With the Apple v. FBI court drama unfolding, it’s never been clearer how important the topic of individual privacy is. In this post-Snowden age, no one really knows where all these mass amounts of data are sent to and who gets to look at them, prompting many to take matters into their own hands. Protonet’s ZOE is a smart home hub specifically made for these people.
A lot of criticism levied against Internet of Things devices is their potential to be directly hijacked by hackers or government entities or have the data they generate compromised since these devices rely on less than secure cloud technology. ZOE is special, though, in that it’s completely cloud independent: everything ZOE does is processed directly on the hardware itself. So not only does ZOE control and organize all of the major smart home devices on the market now (with an open platform capable of connecting and controlling many more), it does so without compromising any user data.
Like Amazon’s Echo which has amassed many integrations with other products, ZOE learns skills, too, both on its own or by a user downloading or creating new ones with a companion tablet app — skills which can be programmed and later activated completely through voice commands, too. Each $549 ZOE starter kit comes with one hub, three Voice Drops to extend ZOE’s range, and three Phillips HUE bulbs for more connected fun, all expected to ship in December 2016. The ZOE Indiegogo campaign is looking for $100,000 by April 13th, 2016.
The ZOE has a leg up on Echo and other agents simply because it doesn’t have designs on your information, something that should appeal to at least some segment of privacy-conscious folksAnd crucially, More importantly, though, it like it can do as much as Echo, something important to Protonet as it begins its ccompetitive journey.