Kwikset began selling SmartCode 915 ($179), an electronic touch-screen deadbolt lock with technology designed to prevent “smudge” attacks. Kwikset’s SecureScreen technology requires users to tap two random numbers on the touch screen before entering the programmed access code, so unapproved persons can’t detect frequently used numbers and characters from oily residues left by fingers on the touch-screen surface, said the company Monday. SecureScreen encourages use of the full screen to mask the correct access code, it said.

Crestron added a wireless control keypad for its home and conference control systems that’s based on the company’s infiNET EX protocol. The HTT-B10EX is designed to control home functions including AV, lighting, shades and climate and is small enough to fit on a bedside table, said the company. The keypad operates over Crestron’s wireless mesh technology and has 10 backlit push-buttons with individual feedback LEDs, it said.

An open standard bus protocol developed by Siemens has seen adoption rates rise in Europe and could find its way to the U.S. home technology market, said CEDIA. In a blog post Monday, Education Director-CEDIA EMEA Simon Buddle said the KNX Protocol, developed from the European Installation Bus, offers end users a wide choice of products that interconnect and communicate without the need for costly bridges or interfaces. KNX brings a high level of control features, lower cost than other offerings and an ecosystem with multiple styles of keypads with dynamic displays, said Buddle. KNX, which communicates over a two-wire bus, has had increased installation in high-end homes in Europe “because it is not tied to a single manufacturer,” and there’s a wide selection of products, he said. A product carrying the KNX trademark has been certified by KNX-accredited third-party test labs and proven that its useful data has been coded according to KNX standardized data types, Buddle said. “Any manufacturer can get one of their products KNX certified should they wish,” he said.

Crestron’s app for the Apple Watch gives users access to 10 of their favorite or frequently used features of their control systems, Byron Wendling, product manager-touch screens & user interfaces, told us by email. Because the watch's user interface is so much smaller than that of a smartphone or tablet, the challenge is “not to try and translate everything you can do with the full app” when designing for the watch, said Wendling. Apple’s stated intent for the watch is “for very quick and focused interactions, so we developed our watch app very much in that spirit,” Wendling said. Examples of functions that a user might choose to control are turning on or off the front porch light, unlocking the door, turning music on or off and closing motorized shades, he said. Integrators program the watch for clients with Crestron’s Simpl programming language that uses Smart Graphics technology. Wendling wouldn’t pin down the date of availability, saying only it would be “soon.”

Control4 began delivering its OS 2.7 product lineup Wednesday, including T3 touch screens with HD video capability and a new user interface boasting double the resolution of previous models, the company said. Other releases include a wireless thermostat co-developed with Aprilaire, a handheld system remote control and refreshed Control4 apps for iOS and Android mobile devices, it said.

On Controls added CentraLite to its Partners in Control cooperative program, the company said Wednesday. The program was designed to ensure compatibility between On Controls’ home automation platform and connected devices from a variety of manufacturers, On Controls said.

Premium iOS universal remote control app company Roomie updated its software to support additional devices and features. Version 3.1 adds control of the Amazon Fire TV network, Apple TV media guide, Apple TV iTunes guide, Denon Heos media guide, Dish Network DVR recording and scheduling, Dune HD/Mede8er + Kodi media guide and the LG TV network and media guide, Roomie said. It also added control of timer and time-based triggers, it said.

An iOS app for the TiO home automation system is available from the iTunes store, parent company Anuva Automation said Tuesday. The app opens control of the TiO system to iPad tablets using iOS 8 or later, the company said. An Android app has been available for some time. “It has been our goal to perfect the system on the Android platform, and then migrate the app to iOS,” Anuva President Mike Anderson said. The apps enable users to create and control scenes for audio, lighting and multimedia environments.

Control4’s intelligent lighting, which the company revamped a year and a half ago, is driving channel expansion for the home automation company, CEO Martin Plaehn said on a webcast from the Needham Growth Conference Wednesday. Plaehn called programmable lighting a “megatrend” in the home automation market that’s going through a “massive transformation.” Citing the industry transition away from incandescent bulbs as part of the government’s energy efficiency standards, Plaehn pointed to the move to LED “or digital” lighting that will affect all U.S. households without a “pantry full” of incandescent bulbs. “All of us are going to have to move to LED,” he said, “and we’re going to have to move to adaptive-phase dimmers.” As electricians and lighting designers make the shift, “they’re going to realize that digital lighting means programmable lighting,” which Plaehn positioned as “right in the sweet spot of home automation.” More and more dealers are being certified to install Control4 lighting products, Plaehn said, and overall the company is adding 300-400 dealers per year. Chief Financial Officer Dan Strong said lighting is driving Control4’s solution business and in many cases has become “the entry point into the home as consumers want to experience smart lighting.” Plaehn referred to a “barrier of entry” that makes it difficult to enter Control4’s space, including the 8,000 devices with which Control4 works, that's taken some 10 years to amass. Strong called that library of devices one of the company’s most powerful assets that would be “very difficult to duplicate.” Expanding on his barrier to entry comment, Plaehn provided a “litmus test” of potential competitors to Control4 and said, “When could they come to your home and automate your home or some part of it?” He mentioned a “big Korean company with an S,” citing Samsung’s emergence in the smart home market, along with “another company that runs a search company,” and the “company that built all our phones,” and challenged when a Samsung, Google or Apple -- all planning big moves in the smart home space -- would be able to install a system in a customer’s home. “We’ll schedule an appointment and be there tomorrow or this afternoon or next week or at your convenience,” Plaehn said. “We deliver the connected home today.” He gave examples of a Nakamichi tape deck, a pool, a sprinkler system and an HVAC system as products that Control4 can manage today but that companies just entering the market today aren’t able to communicate with. “They can’t do it," he said. "Not for a long time.”

Automation company HomeSeer bowed at CES an IP-based Z-Wave network interface called Z-Net with a “highly optimized antenna design” said to offer superior range and performance. The unit comes with a built-in LAN port, and an optional USB-Wi-Fi adapter is also available, the company said. The interface can be configured to work with up to 232 Z-Wave devices such as light switches, door locks and sensors, the company said. Suggested retail price is $149.