Syksa SmartLED review: A smart bulb for home that works with Amazon Alexa

A future world with household appliances or devices connected to the internet and operated remotely is not a sci-fi writer’s imagination. We already are living in a world where you can control some devices using your laptop or mobile phone. This is known as the Internet of things in which devices are added to a network and they can be controlled through the internet.

It has not become very common in India yet but smart bulbs are now starting to change things. Imagine switching a bulb on or off using your mobile phone or speaking to another device and asking it to do this for you. What’s more you can even change the colour of the light that the bulb emits using your mobile phone or another device.

That basically is what Syska SmartLED light is all about. It is a 7W LED bulb priced at Rs 1,600 which you can link to your home wifi and then convert your regular living room into a smart room.

All you need are a home wifi connection, a bulb holder (B22) and a mobile phone. Install Syska Smart Home app on your smartphone and then follow the simple steps provided to link your phone to the bulb and viola, you have light on your hands. Operation is fairly straightforward. The company claims that the bulb has millions of colours that it can emit. You can also change the brightness of the lamp using your mobile phone.

Amazon's Alexa will now butler at Marriott hotels

Amazon.com said on Tuesday that it has partnered with Marriott International to help increase guest access to amenities with Alexa, through its voice-controlled device Echo, in an attempt to expand its presence in the hospitality industry.

Alexa for hospitality would assist in providing services ranging from ordering room service to requesting housekeeping or calling the concierge for dinner recommendations without picking up the phone.

The company said the partnership will start this summer at Marriott’s select properties and the service will be available by invitation to other hotel chains.

Several media reports had said that Marriott had tested both Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa to select what was best suited for its hotels.

Marriott did not comment specifically on Apple, but said it has “great relationships with a number of technology companies and is always open to exploring opportunities to innovate and better the guest experience.”

HomePod is no match for Alexa. Is Apple losing the smart speaker plot?

The war for your digital home is waging. Apple has finally followed Amazon, Google and Microsoft by launching a smart speaker with a voice-controlled artificial intelligence assistant. Yet even though the “HomePod” is another technological marvel, there’s a chance Apple is already losing the battle.

The competition isn’t just through the sound quality of the speaker – but the other things that users can do with it. The most common requests to AI personal assistants such as Apple’s Siri are reportedly to play music, read the weather forecast and set timers or reminders.

But the capabilities of these assistants are increasing at lightning speed. This doesn’t just rely on the sophistication of the artificial intelligence involved but also what other technology the assistant can link to. And given Apple’s tendency to reject open connections to other company’s systems, it may find it has some serious catching up to do.