Eero and Alexa let you shut down the internet with your voice
Eero, an increasingly popular network extender for the home, is getting a brain transplant.
The hardware, which uses attractive white pods and mesh-network technology to extend and boost internet connections to the furthest corners of your home and property, will remain unchanged. But starting Thursday, Eero is rolling out a software update to all existing devices that will, among other things, let Amazon Echo owners pause network access for everyone or individual family members. To do so, they just have to ask Amazon Alexa. You'll turn the internet back on for everyone or individuals through the Eero app.
Because Eero is a mesh network with awareness of device locations in the home, Eero and Echo owners will also be able to ask Amazon's voice assistant Alexa where their missing iPhones are and and Alexa will tell them which $199.99 Eero node is closest to the lost device (as long as it's in the home).
The software update will also go deeper than third-party device integration. Eero execs told me this week that they've been collecting a ton of data from current users. "Nothing personal, no browsing history," said o-founder Nick Weaver, but rather diagnostics about how the nodes talk to each other and how they interact with devices. The company has spent the last 12 months building out its cloud and and data infrastructure to keep up with all the data and analyze it.
The result is a new technology called "True Mesh," which, Weaver promised, will bring a 40% connection quality improvement between Eero devices and will maximize the throughput on each Eero device.
Weaver said the update will let Eero reroute traffic on the fly and make the Eero network "self-healing and self-repairing."
The update will also improve network diagnostics, offering guidance on which devices are slowing the network down and guiding users through the steps needed to revive a dead ISP connection. One thing the update will not do is add the ability for Eero systems to notify users when there is a Networks disruption. As an Eero owner, this is something I'd like to see in a future update.
Topics Alexa Amazon Amazon Echo
Lance Ulanoff was Chief Correspondent and Editor-at-Large of Mashable. Lance acted as a senior member of the editing team, with a focus on defining internal and curated opinion content. He also helped develop staff-wide alternative story-telling skills and implementation of social media tools during live events. Prior to joining Mashable in September 2011 Lance Ulanoff served as Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for the Ziff Davis, Inc. While there, he guided the brand to a 100% digital existence and oversaw content strategy for all of Ziff Davis’ Web sites. His long-running column on PCMag.com earned him a Bronze award from the ASBPE. Winmag.com, HomePC.com and PCMag.com were all been honored under Lance’s guidance.He makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Fox News, the Today Show, Good Morning America, Kelly and Michael, CNBC, CNN and the BBC.He has also offered commentary on National Public Radio and been interviewed by newspapers and radio stations around the country. Lance has been an invited guest speaker at numerous technology conferences including SXSW, Think Mobile, CEA Line Shows, Digital Life, RoboBusiness, RoboNexus, Business Foresight and Digital Media Wire’s Games and Mobile Forum.
