Hive proposes a Trio of products to bring together home automation, security and whole-home audio in an affordable DIY system, one compatible with a lot of 3rd party devices and controllable from a single app.
The Hive Trio consists of the self-explanatory Hive Hub, Hive Sound and Hive App. The Hive Hub makes the heart of the system, being a home automation hub complete with dual-core 1GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 4GB flash storage, ethernet port, 3G modem and backup power supply. It supports Z-Wave, ZigBee, Bluetooth and wifi, making it compatible with thousands of automation devices on the market, and the company promises easy and hassle-free setup.
The second Hive Trio device is Hive Sound-- a wifi- and Bluetooth-enabled "smart speaker system" able to play not only music across multiple rooms, but also notifications and alerts from smart devices around the house. It features a microphone, an internal battery and compatibility with online streaming services including Google Play Music, iHeartRadio and Pandora, among others.
Linking the Hive devices together is a mobile device (iOS and Android) app, the Hive App. It pairs with all devices on the Hive network, and provides whole-house control from a single easy-to-use interface.
The Hive Trio is currently available as a preorder on Kickstarter, where the company is hoping to making $100000 in pledges over the next month. Should the campaign prove successful the first Hive devices should start shipping from May 2015.
Go Hive