She added that the Quirky partnership is "definitely an innovation driver" and a way of showing off the GE brand. There's a lot going on in the Internet of Things," she said in an interview. "Smart home is not just about appliances. However, GE will continue to own its lighting business, and this year started selling a smart lightbulb called Link.īeth Comstock, GE's chief marketing officer, said in an interview at the event that although GE was focusing less on consumer products, it continues to see a strong future for its relationship with Quirky. In September, GE said it would sell its appliance business to Sweden's Electrolux for $3.3 billion, ending GE's years-long hunt for a buyer. This partnership comes at the same time GE has been walking away from its consumer businesses, instead looking to focus on its more profitable heavy-industry segments. GE invested $30 million in Quirky late last year, as part of a larger $79 million funding round into the startup. Quirky and GE have been developing closer ties to create connected hardware together, including a flexible power strip, an expiration-date-tracking egg tray and a connected air conditioner. GE kicked off Tuesday's event at Quirky's Manhattan headquarters by showing off Connect Plus, a box that connects GE appliances, providing maintenance alerts and controls directly to a user's smartphone. "It's amazing to actually have a product developed," he said at Tuesday's event. He continues to get royalties from Quirky for the sales of the products he thought up. Quirky also launched, replacing as the central site for Wink products, services and information.ĭenny Fong, an optometrist from Toronto, Canada, who submitted the ideas for the Norm temperature-controller and Spotter sensors, said he was happy to fulfill a long-time interest in engineering by joining Quirky's community. The Spotter UNIQ is the first product in the family. The site will become Quirky's new West Coast headquarters and will be used to create customizable and built-to-order electronics under the new Quirky UNIQ line. Quirky also said it would open by mid-December a new "micro-factory" in San Francisco, taking over the defunct Buzzell Electric Works electric-motor factory to build smart-home products. While speaking, Kaufman was visited by a small gray robot butler onstage, and - to prove his point - shared an uncomfortable glance with it. The ads focus on joking that a robot butler - once perceived as a future technology - is actually awkward to have in the house. Also, Quirky was pushing out a series of advertisements to educate consumers on the value of smart-home technology. Looking to invite more adopters into the smart home, Kaufman said all the new products unveiled Tuesday were focused on affordability. Still, few customers have already jumped on these concepts. The smart home is just one part of the even broader Internet of Things, which considers connecting office spaces, cars, factories, street lights and thousands of other objects to the Internet. These companies - which include Google, Qualcomm and others - see the smart home as vast opportunity to add much more technology into people's lives and utilize the smartphone as a universal controller for devices throughout the house. All the devices presented Tuesday were developed through that Quirky network and were part of Quirky's nearly two-year-old partnership with GE to create a line of connected hardware under both companies' names.Ī bevy of technology companies have been working to develop the smart home, a broad concept of making appliances, lights and switches connected to the Internet, while also adding more sensors to doors, windows and rooms around the house. Quirky, founded in 2009, uses an online community of tinkerers, inventors and collaborators to come up with the ideas for its products and shares some of its sales with the community.
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