That means that your smart
home devices will be secure
AND private. No one will be
able hack into your system
or collect usage data
as all communications
between devices is encrypted.
Another huge benefit is
that all of your devices will
be controlled locally rather
than thru the Internet (which
is how many current devices
work). This means that your
system will still work even if
your Internet goes down!
One big question that is
likely to come up is ‘will my
existing devices work with
the new protocol?’. The answer
to that question is ‘maybe’.
It will depend on the
device and whether it has the
ability to be upgraded with
new internal software otherwise
known as firmware,
which is the programming
inside the device that makes
it work. My sense is that any
device from one of the major
manufacturers will be able
connect to the new standard
and if so, you will likely be
notified through email or
through the App used to control
the device.
So when will we start to
see Matter products in the
stores? The current planned
release timeframe is this
fall. This is after two delays
caused by several factors including
Covid and the speed
at which manufacturers are
able to tool up.
I’m very excited about
this new standard and I believe
we can expect it to
move the smart home concept
to the next level. Wait and
see!
Questions of comments?
Feel free to get in touch.
(250) 804-8740
johnseymour@Lakesidetech.ca
www.lakesidetech.ca