User Experiences and Designers

About two months ago my phone kept buzzing with notifications. I got the kindest tweets after it was announced that I was joining Home Assistant as the first full-time UX designer. That enthusiasm is also reflected in the more than 500 registrations for our user research group and the many comments we received on design ideas I’ve shared on Twitter.

User Experiences

Home Assistant has a large group of users with a common goal: home automation that puts local control and privacy first. From our analytics we have over 85,000 users who opted in to share their data anonymously, but we know that there are a lot more. None of these houses and users are alike and may have different, perhaps conflicting interests. Here lies the power of UX. As Scott Jenson shared in his fantastic keynote, UX offers perspective. Who are the users? What are their tasks? And what is their pain? What do they want to achieve?

In the coming period, I will investigate what type of smart home users there are, what their needs are and what stands in the way of achieving this.

Designers

Last year alone, there were over 8,000 GitHub contributors to Home Assistant. That’s really fantastic! With a Designer-to-Developer ratio of 1 per 8,000, it’s easy to get lost in the backend of design and forget the users. This can result in inconsistent user interfaces or designs that could be more user-friendly. For now we’re working on three areas.

UX contributors

We want to make it as easy for designers to contribute as it is for developers. There’s a lot a designer can contribute to. For example, making it easier to work with light groups or getting started with automating your house. If you have a design you really think we should look at? Would you like to help build our own Design System? Do you have experience with user testing? Do you have strategic design ideas? Want to organize an online design workshop? Or just want to meet fellow designers? Meet us at devs_ux Discord channel or join us on GitHub discussions.

Tooling

We want it to be easy to start creating and iterating on design mockups for Home Assistant. We want anyone that is interested to be able to jump in. To achieve this we’ve been hard at work at re-creating the components that make up the Home Assistant interface as a DesignKit for Figma. This allows anyone to experiment with the Home Assistant interface and quickly try out different concepts. Try it yourself and feel free to share your designs.

Documentation

With clear guidelines, you can ensure speed and quality. That’s why we’re working on design documentation that will be available soon. Its goal is to help designers and developers make better choices. Got suggestions or want to help with our guidelines? Meet us at devs_ux Discord channel.

2021.10.0: Z-Wave S2 support, Tuya, secure ESPHome and 400 new icons

October! I love this month!

For most of you (just like me), it means winter is coming. We all go back
inside. An excellent excuse to spent a bit more time on our smart homes, right? 😃

It is also the month of celebrating open source by joining
Hacktoberfest! If you make 4 contributions to any open-source
project (Home Assistant, for example 😘), you’ll receive a free t-shirt!

For the Home Assistant project, this means a busy month. However, that doesn’t
matter. It is always great to see new people contributing!

Meanwhile, Home Assistant turned 8 years old already! Wild! And the birthday
announcement was even wilder (more about that below).

Anyways, about this release: Z-Wave JS is stepping up its game! If you have
a Z-Wave network and are not using Z-Wave JS yet… well… it might be time
to bite the bullet and go for it. You won’t regret it.

This release also brings the new much-talked-about, Tuya integration
supported by Tuya themselves! I’m looking forward to how that evolves!

Oh, and of course, we will be live streaming the 2021.10 release party later today!
Join us at https://youtu.be/QWy4jWzKUEw @ 21:00 CEST.

Enjoy the release!

../Frenck

Home Assistant Amber

In case you’ve missed it: Home Assistant turned 8 years old! 🥳
And to celebrate that, we’ve revealed the Home Assistant Amber!

Home Assistant Amber was launched using a crowdfunding campaign, which already
reached its funding goal! This is absolutely fantastic!

And… You can still back the campaign to get your own Home Assistant Amber!

Go to campaign on CrowdSupply »

Z-Wave JS updates!

We have two awesome Z-Wave JS updates to share with you this release.

S2 is now supported

Security is something we all care about; We don’t want devices to be tampered
with, when using things like door locks or motion sensors that trip the alarm
system. For our Z-Wave devices, this is no different!

As of this release, Home Assistant’s Z-Wave JS integration supports S2!

S2 is short for Security 2, a new security standard for Z-Wave devices,
providing different keys for each device in the network. It is
the more secure upgrade of the previous S0 version.

Besides improved security, S2 capable devices (in general) are more reliable,
provide greater battery life and have less latency compared to S0.

The Z-Wave JS integration will automatically pick the best and most optimal
security method available.

Screenshot of Z-Wave JS pairing a new device with S2 security
Automatically uses the best possible security method when adding a new Z-Wave device.

If you have existing Z-Wave devices capable of using S2 already paired with
Home Assistant before this update, you will need to repair those to let them
use the new S2 feature.

Migration wizard from the old Z-Wave integration

Are you still using the old (and deprecated) zwave integration? If so, it
might be that you have been holding back on the Z-Wave JS upgrade because of
the work involved in migrating. Time to reconsider…

Home Assistant now provides a migration wizard for users of the old Z-Wave
integration to migrate more easily to the new Z-Wave JS integration.

To avoid surprises, the wizard will exactly show what it will do,
what it can and cannot migrate.

The old and deprecated Z-Wave integration will continue to work as long
as technically possible, but will no longer receive updates.

New Tuya integration

Oh yeah! The Tuya integration has been updated to the latest greatest version:
developed and maintained by a team of developers at Tuya themselves!

Right now, we have support for lights, switches, scenes, fans and climate
devices. Compared to the old integration, support for covers is currently
missing, which we hope to add in a future release. Additionally,
the new integration now pushes updates to Home Assistant!

If you ran the Tuya integration previously, you need to set it up from scratch,
as the integration has been entirely re-written and uses a different API.

For more information, please see the Tuya integration documentation.

Updated Material Design Icons

The Material Design Icons have been updated to v6!

This new version of MDI is packed with nearly 400 new icons (and over 75+ icons
have been specifically marked for Home Assistant) ❤️

Sample image showing some of the new Material Design Icons available
Some really useful new MDI icons have been added in this release!

Several icons have been removed or renamed in v6, but we have ensured
they will keep working for the upcoming two releases. Home Assistant will
write warnings in the logs in case you are using one of the affected icons.
The breaking changes section has more information about this.

Encrypted communications support for ESPHome

ESPHome and the ESPHome integration now have support for communicating
encrypted with each other. @OttoWinter has been working hard to add
this layer of encryption to the ESPHome API,
which utilizes the noise protocol.

Besides this version of Home Assistant, you’ll need at least
ESPHome 2021.9.0, and configure your ESPHome device to enable
encrypted communications.

Awesome job @OttoWinter!

For more information on how to do that, check out the
ESPHome documentation.

Other noteworthy changes

There is much more juice in this release; here are some of the other
noteworthy changes this release:

  • The energy dashboard now supports gas sensors that use kWh as the unit of
    measurement.
  • We have a new dev tool available for long-term statistics. This tool
    can be helpful when you need to resolve issues or warnings with the statistics.
  • The Shelly team has been busy and added support for the new, next-generation,
    Shelly devices. Also known as Gen2 or Plus devices (which are WebSocket RPC
    based).
  • The TP-Link Kasa Smart integration had a lot of love and improvements: support
    for new devices, configurable via the UI and device discovery. It fixes the
    famous and disliked “unavailable” bug! Thanks @rytilahti!
  • @Aohzan adjusted the Logitech Harmony integration to have a select
    entity to change the activity. Very handy!
  • HomeKit now supports the select and input_select entities, thanks to @ha0y!
  • @Kane610 added support to deCONZ for the Siren entity.
  • The manual alarm control panel now supports vacation mode, thanks @mbo18!
  • @koying added a new template method: regex_findall, that can return
    a list of all matches of a regular expression.
  • @emontnemery added more template goodness by adding the is_number
    function and filter that can be used to quickly determine if a value is
    a number or not.
  • The Lovelace entity card now supports setting the icon to change color when
    the entity is active (state_color). Thanks, @spacegaier
  • The SwitchBot integration is receiving a lot of love from @RenierM26!
    A bunch of new platforms, configuration via the UI, nice work!

New Integrations

We welcome the following new integrations this release:

Integrations now available to set up from the UI

The following integrations are now available via the Home Assistant UI:

Release 2021.10.1 – October 7

  • Recreate the powerwall session/object when attempting relogin (@bdraco – #56935) (powerwall docs)
  • Update led brightness select state only if valid data is available, Xiaomi Miio integration (@bieniu – #57197) (xiaomi_miio docs)
  • Convert val to str when needed while calling zwave_js.set_value (@raman325 – #57216) (zwave_js docs)
  • Discover tplink devices periodically (@bdraco – #57221) (tplink docs)
  • Correct SQL query generated by get_metadata_with_session (@emontnemery – #57225) (recorder docs)
  • Fix netgear config flow import (@MartinHjelmare – #57253) (netgear docs)
  • Validate initial value for input_datetime (@emontnemery – #57256) (input_datetime docs)
  • Bump Mill library to 0.6.1 (@Danielhiversen – #57261) (mill docs)
  • Fix RGB only (no color temp) devices with tplink (@bdraco – #57267) (tplink docs)
  • Update frontend to 20211007.0 (@bramkragten – #57268) (frontend docs)
  • Fix transition handling for tplink lights (@rytilahti – #57272) (tplink docs)
  • Bump HAP-python to 4.30 (@bdraco – #57284) (homekit docs)
  • Stopgap fix for inconsistent upstream API of tplink dimmers (@rytilahti – #57285) (tplink docs)
  • Bump yeelight to 0.7.7 (@bdraco – #57290) (yeelight docs)

Release 2021.10.2 – October 8

  • Netgear fix port and device model beeing overwritten (@starkillerOG – #57277) (netgear docs)
  • Fix Nanoleaf light turn_off transition (@milanmeu – #57305) (nanoleaf docs)
  • Migrate tplink hosts that were previously imported from yaml (@bdraco – #57308) (tplink docs)
  • Upgrade aionanoleaf to 0.0.3 to fix deadlock (@milanmeu – #57312) (nanoleaf docs)
  • Improve state of cover groups (@emontnemery – #57313) (group docs)
  • Fix multiple upnp/ssdp issues (@StevenLooman – #57314) (upnp docs) (yeelight docs) (dlna_dmr docs) (ssdp docs)
  • Guard for bad last reset (@balloob – #57344) (sensor docs)

Release 2021.10.3 – October 10

  • Catch errors for efergy (@tkdrob – #57326) (efergy docs)
  • Use switch format unique ids for tplink dimmers (@bdraco – #57346) (tplink docs)
  • Fix Shelly RGB/W supported color mode detection (@thecode – #57359) (shelly docs)
  • Bump pynws to 1.3.2 (@MatthewFlamm – #57361) (nws docs)
  • Bump Switchbot library (@RenierM26 – #57367) (switchbot docs)
  • Bump pyhaversion to 21.10.0 (@ludeeus – #57377) (version docs)
  • Update frontend to 20211007.1 (@bramkragten – #57385) (frontend docs)
  • Do all of dhcp scapy startup in the executor (@bdraco – #57392) (dhcp docs)
  • Remove executor calls in isy994 as its fully async (@bdraco – #57394) (isy994 docs)
  • Fix default parameter values for service opentherm_gw.set_clock (@mvn23 – #57397) (opentherm_gw docs)
  • Fix opentherm_gw.set_clock time parameter name (@mvn23 – #57398) (opentherm_gw docs)
  • Restore yeelight workaround for failing to update state after on/off (@bdraco – #57400) (yeelight docs)
  • Fix Shelly button filter empty event (@thecode – #57427) (shelly docs)
  • Fix Shelly button type in roller mode (@thecode – #57429) (shelly docs)
  • Bump zeroconf to 0.36.8 (@bdraco – #57451) (zeroconf docs)
  • Fix netgear renamed mdi icons (@thecode – #57431) (netgear docs)

Release 2021.10.4 – October 11

  • Upgrade youless library to fix missing sensor LS110 (@gjong – #57366) (youless docs)
  • Fix Netgear orbi port in ssdp discovery (@starkillerOG – #57432) (netgear docs)
  • Fix upnp creating derived sensors (@StevenLooman – #57436) (upnp docs)
  • Fix referenced before assignment in modem_callerid (@tkdrob – #57460) (modem_callerid docs)
  • Upgrade aiomusiccast to tolererate not decodable characters (@micha91 – #57461) (yamaha_musiccast docs)
  • Detect if mysql and sqlite support row_number (@emontnemery – #57475) (recorder docs) (sensor docs)
  • Bump youtube-dl to 2021.06.06 (@chpego – #57490) (media_extractor docs)
  • Simplify yeelight setup to improve reliability (@bdraco – #57500) (yeelight docs)

Release 2021.10.5 – October 15

  • Log reason for DLNA-DMR device becoming unavailable (@chishm – #57516) (dlna_dmr docs)
  • Bump Mill library to 0.6.2 (@Danielhiversen – #57533) (mill docs)
  • Fix Fast.com autoupdate (@Z1ni – #57552) (fastdotcom docs)
  • Bump simplisafe-python to 11.0.7 (@bachya – #57573) (simplisafe docs)
  • Correct detection of row_number support for MariaDB (@emontnemery – #57663) (recorder docs)
  • Ensure Notion device name is stored as a string (@bachya – #57670) (notion docs)
  • Bump spiderpy to 1.4.3 (@peternijssen – #57675) (spider docs)
  • Fix Shelly humidity sensor available condition (@thecode – #57721) (shelly docs)
  • Reconnect and retry yeelight commands after previous wifi drop out (@bdraco – #57741) (yeelight docs)
  • Always send color/temp when switching from an effect in yeelight (@bdraco – #57745) (yeelight docs)
  • Fix Youless state class for power total sensor (@gjong – #57758) (youless docs)
  • Fix broken upnp derived sensors reporting b/s instead of kb/s (@StevenLooman – #57681) (upnp docs)

Release 2021.10.6 – October 18

  • Avoid setting up harmony websocket from discovery (@bdraco – #57589) (harmony docs)
  • Fix device class for energy plugwise sensors (@squio – #57803) (plugwise docs)
  • Prevent yeelight discovery from overloading the bulb (@bdraco – #57820) (yeelight docs)
  • Bump bond-api to 0.1.14 (@bdraco – #57874) (bond docs)
  • Revert “Fix bmw_conntected_drive check_control_message short description” (@cdce8p – #57928) (bmw_connected_drive docs)
  • Fix bug that prevents multiple instances of Tile (@bachya – #57942) (tile docs)

Release 2021.10.7 – November 1

  • Fix Tuya documentation URL (@ludeeus – #57889)
  • Fix netgear NoneType and discovery (@starkillerOG – #57904)
  • Abort keenetic SSDP discovery if the unique id is already setup or ignored (@foxel – #58009)
  • Fix Yamaha MusicCast media_stop (@micha91 – #58024)
  • Sleep between device requests to detect socket closes (@chishm – #58087)
  • Fix template sensor when name template doesn’t render (@emontnemery – #58088)
  • Bump pymazda to 0.2.2 (@bdr99 – #58113)
  • Abort Fritz config flow for configured hostnames (@chemelli74 – #58140)
  • Fix find_next_time_expression_time (@OttoWinter – #58894)

If you need help…

…don’t hesitate to use our very active forums or join us for a little chat.

Experiencing issues introduced by this release? Please report them in our issue tracker. Make sure to fill in all fields of the issue template.

iOS 15 is now available to download

Apple has just released the final version of iOS 15, the next major version of the operating system for the iPhone. It is a free download and it works with the iPhone 6s or later, both generations of iPhone SE and the most recent iPod touch model (iPad users will also be able to update to iPadOS 15 and watchOS 8 today).

Apple_iOS15-avail_hero_09202021b

iOS 15 adds all the little features that were missing

The release of iOS 15 should be a major event for mobile operating systems. And yet, this year, there’s no breakthrough feature or overarching theme that makes this release stand out. Apple has focused on quality-of-life updates as well as new features for its own apps.

Roku-Streaming-Stick-4K

Roku debuts new Streaming Stick 4K bundles, software update with voice and mobile features

Weeks after Amazon introduced an updated Fire TV lineup that included, for the first time, its own TVs, Roku today is announcing its own competitive products in a race to capture consumers’ attention before the holiday shopping season. Its updates include a new Roku Streaming Stick 4K and Roku Streaming Stick 4K+ — the latter which ships with Roku’s newer hands-free voice remote. The company is also refreshing the Roku Ultra LT, a Walmart-exclusive version of its high-end player. And it announced the latest software update, Roku OS 10.5, which adds updated voice features, a new Live TV channel for home screens, and other minor changes.

As offices come back, ATMO launches air monitoring device claiming to give COVID-risk score

Way back in 2015 we covered the launch of the Atmotube, a small, innovative, portable air quality monitor which went on to receive a number of awards after its CES debut.

Since rebranding as ATMO, the company, co-founded by Vera Kozyr, is now launching the Atmocube, an indoor air quality monitoring system for businesses and enterprises. This new product is positioned far more for the post-COVID era, where air quality inside offices is going to be vital, and this time, instead of being small and portable (although that earlier product is still sold), the Atmocube will be prominent and visible in order to give office workers peace of mind that their air quality is good.

The key to this is measuring CO2 levels, which the Atmocube displays on its screen along with other metrics.

Atmotube Is A Tiny Pollution Sensor That Clears Up What’s In The Air You Breathe

The device has up to 14 sensors measuring various environmental parameters such as CO2, formaldehyde, PM1 (small airborne particles), PM2.5, ozone, and others, and other environmental parameters such as relative humidity, temperature, atmospheric pressure, ambient noise, and light levels.

The company says this new device also calculates the Airborne Virus Transmission Score — based on the levels of particulate matter, humidity and CO2, and says it comes up with a “score” that estimates the probability of transferring virus diseases in closed spaces. Obviously, that’s probably something that would need independent testing to verify, but it is the case that the WHO advises that COVID-19 can be transmitted in poorly ventilated and/or crowded indoor settings.

Kozyr said: “Air pollution is dangerous because it can affect you and your health even if you don’t notice it. We aim to help people know what they’re breathing and make changes as a result. As businesses return to the office, they need a tool to make information about indoor air quality transparent and accessible to their employees. Most air quality monitors are designed to be hidden away, so we set out to create a device with a more transparent interface that would highlight HVAC performance safety and create trust between occupants and building owners”.

ATMO is by no means the only player in the space of course, as it’s joined by AirThings, Awair Omni and Kaiterra.

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Tile secures $40 million to take on Apple AirTag with new products

Tile, the maker of Bluetooth-powered lost item finder beacons and, more recently, a staunch Apple critic, announced today it has raised million in non-dilutive debt financing from Capital IP. The funding will be put towards investment in Tile’s finding technologies, ahead of the company’s plan to unveil a new slate of products and features that the company believes will help it to better compete with Apple’s AirTags and further expand its market.

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GoPro debuts the HERO10 Black action camera

GoPro today announced a new flagship action camera for its lineup, the HERO10 Black. The main update for the camera is a brand new processor inside, called the GP2, which enables big improvements to image quality and video captures, including recording at 5.3K revolution at up to 60 frames per second, 4K video capture bumped to a max of 120 FPS and 2.7K video at 240 FPS, which enables awesome slow-mo capabilities.

The new HERO10 Black also offers better still images, with 23.6 megapixel captures, and better performance in low light. That improved low-light capture applies to video, too, with 3D noise reduction applied so that even nighttime scenes have a lot less grain. The improved processing capabilities of the GP2 chip also mean that using the GoPro interface and software on the camera is generally much snappier, too.

Another new feature made possible by the improved processor is the 4.0 version of HyperSmooth, which is GoPro’s tech for offering gimbal-like stabilization via software. HyperSmooth was already impressive, and based on our initial testing (a full review will follow soon), it’s fantastic on this new generation of camera. HERO10 also packs an upgraded horizon-levelling system, which locks the horizon even when the camera is tilted up to 45 degrees in either direction.

Image Credits: GoPro

The GoPro HERO10 includes a front-facing screen as well as a rear touch screen, with better frame rates on the front selfie screen. The new lens cover has a hydrophobic treatment to improve its ability to get wet and shed water, and it works with the existing Media Mod, Display Mod and Light Mod for GoPro cameras. It works as a webcam out of the box, has fast-charging support, and now offers wired content transfers to your smartphone or device in addition to cloud uploading and wireless transfer.

Also returning is GoPro’s SuperView lens, which offers an even wider angle capture, and which will be available in new 5.3K 30/25/24 FPS capture modes when a firmware update arrives on November 16. That will also deliver support for GoPro’s Max Lens Mods, as well as the following additional capture modes:

  • 5K 4:3 24fps
  • 4K 4:3 30/25/24fps
  • 5.3K 24fps
  • 1080 24fps

GoPro’s HERO10 is available now, priced at $399.98 with a bundled one-year GoPro subscription or for existing subscribers, or you’ll pay $499.99 without the recurring sub, which will cost $49.99 annually or $4.99 per month after the trial. There’s a HERO10 Black bundle that includes a Shorty tripod mount, a magnetic swivel clip, an additional battery and a 32GB microSD card for $549 without subscription, or $449 with one. GoPro subscribers can also upgrade to the bundle from their existing camera for a further discounted $399.

The company will continue to offer both the GoPro HERO9 Black and the HERO8 Black alongside the HERO10, at lower price points, as well as its MAX 360 action camera.

Home Assistant Amber

To celebrate our 8th birthday we’re launching a crowdfunding campaign for Home Assistant Amber. We designed Home Assistant Amber from scratch for both beginners and home automation enthusiasts
to be the easiest way to run Home Assistant.

Go to campaign on CrowdSupply »

We will be hosting a Home Assistant Amber live stream today at 12.00 PDT / 21.00 CEST. We will talk about how Home Assistant Amber came to be and answer any questions you might have!