The Home Technology Specialists of America tacked on a two-day training opportunity to participating integrators’ CEDIA Expo week schedules with the optional Tommapalooza, headed by Director-New Technology Initiatives Tom Doherty. HTSA scheduled the training events -- for lighting, power management and health and wellness technology systems -- at Xssential’s Parker, Colorado, facility, using spaces originally designed for the ill-fated HAUS (Home Automation University) project (see 1603160041). HAUS, an offshoot of the Xssentials’ electronics integration company, opened doors in March 2016 with a splashy event to show off its 25,000-square-foot educational facility. The building, adjacent to Xssentials’ operations, includes classrooms, meeting and social areas, labs and a video production room and was built for vendor-sponsored training events for dealers from the security, AV and HVAC industries to give them skills to succeed in the home automation space. HAUS shut down five months later, but the facility remains. HTSA is paying a nominal fee to use the space for the training, which is free to HTSA integrators, he said. Lighting training classes begin Sept. 10, with some 68 attendees signed up by Thursday, along with classes by Delos, which developed the “Well Building Standard," a set of standards and best practices for the development of healthier interior spaces, Doherty said. Delos trainers will teach installers about its Darwin Premier Home Wellness Intelligence platform “so they can talk intelligently to their clients, architects and developers about the well-building standard and wellness as it relates to the luxury residential market opportunity.” Doherty and product trainers from companies including Crestron, Vantage, Rosewater Energy, Tech Element and DMX will teach Wednesday classes, he said. Overall, integrators will be offered more than 60 hours of training over the two days, he said. Doherty is dubbing the event Tommapalooza I, and based on interest, “I think there will be II, III and IV,” he said.

Savant and sister company Racepoint Energy showed Power over Ethernet lighting at Lightfair this week, including ControlDirect PoE LED drivers and “easy-to-use” configuration tools. The PoE solutions offer integrators single-wire installation, IP control and direct Bluetooth Low Energy communication, which gives integrators a direct path to configure and control an LED. BLE communication speeds up the on-boarding and configuration process and helps isolate issues after fixtures are installed, it said. Also at Lightfair, Savant announced it's the first company to control circuit breakers via Apple HomeKit using its circuit breaker companion modules for lighting and energy. The company’s full lighting lineup is HomeKit-capable, including its own smart bulbs and LED light strips, along with any third-party fixture connected to its lighting controllers, it said. Homeowners can control connected lights via Savant and Apple Home apps.

Crestron is the latest custom channel company to offer remote monitoring and management, with Wednesday's announcement of Domotz as its support partner. Domotz’s solutions will allow Crestron residential systems integrators to remotely monitor customers’ installed systems, while reducing support costs and improving operating efficiency, it said. The ability to diagnose issues “and preemptively resolve them without having to open complicated VPNs or ports or roll trucks, is a game-changer for our residential dealers,” said John Clancy, vice president-residential, Crestron. The Domotz offering also creates new sales opportunities for dealers, he said. With Domotz, dealers will be able to monitor all Crestron and third-party devices on the network in real time; detect and troubleshoot network and IP device problems and then pre-emptively resolve them; power devices on, off or reboot; make programming and configuration changes; and perform network diagnostics, maintenance and upgrades, he said.

Control4 unveiled the Pakedge WA-2200 Wave 2 Access Point with BakPak Lite for improved wireless network performance, it said Monday. An advanced chipset is said to deliver faster speeds, lower latency and “seamless roaming” across the network as end users add to the number of bandwidth-intensive applications in the home such as 4K video streaming, multiplayer gaming and voice-over-IP calling. Auto-discovery of additional access points on the network enables quick setup and streamlined registration, it said. New security requirements ensure the access point is never left with a default username and password, said Control4, and built-in RF scan, device monitoring, and analytics monitor the network for peak performance from connected devices. App control enables network management from outside the home. Prices are $460 for the ceiling-mount version, $590 for the in-ceiling design.

Sixty-five percent of consumers canvassed in seven countries worry how connected devices collect data, reported the Internet Society and Consumers International Wednesday. Fifty-five percent of people in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Australia, France and the U.K. don’t trust their connected devices to protect their privacy, and 53 percent don’t trust connected devices to handle information responsibly. Nearly 70 percent said they own connected devices, such as smart meters, fitness monitors, connected toys, home assistants or gaming consoles. Testing by multiple consumer organizations found various products are rushed to market “with little consideration for basic security and privacy protections,” said ISOC, while 77 percent of consumers said privacy and security are important considerations in their buying decisions. Twenty-eight percent of consumers that don’t own a connected device haven’t bought one because of such concerns: “consumers see this broadly as much of a barrier as cost,” said the group. It underscores the need for IoT manufacturers to build devices with security and privacy in mind, said ISOC CEO Andrew Sullivan. Eighty-eight percent believe regulators should ensure IoT privacy and security standards, 81 percent chose manufacturers, 80 percent assigned retailers; and 60 percent laid the responsibility for security and privacy with consumers.

Amazon Key for Garage went live Monday, enabling eligible Prime members to get deliveries to their garage using a connected myQ garage door opener from Chamberlain Group, Amazon said. Consumers opt in by linking their Amazon and myQ accounts in the Key by Amazon app, or they can buy one of two Key smart garage kits: a myQ hub, which adds connectivity to an existing garage door opener, or a myQ-connected Chamberlain or LiftMaster Wi-Fi door opener. Optional add-ons are an Amazon Key Edition Cloud Cam, which allows customers to view the interior of their garage -- including deliveries -- via livestream or to view video clips of entries. Customers can also use Key for Garage to manage access to their garage via app, it said. For a limited time, the myQ Smart Garage Hub is selling at Amazon for $49, a 38 percent discount. Also for a limited time, customers can buy a myQ Smart Garage Hub bundled with an Amazon Key Edition Cloud Cam for $125, at the same discount.

Schlage’s Encode smart deadbolt is now compatible with Ring video doorbells and cameras via Key by Amazon integration, said the company Thursday. Ring customers will be able to lock and unlock their door directly from their camera's Live View mode using the Ring app, it said, giving the example of allowing temporary access to a pet sitter by pressing a button in the app.

MVPDs are urging the FCC to allow use of texting or apps as a way to send some required notices to consumers, in docket 17-317 comments posted Tuesday. Verizon said the agency should also look at allowing communications via TV screens, maybe using the Fios TV interface. NCTA urged apps and text messaging. The FCC's November adoption of an order allowing cable operators to send notices to customers via email instead of through the post (see 1811150028) included a Further NPRM about electronic alternatives for subpart T and privacy notices.

EnGenius Technologies launched the ESR530, a smart dual-band 802.11ac Wave 2 router, said to provide stable Wi-Fi connections in high-demand home network environments. Features of the $69.99 device ($129.99 for two) include simplified configuration, deployment, remote cloud storage and recovery capabilities, said the company. Consumers connect the first ESR530 to a modem and add additional ones via an AC outlet to create a mesh network. The routers auto-connect to the existing home wireless network, and the EnMesh app allows them to create a secure guest network and advanced parental controls, it said.

HiberSense began selling its smart climate solution through custom integrators and HVAC contractors, said the company Tuesday. Based on a smart hub, sensors and automated vents, HiberSense is designed to balance climate throughout a home or commercial location, it said. Sensors report temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, light and motion data from each room to the hub.