SiliconANGLE’s Smart World Round-up

This week’s Smart Living roundup features the reinvented peephole, a self-watering planter, and a familiar hotel’s keyless hotel initiative.

Brinno’s PeepHole Viewer

Despite the purpose of a peephole, it can sometimes be difficult to clearly view the visitor on the other side of one’s front door. To help solve this issue and add a layer of security to the home, Brinno Inc. offers a tricked out alternative with its PeepHole Viewer line. It uses an LCD panel to display who’s at the door, and the best thing about it is that you don’t have to change your old peephole, making it less expensive than similar products and far easier to install.

The PHV1325 model offers the basic feature of a peephole but allows you to see your visitors easier, while the PHV1330 model has more advanced features such as a 3” LCD screen, image recording, brightness enhancement, a microSD card slot for up to 32GB of storage, and a motion and knocking sensor that triggers the camera. Both models use two AA batteries and have a button that allows you to either see who’s at the door or review the gallery of your visitors.

AliGro Planter

AliGroWorks USA, Inc. has a product soon launching on Kickstarter Inc. called the AliGro Planter. The AliGro Planter allows people to easily grow herbs, greens and tomatoes with ease, as the device ensures that the plant gets the right amount of water thanks to its hands-free watering.

The planter is designed with a reservoir equipped with a tiny float valve that allows the system to maintain the water level at one gallon. A connected hose or garden sprinkler tube automatically fills the reservoir to maintain the one gallon requirement, and the plant wicks up the water it needs through the soil. This way, the plant is not under- or over-watered. The almost-closed design of the AliGro planter prevents soil or water from spilling out, and ensures that the plant grows in the right right direction. It also comes with a built-in collapsible tomato cage to grow tall, standing plants such as tomatoes, beans and peppers.

The AliGro Planter will be launching on Kickstarter later this week.

Starwood’s keyless entry

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. will officially roll out SPG Keyless, a new feature to allow hotel guests to go straight to their booked room and use their smartphone to unlock their room door. Starting November 5, keyless entry and remote check-in will be available in 10 hotels in Beijing, Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles and Doha, Qatar. The feature will eventually roll out to Aloft, Element and W Hotels around the globe.

“This is just the beginning, because through mobile we have the opportunity to marry high tech and high touch to transform the hotel experience in many ways,” said Frits van Paasschen, Starwood’s president & CEO.

Starwood plans to rapidly release SPG Keyless to 30,000 doors in 150 hotels around the globe by early 2015.

photo credit: zen via photopin cc