Outfitting a home or apartment with connected technology seems like a good idea until the simple action of turning on a light means unlocking a smartphone, searching for the connected light’s specific app, launching it – you get the idea. Despite the noble intentions behind connected tech, a lot of them actually end up making what used to be simple tasks way more involved.
Team Gidjit thinks its Gidjit Beacons can help in this regard. Each beacon is a small, disc-like device that can be placed in any room and associated with whatever connected devices are present, like Nest thermostats, Philips Hue lightbulbs, or even Apple TVs. As users move from room to room and in closer proximity to different Gidjit Beacons, the Gidjit iOS app displays a constantly updated list of available devices and services that can be directly controlled, all without having to go on a wild goose hunt every time.
The Gidjit app can also launch other, built-in apps like Mail and even trigger HomeKit scenes, making itself a contender for home screen replacement. $22 is enough for a single beacon, while $32 gets two and $57 is good for three. Every perk is slated to ship August 2016 should Team Gidjit raise $20,000 by June 2oth, 2016.
In a world where speech recognition technology and constantly learning AI seem to be the direction where the industry is going, staring at a smartphone screen is a better attempt to control all the disparate connected devices in a home is a step backwards — especially when we have products like the voice-controlled ZOE and deep learning Sense available.