This week’s Smart Living roundup features new set-top boxes for home entertainment, security and automation, an app to help diagnose car problems, and a connected car platform opens its doors for developers.

LG debuts family of set-top boxes

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LG recently showcased its family of new set-top boxes at The Cable Show event this month.

The new line of set-top boxes (STBs) marry proven Internet-connected device platforms with flexible cable-centric applications which makes them not only beneficial for consumers, but cable operators too.

“We’re seeing increasing consumer interest in IP-based home entertainment and connected home services,” said Byunghoon Min, senior vice president, LG Electronics Home Entertainment. “With LG’s portfolio of set-top boxes and connected home products, cable operators have a comprehensive response that will satisfy subscribers’ entertainment and home automation needs now and in the future.”

The new line of STBs include the Ultra HD STB which supports 4K decoding, content sharing via DLNA, Wi-Fi and multimedia over coaxial (MoCA); an All-in-One Entertainment System which plays back music streamed wirelessly, acts as a speaker phone, a speaker and docking station, can be turned into a home monitoring system, second TV, home library, digital photo frame or even a radio when used with the LG G Pad 8.3 tablet; the mini Android over-the-top which is a compact set-top box that delivers advanced wireless options, protected HD video with support for leading digital rights management systems, and optional HDMI pass-through functionality.

Aside from the STBs, LG also showcased its new IP cameras for home monitoring.  The new IP cameras are HD-capable, motion-detection capable, multi-stream, able to handle multiple streams and comes in two styles, the ultra-compact “lipstick” style HD IP camera and auto pan-tilt “snowman” HD camera.

Mojio gets developers on board

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Mojio, a car plugin to connect your car to the Internet, will be launching this Spring.  There are other car plugins that promises the same thing as Mojio, but what makes it stand out is that, aside from uploading acceleration, braking and engine alert information into a user’s smartphone, it comes with apps that integrates the gathered data to social networking sites. The car data can also be shared with phone contacts, and synced to the phone’s calendar to stay on top of repairs and maintenance schedules.

Before Mojio launches to consumers, it made its API available for developers ahead of launch.  Apps developed for Mojio can tap into the vehicle diagnostic and location data obtained from the car’s control access network, as well as the social networking and communications tools built in the cloud-based platform.

Smart car data integration is a goal for social app makers as well. Glympse, the location sharing app for smartphones,  is already working on integrating its core feature into cars, to act as a beacon so car owners can always keep track of their cars’ locations.