This week’s Smart Living roundup features ADT’s investment towards the development of a new security app, AT&T’s expansion of its Digital Life smart home platform into new markets, and the emergence of a new smart home model.

ADT leads Life360 Series C funding

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Life360, an app that helps people keep track of the whereabouts of other members of the family, recently received $50 million in a Series C funding, led by ADT, a home security and automation company.

ADT invested $25 million in the round, which will provide “a valuable lead generation source for ADT and enable the development of innovative, co-branded mobile security applications to provide greater safety and security services to families.”

Aside from the monetary investment, ADT and Life360 will be collaborating on a new mobile app, integrating ADT Chaperone with Life360’s security offerings to provide direct access to ADT’s 24/7 monitoring centers that can connect users to police, fire and emergency medical responders.

Life360’s mobile apps are free to download, but to access additional features included in the premium package, which includes 24/7 live advisor, roadside assistance, location of feature phones, stolen phone insurance, users pay a monthly fee of $5.

Apple to unveil smart home platform at WWDC

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Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference will be kicking off next week and the latest rumors suggest that the Cupertino giant will be unveiling the iOS 8 platform, an update to OS X, an upgraded version of the Apple TV, and a smart home platform.

According to reports, the connected home platform will allow iPhones to be used as remotes for connected devices, and the upgraded Apple TV will serve as the home base of the system. If rumors are true, it will put Apple in a prime spot to once again compete with Google which acquired Nest, the smart learning thermostat, earlier this year.

Apple moving into the home automation market isn’t that surprising as it already had a headstart with AirPlay and Apple TV. iOS is primed for home automation services, considering the existing number of smart home apps crafted just for iPhones. Apple stores also present a distribution retail opportunity for several smart home products, including the Nest thermostat.

AT&T’s Digital Life expands to new markets

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AT&T Digital Life added six more cities to its roster, putting its total to 81 US markets.  The six new cities include Beaumont, Texas; Omaha, Nebraska; Toledo, Ohio; Greenville, South Carolina; Cape Coral, Florida; and Oxnard, California.

Aside from the availability of Digital Life in new cities, AT&T also introduced a  new home automation device that allows a user to control the garage door using the web service or the mobile app.  AT&T’s garage door controller is available for $50, plus a monthly service fee.

AT&T is also working on other connected projects as a matter of consumer convenience.  The network carrier is working on Smart Luggage for travellers, the PlanIt app to connects your smartphone’s mic to a laptop or speaker system, and the Dashboard Messenger for hands-free smartphone management for drivers.  No timeline has been given as to when consumers can expect to see these products available in the market.

New smart home model rises in Japan

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In March, Honda unveiled the  Honda Smart Home US, featuring technologies that not only connect inhabitants with the home and the rest of the world, but also deliver green solutions.  Now, in collaboration with Sekisui House and Toshiba, Honda unveiled a jointly built smart home in Saitama City, Japan.

Sekisui House has been focused on the utilization of advanced technologies to deliver a comfortable lifestyle to homeowners, offering a smart house under the brand name Green First Zero, equipped with various energy creation and saving technologies optimally controlled by HEMS (home energy management system).

The new demonstration test house is a fully livable two-family house, equipped with advance technologies that support future life by testing new technological challenges such as mutual supply of electricity and hot water for the two households and non-contact charging for electric vehicles.  They are also looking into utilizing the surplus electricity by photovoltaic generation from the said households to be used in another household.

And for Toshiba, which has been offering energy devices, smart home appliances and cloud services, the model smart house will allow it to test its offerings related to energy efficient home appliances, with the end goal of extending such solutions to the rest of the community.

image via Life360