I've got something new

Chill out with the girls on AlertMe's new video:



Now, where's that cocktail...

IBM Master Inventor visits AlertMe

Just before Easter we had a visit from IBM Master Inventor Andy Stanford-Clark, who runs the Pervasive and Advanced Messaging Technologies team at Hursley Park. Hursley is home to several IBM products including Websphere MQ, which is middleware.

Middleware (which is also an interest of our friends in the Opera group) is software designed to move information around organisations, especially between other software applications. There are lots of ways software programs can talk to each other, but because organisations get things done by taking in raw materials - including information - and processing them into a final product, the movement of information through an organisation is extremely important. In fact, it is often their main reason for existing! When those information flows become very complex, and they usually do, it is hard for managers to know what's going on. Its even harder for them to change how things work. That's dangerous, because efficiency and being able to adapt quickly are vital survival skills for many businesses.

Middleware makes it easy to manage those information flows. It gets its name from where it sits, between the parts of the organisation that generate information and the parts that need information. It automates processes, makes sure applications can get information when they need it, translates between different applications' languages, keeps track of who's allowed to do what, and delivers messages reliably. That leaves application designers free to concentrate on doing what they need to do, instead of reinventing the wheel. Also, having all the business applications that share information talk to MQ and not directly to eachother makes it much easier to integrate new features and streamline the way things work. That gives business leaders more freedom to try things out and respond to change.

MQ was originally designed for corporate intranets, running on relatively powerful computers which could talk to each other via high speed links, but Andy and his team are busy extending it to work with lower bandwidth connections and less powerful devices. They're doing this with an MQ extension called Telemetry Transport (see MQTT.org). In the world of small and cheap connected devices, information flows are often very local - around a home, say, rather than around a corporation - and are often considered an integral part of a larger application, rather than simply connecting distinct applications together. But middleware still offers the same advantages of transparent design and easy reconfigurability.

Being an IBM Master Inventor, a big part of Andy's job is exploring how how his technology can be used. He's already demonstrated many applications using things like embedded linux computers connected by GPRS, and now he's interested in really tiny microprocessors connected by ZigBee.

We first read about his work in Eureka Magazine, which recently featured his Power Orb. The Orb reacts to his rate of electricity usage by changing colour from cool blue to hot red as it increases. Andy showed us how he can also get this information on his mobile phone (using a Java MIDlet) and even publish it to a Twitter account (what's Twitter?) via Twitter's API (what's an API?). In fact, if you look at his Twitter feed, you'll see that electricity is only a small part of the information Andy collects from his house - there are also updates on lighting, heating, temperature, phone and water usage. Each update comes from a simple sensor, via MQTT. The system works both ways too - it is possible to turn the fountain, lights and heaters on and off by flicking switches on a web page.

We got a lot of good ideas from Andy's visit, including a bunch of cool things AlertMe could do in the future. The Power Orb is a particularly interesting one, because we already have a Lamp accessory that glows pretty colours according to whatever rules we build for it. Twitter feeds excite us too, because they seem like such a great idea and the world is still figuring out what to do with them. We'd love to hear what you think! Sign up to our forums and let us know. How would you feel about your house having a Twitter feed? Would it be amazingly useful or scarily public? Would you prefer it to use IM? (what's IM?), or email? What would you want it to say to you?

Linux FTW!

The lovely folks over at Linuxdevices.com have featured AlertMe in their latest newsletter, and there is an interview with me posted here.

The article uses one of our splendid new kit photos:

What do we want? Energy!

Our first survey is complete, and the results show that ways of monitoring and controlling energy usage at home were popular, so now we are drilling down to find out more detail about what you would like. Do you want to be green? Would you get an AlertMe kit that could help you check that granny was OK? Are you concerned about your utility bills? Let us know - AlertMe can help!

Try out our new Energy survey here.

A lucky winner

Our first online survey of customers, and potential customers, is now complete. This investigated a number of concepts which AlertMe could pursue now that we've launched Peace Of Mind. You can see the results here. The lucky winner of our Prize Draw was David Ely, pictured right. David says "It was fun taking part and learning more about where AlertMe is going. I'm looking forward to the next survey and another chance to win £200!"

It's official - AlertMe is ZigBee!

AlertMe's shipping product, our home security and monitoring kit, is now the first security system to obtain ZigBee product certification from the ZigBee Alliance! We are thrilled that our people-friendly smart home security system has been certified, which is the culmination of a lot of hard work to make sure that not only is our system great for users, but it meets the standards of the tech community too.

You can read the press release here.

Here's the ZigBee team celebrating - Laura James, Chris Holgate, and Amyas Phillips. We would like to thank Ant Skelton and all the people at Ember who have helped us, without whose sterling work this would not have been possible.

Will Hutton says "China needs AlertMe"

I went to the Cambridge Network Open meeting last night, and gave a short pitch about AlertMe before the meeting started, since Cambridge has been so supportive in our Beta test phase.

The well-known journalist Will Hutton was the guest speaker and gave a fascinating talk on his topic "China and the West in the 21st century". During the panel session after his talk, when asked what he thought China might need from the UK, Will responded that Cambridge in particular had two things that China values: academic excellence and the kind of enterprise and intellectual property creation represented by AlertMe.

Thanks for the quote, Will. I'm looking forward to reading your new book on China, The Writing on the Wall.

Special launch edition - up for auction!

AlertMe is now offering our SPECIAL LAUNCH EDITION - only 10 limited edition kits, signed by the team, and including an AlertMe logo T-shirt and 1 Gb USB memory stick!

It's up for auction on eBay - CLICK HERE TO BID.

ZigBee at the Consumer Electronics Show

The annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas gets quite a lot of mainstream press these days, as well as being thoroughly covered in the "techie" media.

TechwebTV have a video interview about ZigBee, in which they talk to the ZigBee Alliance's head of marketing, Brent Hodges. Brent talks about the ways in which ZigBee can help people have more energy efficient homes, by connecting thermostats, appliances, lighting, and electricity meters together. He also mentions ZigBee being used for home security, and around 5 minutes 10 seconds into the clip, you'll spot AlertMe's demo!



If you're at CES this year, you will find our very own VP Marketing, Nik Rouda, at the Ember booth, and demos of our kit at both Ember and Control4's booths.

Solar Hot Water

Just before Christmas we had an interesting meeting with folks from Viridian Concepts. With high oil prices and global warming, there's lots of interest in domestic solar water heating solutions but it can take a long time for such systems to pay back their install costs. Viridian's novel approach is to avoid chasing every last percent of operating efficiency and focus instead on keeping the initial cost low, so payback time is short. Their "Solar House" report is a model example of how to gather and present data clearly, and a real treat for a graph-nut like me. They also taught us the important concept of Embodied Energy - the energy used to make a product, including all of its constituent parts.

If and when AlertMe integrates with domestic Heating controls, maybe we'll end-up working together - of course we plugged the benefits of ZigBee to them!

Ember powers AlertMe

News from AlertMe and Ember:

Read the press release here.

A great start to the New Year!

Take our survey!

We want to know what our customers, and potential customers, would like in an AlertMe system. You can now take part in our survey and let us know! We're keen to hear your thoughts so we can make our service the best it can be.

There's also a prize draw to encourage you - if you are the lucky one out of the hat, you will win £200 cash.

Click now!

2008 International CES

Come see AlertMe at the 2008 International CES in Las Vegas, January 7-10, 2008!!

We'll be exhibiting along with our partners in two locations: with Ember in the ZigBee Alliance area and in the Control4 Partner Pavilion.

Special thanks to Ember and Control4 for inviting us!

Mobile Phone crime

Last week I went to a talk about mobile phone theft and misuse of electronic services, given by Shaun Whitehead from the Criminology and Criminal Justice centre at Loughborough University. There were lots of questions so he only managed to get through the mobile phone part of his research, but I thought some of his points were really interesting for Alertme customers.

You may know that there is a staggering amount of mobile phone theft in the UK - the most recent British Crime Survey (reported here by Halifax building society) reported that two MILLION mobile phones were stolen last year. Shaun and his colleague Jen Mailley have investigated ways of reducing this crime wave, by combining traditional criminology with modern technology.

One of the first things they did was to interview convicted phone thieves. Although most thefts are opportunistic, it turns out that thieves are keenly aware of risk and reward, just like everyone else. When they see an opportunity, they judge carefully whether it is worth the risk. Increase the risk to them, and the reward becomes less attractive. Another thing Shaun and Jen did was to look at ways of reducing those opportunities - if no opportunity presents itself, most thieves won't risk trying to create one.

Alertme helps protect your home in both ways. We give you some easy-to-spot (and rather smart) window stickers, so that potential thieves will have to factor in an increased risk to themselves. We can also warn you as you leave your house if you have left windows or doors open, helping you avoid giving thieves a chance.

Shaun's closing point put a great twist on the story. Phone insurance policies tend not to cover accidental damage or loss. That means that when someone has a problem with their phone, they've got to stump up for a new one, even though they've been paying to insure it. Although nobody can be sure, people who've studied the problem think that a lot of those 'stolen' phones actually went in the bin!

What's going through the front door?

Our first kits!

AlertMe is now shipping our first controlled release to eager customers. It's fantastic to see the kits going out, and we've already had some fantastic feedback. Home security is entering the 21st century at last.

Of course, there are always some rough edges with a new technology, but that's why we're so excited to get the product into the real world and keep improving it. AlertMe's culture includes an emphasis on co-production - a fancy term for working with our customers to build exactly what they want in their homes.

This is only the beginning....

For more information, see www.alertme.com.