Inexpensive Home Automation With This $99 Almond+ Touch-Screen Router and Almost Any Cheap(ish) Sensors
Home automation is here, but it isn’t cheap — unless you go the smart route with Securifi‘s new Almond+ router. For $100, this thing has much of what you’d expect from a top-tier router: Fast, next-gen 802.11ac compatibility (but still works with this-gen “n” devices), a claimed 5000 ft radius of coverage, four ethernet ports, a USB port and some slick mounting options.
But the kicker is that it’s also compatible with the two most popular home-automation device languages, Zigbee and Z-Wave, and can control a variety of cheap, generic home-automation sensors (like these) through the built-in, generic, modular control screens on its touch-screen interface.
Another plus: Because it has its own touch-screen interface, you could ostensibly control your house without even needing a computer, or from your iOS or Android device (Securifi says iPhone and Android apps are imminent).
The Almond+ Router should hit Kickstarter in a week or so. It’ll initially sell for $99, but jump to $129 on Amazon when it leaves Kickstarter.
When he was eight, Eli Milchman came home from frolicking in the Veld one day and was given an Atari 400. Since then, his fascination with technology has made him an intrepid early adopter of whatever charming new contraption crosses his path — which explains why he's Cult of Android's test editor-at-large. He calls San Francisco home, where he works as a journalist and photographer. Eli has contributed to the pages of 