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Home Blog Page 7429

Read Jeff Bezos 2017 Letter to Amazon Shareholders to Understand Modern Leadership

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“Jeff, what does Day 2 look like?”

That’s a question I just got at our most recent all-hands meeting. I’ve been reminding people that it’s Day 1 for a couple of decades. I work in an Amazon building named Day 1, and when I moved buildings, I took the name with me. I spend time thinking about this topic.

“Day 2 is stasis. Followed by irrelevance. Followed by excruciating, painful decline. Followed by death. And that is why it is always Day 1.”

To be sure, this kind of decline would happen in extreme slow motion. An established company might harvest Day 2 for decades, but the final result would still come.

I’m interested in the question, how do you fend off Day 2? What are the techniques and tactics? How do you keep the vitality of Day 1, even inside a large organization?

Such a question can’t have a simple answer. There will be many elements, multiple paths, and many traps. I don’t know the whole answer, but I may know bits of it. Here’s a starter pack of essentials for Day 1 defense: customer obsession, a skeptical view of proxies, the eager adoption of external trends, and high-velocity decision making.

True Customer Obsession

There are many ways to center a business. You can be competitor focused, you can be product focused, you can be technology focused, you can be business model focused, and there are more. But in my view, obsessive customer focus is by far the most protective of Day 1 vitality.

Why? There are many advantages to a customer-centric approach, but here’s the big one: customers are always beautifully, wonderfully dissatisfied, even when they report being happy and business is great. Even when they don’t yet know it, customers want something better, and your desire to delight customers will drive you to invent on their behalf. No customer ever asked Amazon to create the Prime membership program, but it sure turns out they wanted it, and I could give you many such examples.

Staying in Day 1 requires you to experiment patiently, accept failures, plant seeds, protect saplings, and double down when you see customer delight. A customer-obsessed culture best creates the conditions where all of that can happen.

Resist Proxies

As companies get larger and more complex, there’s a tendency to manage to proxies. This comes in many shapes and sizes, and it’s dangerous, subtle, and very Day 2.

A common example is process as proxy. Good process serves you so you can serve customers. But if you’re not watchful, the process can become the thing. This can happen very easily in large organizations. The process becomes the proxy for the result you want. You stop looking at outcomes and just make sure you’re doing the process right. Gulp. It’s not that rare to hear a junior leader defend a bad outcome with something like, “Well, we followed the process.” A more experienced leader will use it as an opportunity to investigate and improve the process. The process is not the thing. It’s always worth asking, do we own the process or does the process own us? In a Day 2 company, you might find it’s the second.

Another example: market research and customer surveys can become proxies for customers – something that’s especially dangerous when you’re inventing and designing products. “Fifty-five percent of beta testers report being satisfied with this feature. That is up from 47% in the first survey.” That’s hard to interpret and could unintentionally mislead.

Good inventors and designers deeply understand their customer. They spend tremendous energy developing that intuition. They study and understand many anecdotes rather than only the averages you’ll find on surveys. They live with the design.

I’m not against beta testing or surveys. But you, the product or service owner, must understand the customer, have a vision, and love the offering. Then, beta testing and research can help you find your blind spots. A remarkable customer experience starts with heart, intuition, curiosity, play, guts, taste. You won’t find any of it in a survey.

Embrace External Trends

The outside world can push you into Day 2 if you won’t or can’t embrace powerful trends quickly. If you fight them, you’re probably fighting the future. Embrace them and you have a tailwind.

These big trends are not that hard to spot (they get talked and written about a lot), but they can be strangely hard for large organizations to embrace. We’re in the middle of an obvious one right now: machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Over the past decades computers have broadly automated tasks that programmers could describe with clear rules and algorithms. Modern machine learning techniques now allow us to do the same for tasks where describing the precise rules is much harder.

At Amazon, we’ve been engaged in the practical application of machine learning for many years now. Some of this work is highly visible: our autonomous Prime Air delivery drones; the Amazon Go convenience store that uses machine vision to eliminate checkout lines; and Alexa,1 our cloud-based AI assistant. (We still struggle to keep Echo in stock, despite our best efforts. A high-quality problem, but a problem. We’re working on it.)

But much of what we do with machine learning happens beneath the surface. Machine learning drives our algorithms for demand forecasting, product search ranking, product and deals recommendations, merchandising placements, fraud detection, translations, and much more. Though less visible, much of the impact of machine learning will be of this type – quietly but meaningfully improving core operations.

Inside AWS, we’re excited to lower the costs and barriers to machine learning and AI so organizations of all sizes can take advantage of these advanced techniques.

Using our pre-packaged versions of popular deep learning frameworks running on P2 compute instances (optimized for this workload), customers are already developing powerful systems ranging everywhere from early disease detection to increasing crop yields. And we’ve also made Amazon’s higher level services available in a convenient form. Amazon Lex (what’s inside Alexa), Amazon Polly, and Amazon Rekognition remove the heavy lifting from natural language understanding, speech generation, and image analysis. They can be accessed with simple API calls – no machine learning expertise required. Watch this space. Much more to come.

High-Velocity Decision Making

Day 2 companies make high-quality decisions, but they make high-quality decisions slowly. To keep the energy and dynamism of Day 1, you have to somehow make high-quality, high-velocity decisions. Easy for start-ups and very challenging for large organizations. The senior team at Amazon is determined to keep our decision-making velocity high. Speed matters in business – plus a high-velocity decision making environment is more fun too. We don’t know all the answers, but here are some thoughts.

First, never use a one-size-fits-all decision-making process. Many decisions are reversible, two-way doors. Those decisions can use a light-weight process. For those, so what if you’re wrong? I wrote about this in more detail in last year’s letter.

For something amusing, try asking, “Alexa, what is sixty factorial?”

Second, most decisions should probably be made with somewhere around 70% of the information you wish you had. If you wait for 90%, in most cases, you’re probably being slow. Plus, either way, you need to be good at quickly recognizing and correcting bad decisions. If you’re good at course correcting, being wrong may be less costly than you think, whereas being slow is going to be expensive for sure.

Third, use the phrase “disagree and commit.” This phrase will save a lot of time. If you have conviction on a particular direction even though there’s no consensus, it’s helpful to say, “Look, I know we disagree on this but will you gamble with me on it? Disagree and commit?” By the time you’re at this point, no one can know the answer for sure, and you’ll probably get a quick yes.

This isn’t one way. If you’re the boss, you should do this too. I disagree and commit all the time. We recently greenlit a particular Amazon Studios original. I told the team my view: debatable whether it would be interesting enough, complicated to produce, the business terms aren’t that good, and we have lots of other opportunities. They had a completely different opinion and wanted to go ahead. I wrote back right away with “I disagree and commit and hope it becomes the most watched thing we’ve ever made.” Consider how much slower this decision cycle would have been if the team had actually had to convince me rather than simply get my commitment.

Note what this example is not: it’s not me thinking to myself “well, these guys are wrong and missing the point, but this isn’t worth me chasing.” It’s a genuine disagreement of opinion, a candid expression of my view, a chance for the team to weigh my view, and a quick, sincere commitment to go their way. And given that this team has already brought home 11 Emmys, 6 Golden Globes, and 3 Oscars, I’m just glad they let me in the room at all!

Fourth, recognize true misalignment issues early and escalate them immediately. Sometimes teams have different objectives and fundamentally different views. They are not aligned. No amount of discussion, no number of meetings will resolve that deep misalignment. Without escalation, the default dispute resolution mechanism for this scenario is exhaustion. Whoever has more stamina carries the decision.

I’ve seen many examples of sincere misalignment at Amazon over the years. When we decided to invite third party sellers to compete directly against us on our own product detail pages – that was a big one. Many smart, well-intentioned Amazonians were simply not at all aligned with the direction. The big decision set up hundreds of smaller decisions, many of which needed to be escalated to the senior team.

“You’ve worn me down” is an awful decision-making process. It’s slow and de-energizing. Go for quick escalation instead – it’s better.

So, have you settled only for decision quality, or are you mindful of decision velocity too? Are the world’s trends tailwinds for you? Are you falling prey to proxies, or do they serve you? And most important of all, are you delighting customers? We can have the scope and capabilities of a large company and the spirit and heart of a small one. But we have to choose it.

A huge thank you to each and every customer for allowing us to serve you, to our shareowners for your support, and to Amazonians everywhere for your hard work, your ingenuity, and your passion.

As always, I attach a copy of our original 1997 letter. It remains Day 1.

Sincerely,

Jeff

 

Jeffrey P. Bezos

Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Amazon.com, Inc.

 

 

Click to read on link – 1997 LETTER TO SHAREHOLDERS

 

 

Two management lessons you can learn from Jeff Bezos’ 2017 Annual Letter to Amazon shareholders

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Tekedia Editors
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Investors, executives, and anyone who merely wants to be good at their job hang on the words of Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com. He published 1,782 of them Wednesday in his annual letter to Amazon’s shareholders. I recommend reading each one of them.

Bezos’s pearls of wisdom are repetitive, by design. He discusses similar concepts year after year, tweaking them for new realities. Delighting customers is a constant. The importance of being willing to reverse direction is another hearty Bezos perennial.

Monitor and adopt important external trends

I particularly liked two of his themes this year that constitute fresh material in the Bezos oeuvre. The first is his insistence that managers monitor and adopt important external trends. “These big trends are not that hard to spot (they get talked and written about a lot), but they can be strangely hard for large organizations to embrace,” he writes. “We’re in the middle of an obvious one right now: machine learning and artificial intelligence.” He goes on to discuss the visible and less obvious ways Amazon is utilizing machine learning and AI. But his notion that the important trends aren’t hard to spot is non-trivial. Too many organizations spend too much debating if something is going to be big. If you’ve spent that much time debating it, it’s probably too late.

Escalate during Misalignment

Bezos also shared his thinking on how high-performance teams should work together—including with their bosses and also when they disagree with each other. “Recognize true misalignment issues early and escalate them immediately,” he writes. “Sometimes teams have different objectives and fundamentally different views. They are not aligned. No amount of discussion, no number of meetings will resolve that deep misalignment. Without escalation, the default dispute resolution mechanism for this scenario is exhaustion. Whoever has more stamina carries the decision.”

For escalation to work, of course, a team’s manager has to be good and also has to be willing to be overruled. Bezos gives an example of his being overruled, though one senses his example is the exemption rather than the rule.

The point is that he demands fast action and quick resolution when people disagree. Exhaustion with disagreement is something anyone who works in a large organization can understand all too well.

 

Adapted from Adam Lashinsky newsletter

Challenges and Solutions for IoT Security

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Guest Author
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The Internet of Things (IoT) is occupying the attention of city planners, the ones in the medical world, the energy sector, more particularly, with no parallels in the recent past. The connected devices share a host of data covering many geographies. The questions often by-passed are related to security and if they are outside the clutches of hackers.

According to many research studies, including the Gartner analysis, there will be about 21 billion connected IoT devices by the year 2020. While we would like to quote this statistic with pride and look enthusiastically at the business opportunities this will give rise to, there is one alarming concern – IoT security. It stands to reason that more the number of smart devices, more the possibility of attack vectors.

Secure PCs, why not secure IoT products?

One of the reasons is that as the idea of networking appliances and other devices is relatively new, security is not always a priority during product design. IoT products often have old and unpatched embedded operating systems and software. Also, end users fail to change the default passwords on smart devices and usually don’t select sufficiently strong passwords. IoT devices are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to automatically transfer data over a network. Embedded sensor systems used in industrial machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, smart energy grids, home and building automation, vehicle to vehicle communication, wearable devices and other computing devices account for most of the IoT communication that happens. The frightening vulnerabilities found on IoT devices have therefore brought IoT security further up to the fore.

For example, research has found that a significant range of IoT baby monitors can be hacked and used to monitor live feeds, change the camera settings and authorize others to remotely view and control the monitor. Connected cars can be compromised, and hackers can take control of the entertainment system, unlock the doors or even stop a moving car. Hackers have been found to use the motion sensors embedded in smart watches to steal information or gather health data from fitness apps or health tracker devices.

Very soon, there will be consumers who own hundreds of connected devices. Hence, we need a fool-proof plan for installing security updates, which definitely cannot be manual. Proper safeguards are necessary to prevent updating interfaces from becoming security holes themselves or else we will end up with a scenario of the fence eating the crop. We need security at both the device and network levels for safe operation of IoT. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) that is the brain of the device which learns the preferences of the users and enables the device to perform accordingly must also be able to recognize and counteract threats. The measures that have proven enormously successful in IT networks will have to be substantially re-engineered if they are to address the device constraints.

Challenges

Most embedded devices are tiny and are designed for low power consumption with limited connectivity. The processing capacity and memory required to perform their tasks is also very limited plus some are low cost and essentially disposable. All these factors could prove to be an inhibiting factor in encryption and other robust security measures. With the enormous amount of data IoT devices generate and communicate back to the cloud for analysis, it would be unwise to assume that all systems can scale to accommodate the bandwidth, power, storage and computing ability needed to handle this load.

Manufacturers, as well as users of connected devices must spend time and try to understand what data their devices collect, what information is shared and with whom and how the data is transmitted and received. In addition, where the data is being stored is vital including how stringent are the privacy settings that need to be activated in accompanying the software. Just as with any other computer devices, it is essential to run the latest software and patch vulnerabilities as well as ensure all apps associated with the device are updated. For example, a smart meter that is able to send energy usage data to the utility services company for billing or real-time power grid optimization must be able to protect that information from unauthorized users. If this information can be hacked, thieves could figure out which houses are empty based on the decrease in power usage and burgle those homes.

About a decade ago, we had to protect only our computers and few years ago, our smartphones. Now we have to worry about protecting our home appliances, our car, our wearables, even our medical reports. Hackers can hack into any device, by being even in a remote place. The IoT devices manufactures & users have to start thinking from the point of the hacker and thus create products that make it hack-proof.

Solutions

When a device is being designed, security must be one of the primary components and must continue throughout the device lifecycle. The following could be a few ways to ensure secure connected products:
• When the device is first powered up, a cryptographically generated digital signature verifies the authenticity and integrity of the software on the device, i.e., only the software that has been authorized to run on that device and signed by the entity that authorized it will be loaded.
• Access controls built into the operating system limit the privileges of device components and applications so they access only the resources they need to do their jobs. The principle of least privilege dictates that only the minimal access required to perform a function should be authorized in order to minimize the effectiveness of any breach of security.
• When the device is plugged into the network, it should authenticate itself prior to receiving or transmitting data.
• The device must have a firewall or deep packet inspection capability to control traffic that is destined to terminate at the device in a way that makes optimal use of the limited computational resources available.
• Software updates and security patches must be delivered in a way that conserves the limited bandwidth and intermittent connectivity of an embedded device and absolutely eliminates the possibility of compromising functional safety.

The Internet of Things Security Foundation (IoTSF) is a non-profit body founded by a group of technology companies that will be responsible for vetting connected devices for vulnerabilities and flaws and will offer security assistance to technology providers, system adopters, and end users. There are many other companies working on setting up platforms that will enable large networks of IoT devices to identify and authenticate each other in order to provide higher security and prevent data breaches. There is also research being conducted to enhance IoT security through device and smartphone linking.

To summarize, IoT security cannot be an afterthought – it must be an integral part of the device. Rather than searching for a silver bullet that does not exist, we must re-engineer, optimize and adapt current cutting edge security controls that work for the IT network for the complex embedded applications that is at the heart of Internet of Things.

Mr. MN Vidyashankar is the President of India Electronics & Semiconductor Association. MN

Ranking of the best global 50 smart home apps and IoT devices

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Tekedia Editors
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 Below are the top 50smart home apps in the world right now.

1) Nest

Features: This application works with various devices – Nest Learning Thermostat, Nest Cam, Dropcam, Nest Protect. It means that you choose the temperature in your smart home, you always know what is happening there and it is always protected. The app sends you notifications so you can monitor any changes in the house.
Pros: Every member of your family can have their own account, you don’t have to share passwords anymore.
Cons: The same alert sound for every device. Away/home option doesn’t always work.
Price: free.

Available for: Android/iOS

2) Kasa

Features: It helps you control all your connected TP-LINK Smart Home devices no matter where you are – at home or on a vacation on Bora Bora. You can set your appliances to turn on and off according to your schedule 24/7, 365 days a year.
There is a great option to turn off the lights using countdown. It works incredibly with young children! You don’t have to force them to go to sleep anymore, they perceive it as a game!
Pros: Very easy to use. Away Mode works well.
Cons: Can handle only a few on/off events at a time.
Price: free.

Available for: Android/iOS

3) Stringify

Features: The award-winning app. It has a user-friendly interface, it controls locks, lights, temperature and a lot more in a way that you can save money and feel safe and relaxed in your house. How many times did it happen when you forgot whether you had switched off the lights or not? Or left the front door unlocked? Quite often? Well, you don’t have to worry about such things anymore! Use this app for monitoring everything in your house and stay calm.
Pros: Supports more than 500 products and services.
Cons: Available only for iOS.
Price: free

Available for: iOS

4) MYCiTY LiTE

Features: Cameras, locks and alarm system are controlled by just one application.
Among many possibilities of this app you can find good ones for movie lovers. Just make yourself comfortable in an armchair and enjoy. With the help of MYCiTY LiTE you can draw the curtains, dim the lights and watch your favourite films. In the end of the movie the lights will be softly switched on and the blinds will take their initial place.
Pros: It is an official app for MYCiTY Smart Home.
Cons: There are not many users.
Price: free.

Available for: Android/iOS

5) Vivint Smart Home

Features: Another app that helps you to control a variety of devices (security cameras, smart thermostat, door and window sensors, smoke detectors etc.). Sends you notifications if you forget to lock the front or garage doors. You can even speak with your visitor from anywhere with Vivint Doorbell Camera! Or check whether it’s a pizza delivery man or someone uninvited is knocking on your door.
Pros: Good security system. No problems watching recordings from indoor cameras.
Cons: There are sometimes crashes when viewing doorbell camera. Not a very good customer service.
Price: free.

 

6) SmartThings Mobile

Features: With this app you also control and monitor all your smart devices but notice that before downloading it you need to buy SmartThings Hub. Using this app you have a lot of benefits – doors automatically unlock when you approach, you can set the stereo system to an interesting mode, that is, when there is an unexpected entry, a sound of barking dogs turns on so you can scare possible robbers out! And if you have your own dog the app can remind you when you forget to feed it.
Pros: You can get a push notification every time your door is open.
Cons: The app doesn’t support scenes (the lights in every room will be of the same brightness) and Alexa voice control.
Price: free.

Available for: Android/iOS

7) XFINITY Home

Features: Lighting, climate, video control. This app is great for people who like to have everything under their control. Watch you children come home from school, or any visitors that came while you were out, switch on your smart thermostat while you’re still at work, or turn on the lights before you enter your house. All in one app! Works with Nest Learning Thermostat, August Smart Lock, Lutron Caseta Wireless lights, Camberlain MyQ Garage Door Opener, Sengled Element Touch bulb and GE Switches and Dimmers.
Pros: You can quickly arm and disarm your systems no matter where you are.
Cons: Sometimes the picture freezes when viewing the video.
Price: free.

8) Yonomi

Features: If you are the lucky owner of Philips Hue lights, Amazon Echo, Nest® products or Schlage smart locks, download this app. You don’t have to think about everyday routines which take your time. You wake up, drink your already made coffee, and you don’t need to bother about turning on/off the TV, lights, locking the door when you leave the house. This app does everything instead of you.
Pros: Works well with Amazon Echo.
Cons: Uses a lot of battery power.
Price: free.

Available for: Android/ iOS

9) Alarm.com

Features: As you can understand from its name, this application helps you to monitor your security system. You can watch videos from the cameras live or recorded ones. You can instantly and constantly get notifications about everything that happens inside and outside your house. But along with the security, you control your thermostat, lights, etc. Sometimes it’s hard to save energy not giving up on comfort. But not with this app. You can save up easily with this intelligent automation.
Pros: Focused mainly on the security system.
Cons: No panic button.
Price: free.

Available for: Android/iOS

10) ImperiHome

Features: This is another app which controls all your smart home devices. Those who are keen on various styles of music have a wonderful opportunity to listen to a different kind of music in every room. Or, let’s say, you are throwing a huge home party. In this case with the help of this app you can adjust your stereo device and dance to the same song in every room with a perfect sync! Check this one out!
Pros: Great dashboard which displays different devices.
Cons: Some features are missing (e.g. can’t be connected to some popular systems like Amazon Echo, WeMo)
Price: free.

Available for: Android/iOS

11) Control4

Features: This app is created for your entertainment, safety and everyday life. But before using this application check if you have Control4 controller and automation system running Control4 OS 2.6 or later. Do you want to make a special dinner for your beloved? Your smart home can help you! Set your oven to prepare some casserole, dim the lights, turn on romantic music – all this using your mobile device. All you need is just to pour wine into glasses!
Pros: Variety of functions for entertainment.
Cons: After updating you can’t change the temperature in your thermostat schedule.
Price: free.

Available for: Android/iOS

12) iRule.

Features: This one also controls all devices in your smart home and is for free. But in order to configure, you will need to use iRule Builder which is free for 30 days.
Be the king of your smart home, rule the house! This application not only allows you to control your devices but create a special interface. Design it with the help of iRule Builder, it’s easy to customize your remote control with your own buttons, images or even a unique interface for each user in your home.
Pros: Beautiful and elegant interface.
Cons: You need to sign in from Google+.
Price: free.

Available for: Android/iOS

13) Thington

Features: This handy app can be connected to all your smart devices which can be controlled even when you leave your house and switch on GPS.
This app is awesome! You can chat with your smart home just like with your friends. It gives you valuable hints how to optimize work of the smart devices. A few years ago we couldn’t have imagined this. It helps you to set up everything in a casual way. Your smart home becomes one of your pals!
Pros: Suggests ways for better work of your devices.
Cons: Available for iOS only.
Price: free.
Available for: iOS

14) Elgato Eve

Features: The application is for your HomeKit devices.
At a Glance is a view, with which you can quickly overview everything that’s happening in your connected home. In seconds you will access your favorite scenes (you set up multiple settings which you can switch on later with one tap) to control your home instantly, and learn the details of your rooms or types with a simple tap. It saves your time!
Pros: Better than Apple Home.
Cons: Available for iOS only.
Price: free.

Available for: iOS

15) Lutron App for Caseta Wireless

Features: This app requires a Lutron Smart Bridge or Smart Bridge Pro. The application controls a variety of devices. From anywhere. A feature of geofencing may be appalling to you. It controls lights based on your location. Imagine that you are coming back home with hands full of ingredients for your supper. Don’t bother, the lights will automatically switch on on your way straight to the kitchen.
Pros: Controls well your indoor and outdoor cameras.
Cons: You can’t give commands through OK Google anymore.
Price: free.

 

16) IFTTT

Features: It works with more than 360 apps and devices, such as Twitter, Google Drive, Weather, Instagram, Email, Alexa, Nest, Philips Hue and your Android/iPhone. You can set your thermostat according to your needs when you arrive home, you can control devices in your home with your voice and Amazon Alexa, you can feel safe at home with security alerts.
As it’s said in its slogan, Put the Internet to work for you!
Check out whether this app is suitable for you!
Pros: Many apps and devices are connected to just one app.
Cons: Problems with locations.
Price: free.

17) Gideon

Features: It is a good app for smart home integration. It gives you full supervision of your smart home. The application is compatible with a range of devices. Entertain yourself, monitor security, heating, lighting with Gideon.
You can have one less problem with this application. It measures your energy consumption and suggests when and how to use your appliances to save money on your bills. Keep track of your bills with Gideon.
Pros: Works great with Nest Thermostat and Nest Cam.
Cons: There aren’t many users of the app.
Price: free.

 

18) Smart Home Pro

Features: This application allows you to control your Smart Home automation system and should be activated by your specialist of Smart Home Switzerland SA. Your iPhone becomes your remote control for the TV, air conditioner, lights, etc. It is available only on the App Store.
Pros: It is suitable for one home automation system.
Cons: Seems to be difficult to install.
Price: free.

Available for: iOS

19) RTiPanel

Features: With this app you can manage your RTI control system  – audio, video, climate, lights etc. Set your thermostat when you leave your work to heat your house, so you come back to a warm, pleasant place. And vice versa – turn down the heating when you go to work and your children go to school. You can save up!
Pros: Works well not only for smart homes but also classrooms, conference rooms, restaurants, hotels.
Cons: There aren’t many users of this app. Requires the RTI control system.
Price: free.

 

20) Wink

Features: Everything you want to monitor and manage in your smart home can be controlled by a single app. Have some rest, Wink will take care of your comfort, security, lights, entertainment. Now you have more time for yourself. Do morning exercises while your smart device brews your coffee, don’t run out of the car to close the garage door, don’t worry about the security of the house while you are out. Install Wink.
Many devices work just with this app, but with some you may need Wink Hub.
Pros: Great Amazon Alexa integration.
Cons: Not very good connectivity between the app and Hue lights.
Price: free.

 

21) Google Home

Features: This app controls Chromecast, Chromecast Audio and Google Home. Install it and rule your house! You don’t need Amazon Alexa for voice control. Google Home has its Google Assistant. You can ask questions to your smart home and, thanks to rich Google search, get best answers – facts and information, calculations, translations, dictionary and more. A lot of us dreamed of this – getting the information or the things done instantly. Just give the order.
Pros: Smart lights and thermostat work well with this app.
Cons: Audio and video don’t work properly after recent updates.
Price: free.

 

22) Harmony

Features: From the name of the app you can understand that this is what you need. Imagine that after a long working week you’re having a lie-in and you want nothing to disturb you. With just one touch lower the blinds, lock doors, dim lights, choose the perfect movie for you and relax. Live in harmony with your smart home. All you need is this app and a Harmony Hub-based remote controls.
Pros: Good for Netflix lovers.
Cons: Sometimes fails to work.
Price: free.

23) ADT Pulse

Features: The application also controls all your smart devices. Manage everything in your house from anywhere – set the thermostat, lights, open/close the garage doors, view live and recorded videos from your cameras. Maybe you may want to save your favourite videos and watch again and again your kid’s first steps. For controlling all of these you can use your voice.
This app requires that you are an active ADT customer and a subscriber to ADT Pulse Interactive services.
Pros: Works well without wifi.
Cons: The front door camera doesn’t always work well.
Price: free.

 

24) Muzzley – Smart Home

Features: The application makes your smart home adjust to you, not vice versa! You can do whatever you like while the app does the boring things instead of you. With the new behavioural intelligence feature, the app learns from you and suggests useful hints and devices for your home. Also with Nest Protect and this app you will always know if there is any smoke in the house and where actually it is so you know what to do.
Check out if it is good for your smart home.
Pros: The app is quite fast. It has great reviews.
Cons: There aren’t many users of this app.
Price: free.

 

25) ClareHome

Features: This app is also for all smart devices in your home. You can create scenes with this application, which means that you don’t have to set up every device every day. You just set it once and it performs regularly. Say, you like going for a swim in your pool after work. Control the heating in such a way that when you are home from work you can splash in it immediately!
Pros: Designed exclusively for Clare Home solution.
Cons: There aren’t many users of this app.
Price: free.

 

26) Samsung Smart Home

Features: The app works with various Samsung devices. You can use this one app to adjust your refrigerator, washer, air conditioner, oven, vacuum cleaner and more.
Cleaning your house has never been so easy! Make yourself comfortable in your sofa, turn on the music, chat with your friends meanwhile your smart vacuum cleaner tidies up your home. Just make one tap on your mobile device’s screen!
Pros: Controls different devices (not only thermostat and lights).
Cons: Available for Android only. Not always can be connected to your smart devices.
Price: free.

Available for: Android

27) myHome Plus

Features: This application also controls your entire home and supports all Apple HomeKit features for HomeKit devices, Nest Thermostat, Nest Protect, Nest Cam, WeMo Switch, WeMo Insight, WeMo Light Switch and WeMo Motion.
With myHome Plus create time and event triggers to control action sets at specific times. If you sometimes forget to switch off the lights in the hall, the event trigger can do it instead of you if there’s nobody there for some period of time.
Pros: Works with most famous devices.
Cons: Not very good customer reviews.
Price: free.

Available for: iOS

28) LG Smart ThinQ

Features: This app is quite similar to Samsung Smart Home app. It connects your smart home appliances like refrigerator, washer, dryer, oven, robot vacuum, etc. together. It will help you to manage the household. You can set every device to do its own work. You don’t need to check on them every few minutes. They know what to do! Now you can easily spend more time with your family.
Pros: Variety of devices which can be controlled by the app.
Cons: There might be problems with the initial connectivity between the app and devices.
Price: free.

 

29) Chamberlain MyQ Home Control

Features: If you don’t have a lot of devices to control, but you do own Chamberlain MyQ accessories, install this app and open/close your garage doors when you come or leave home or switch on/off the lights just with a single tap on your mobile device. You will receive an alert if you leave the house and the lights are on. Feels like your home takes care of you.
Pros: Stable and reliable. Many customers have been using it for a long time.
Cons: There is no possibility to change the alert sound. No integration with many smart home devices.
Price: free.

Available for: Android/iOS

30) Amazon Alexa

Features: You need this app as a companion to your Alexa device which will always be handy for you whenever you need some information, music, make a list. Of course, it’s great when you can do a lot of things using just your voice. Alexa will wait for your orders or requests and will do everything possible to fulfill them.
Pros: Works well on iPhone.
Cons: There are a lot of questions which Alexa still can’t answer.
Price: free.

 

31) Rogers Smart Home Monitoring

Features: You may also like this app to control your cameras, doors, thermostat, lights. Be always connected to your home. You hire a dog walker and expect him to come when you are at work? Check if he/she came on time and walked your dog. Or monitor what is your babysitter doing with your children while you’re out.
Pros: You can create rules for your smart home.
Cons: There aren’t many users of this app.
Price: free.

 

32) iControl Networks

Features: Controls cameras, lights, thermostat. It is not very widely used but has got good customers` reviews. Also works remotely.
It’s not only security that you care of. Record your birthday party, all the singing, dancing and jokes, and watch the video next year, surprise your friends! Your iControl Networks app will help you to do this.
Pros: Simple and easy to use.
Cons: There are not many users of this app.
Price: free.
Available for: Android/iOS

33) iSmartenit

Features: There are over 100 devices which can work with this app. Choose some for you and be the ruler in your house. This app is not only able to perform scenes created by you, but you can set more complex programmes and scenarios through the framework “If A happens, B happens”. You will have peace of mind inside your smart home with this app. iSmartenit App only works with Smartenit manufactured gateways, or the ZBPServer software running on Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone and PogoPlug.
Pros: The app is improved comparing to the previous version. Good customer service.
Cons: Some customers find it difficult to register.
Price: free.

Available for: Android/iOSAll these apps help you to work with a variety of appliances. But if you don’t need to control all your smart home, but only one device, look over these applications and choose the one for you!

34) ecobee

Features: This application is for your thermostat only. If you don’t need to move your blinds or switch on the lights with the help of an app on your phone, but you do want to manage the heating system, try ecobee. You can adjust temperature, humidity as you wish. It also gives you the weather forecast without any extra app.
Pros: The app is intuitive and gives you reminders about important things concerning your thermostat.
Cons: After recent updates the app crashes a lot.
Price: free.

 

35) Sensi

Features: This application is for those who own Sensi™ Wi-Fi Programmable Thermostat. The app also works with Amazon Alexa, having which you can control the heating with your voice. Another benefit is permanent program retention during power loss. You will always know everything about the temperature, humidity, weather and upcoming changes in heating and cooling that you scheduled.
Pros: Great instructions with which it is easy to set it up.
Cons: Often shows the thermostat as offline.
Price: free.

 

36) Presence

Features: Presence is an award winning app. It doesn’t control all your smart devices, too. But you can make your smartphone a device for spying on your house! Do you use cameras to feel safe and sound? This app will be useful to monitor the situation in your home – whether your neighbour came or some suspicious person. You don’t know who broke your favourite vase? Let’s check it with Presence!
Pros: Good customer reviews.
Cons: There are not many users of this app.
Price: free.

37) Canary – Smart Home Security

Features: With this app you can watch live and recorded HD videos. There is also an emergency option in case of strange activity. Canary automatically changes modes depending on that if you are at home or not. In Away Mode it monitors any activity and sends you notifications. In Home Mode you choose whether to record videos or not, you can customize privacy. When you sleep you can use Night Mode to monitor the activity and to be sent notifications. And whenever you want you can use Privacy Mode, with which your app disables all cameras and microphones in your smart home.
Pros: Functional and easy to use.
Cons: Only the default sound for the notifications.
Price: free.

 

38) Withings Home Security Camera

Features: This is an application for Withings Home Camera. With this app you can check on people you love while you are not at home. During the first few days after installation, the home learns your schedules, noises, movements, light shifts and background sounds in order to give you alerts if anything goes wrong or any strange activity is detected.
Pros: You can choose the tune you like for notifications or switch them off.
Cons: The app crashes often.
Price: free.

 

Next four apps will help you to manage the lights in your smart home.

39) Lightpad

Features: The app can be used easily on your smartphone or tablet. It doesn’t matter where your smart lights are – at home, in the office or elsewhere – all of them can be switched on and off with the help of this app. You can control the lights within wifi zone.
Pros: There is nothing needless.
Cons: There are not many users of this app. No manual.
Price: free.

 

40) BeOn Home

Features: Includes security lighting, which copies your behaviour inside the house, backup lighting for up to 5 hours, emergency lighting, which turns on the lights in case a smoke detector is heard, and more. You will never fall down at night because of the chair standing not in a right place, or a cunning Lego block lying on your way to the light switch. Nowadays using BeOn Home everything is easier.
Pros: Works as promised.
Cons: The app is a bit slow.
Price: free.

 

41) WeMo.

Features: You’ll never come back home to a dark place with this app. Control your lights during your trip to Europe, make an impression that you are at home by switching on a special mode which randomly turns the lights on and off in your house. It will look like somebody’s home and they are walking from one room to another, naturally. Which burglar would enter a house full of people?
Pros: A lot of customers are satisfied.
Cons: Unstable.
Price: free.

 

42) Philips Hue app

Features: This app can help you to adjust the lights according to your needs – you want to relax, concentrate or even bring back your memories from old photos – doesn’t matter. You can do this all controlling your Philips Hue bulbs.
Pros: Beautiful interface. There are a lot of users.
Cons: Geofencing doesn’t always work properly.
Price: free.

Let’s check other applications which are designed for managing the work of one device only – the one you decided to try out at your home.

43) June

Features: This is an app for your June Oven which allows you to control the cooking from anywhere and makes your dishes just the way you like it. You can choose from more than 50 cooking programs, watch the cooking process on your smartphone, always know the temperature inside the oven. Customize alerts to monitor the cooking, or choose what information do you want June app to give you.
Pros: Beautiful interface. Easy to use.
Cons: Available for iOS only.
Price: free.

44) Oral-B App

Features: It works with Oral-B Bluetooth-enabled electronic toothbrush. With this app you brush your teeth just like under control of a dentist. It will tell you how much time do you need to spend brushing, which zones did you miss, etc. Interested?
Pros: It really helps to improve the state of your teeth.
Cons: Sometimes there are problems connecting the brush to your app.
Price: free.

 

45) Hush Smart Earplugs

Features: The app requires Hush Smart Earplugs. It will help you protect sleep from your snoring partner and noisy neighbours. The earplugs will make a soothing sound which will block the outer sounds and help you to fall asleep. But at the same time, it will wake you up on time, just set the alarm with the help of Hush Smart Earplugs application. Don’t be afraid that you can oversleep like with the regular earplugs. This app is perfect for controlling your sleep.
Pros: Nice app design. Does the work in an expected way.
Cons: There are not many users.
Price: free.

Available for: Android/iOS

46) MonBaby

Features: Oh, those sleepless nights when you check on your baby like a hundred times a night! Check out this app! If you are the owner of a Smart Button, this application helps you to monitor your baby’s breathing, sleeping position, etc. All you need is put the button on the baby’s clothes and use the application.
Pros: Gives you a peace of mind.
Cons: The app is sometimes disconnected.
Price: free.

47) SleepIQ

Features: Sleep Number beds are used with this app which tracks and optimizes your sleep. It will give you good advice how to make your sleep better, you will receive notifications and tips for your sleep improvement. Integrates with Nest, Fitbit, MapMyRun, Withings, Microsoft Health.
Pros: Helps you improve your health.
Cons: The app can mistake you with your wife or your dog and track their sleep.
Price: free.

48) Smarter

Features: Your coffee machine and a kettle understand you. Just choose the beverage you would like and how would you like it. No matter where in the house you are your drink will soon be ready.
Pros: Saves your time in the morning.
Cons: Sometimes loses connection.
Price: free.

You can also use some apps outside your smart home but they aren’t less smart!

49) CleanGrow

Features: This app is for those who like gardening or for farmers. If you like to grow plants and your own groceries, check it out!
Pros: Great for massive production of plants like fields and labs.
Cons: Not very cost efficient when having only a couple of plants.
Price: free.

 

50) Robomow.

Features: You may like watching a sweaty muscular lawnmower man working in front of your windows, but let’s not tempt fate and use this app. You can control your lawn mower machine from your sofa!
Pros: Updated version is very responsive.
Cons: Connectivity breakdowns.
Price: free.

Available for: Android/iOSHope you found useful information and the perfect app for your smart home!

The new Chief Executives for federal agencies appointed by President Buhari; key changes in PENCOM, NDE and NSITF

By
Tekedia Editors
-
0

 
OSGF PRESS RELEASE:
PPR/OSGF/PR/03 , 13th April, 2017
PRESIDENT BUHARI APPOINTS CHIEF EXECUTIVES FOR FEDERAL AGENCIES

His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the underlisted appointments in various Federal Government Agencies.

S/N
ORGANIZATION
APPOINTEE
DESIGNATION

1
National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP)
Barrister Julie Okah-Donli
Director-General

2
National Centre for Women Development (NCWD)
Barrister Mary Ikpere-Eta
Director-General

3
Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF)
Bayo Somefun
Tijani Suleiman
Mr. Jasper Azuatalam
Kemi Nelson
Managing Director
Executive Director
Executive Director
Executive Director

4
Federal Mortgage Bank (FMB)
Arc. Ahmed Dangiwa
Melvin Eboh
Hajiya Rahimatu Aliyu
Umaru Abdullahi Dankane
Managing Director
Executive Director (Org. Resourcing)
Executive Director (Loans Department, Securities Issuance and Market Development)
Executive Director (Policy and Strategy Loans Set-Up and Pay Off)

5
Bureau of Public Enterprises
(BPE)
Alex Okoh
Director General

6
Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA)
Abdulkadir Saidu Umar
Executive Secretary

7
National Park Service (NPS)
Ibrahim Musa Goni
Conservator-General/Chief
Executive Officer (CEO)

8
Service Compact (SERVICOM)
Nnenna A. Akajemeli
National Coordinator/CEO

9
National Directorate of Employment (NDE)
Dr. Nasiru Mohammed Ladan
Director General

10
Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies
(MINILS)
Saliu Dada Alabi
Director General

11
National Research Institute for Chemical Technology
Professor Jef. T. Barminas
Director General

12
Nigeria Institute for Social and Economic Research (NISER)
Dr. Haruna Yerima
Director General

13
Nigeria Insurance Commission (NAICOM)
Sunday Thomas
Deputy Commissioner

14
Consumer Protection Council
Tunde Erukera
Executive Secretary

15
Federal Character
Commission
Barr. Mohammed Bello
Tukur
Secretary

16
National Pension Commission (PENCOM)
Dikko Aliyu Abdulrahman
Funso Doherty
Akin Akinwale
Abubakar Zaki Magawata
Ben Oviosun
Nyerere Ayim
Director-General (Subject to Senate Confirmation)
Chairman
Executive Commissioner
Executive Commissioner
Executive Commissioner
Executive Commissioner

17
Federal Capital Development
Authority
Engr. Umar Gambo Jibrin
Executive Secretary

18
Nigeria Agriculture Insurance Corporation
Mrs. Folashade Joseph
Managing Director

19
Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON)
Cecilia Umaru Gaya, mni
Director General

20
Lagos International Trade Fair Management Board
Mrs. Luci Ajayi
Executive Secretary

21
Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority
Barrister Emmanuel Jimme
Managing Director

22
Nigeria Lottery Regulatory Commission
Lanre Gbajabiamila
Director General

23
Nigeria Automotive Design and Development Council
Jalani Aliyu
Director General

All the appointments take immediate effect.

(Signed)
Bolaji Adebiyi
Director (Press)
Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation

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