Would you like your smart TV to alert you of a possible break in?

Source: CNET

Staples Connect will bring smart-home alerts to some HDTVs

Zonoff says you’ll soon see smart-home messages on select HDTVs through the Staples Connect hub.

LAS VEGAS — Getting smart-home alerts on tablets and phones is certainly a nifty trick but if you’re engrossed in a movie or grooving to tunes you might miss the message. Zonoff, the creators of the connected home technology behind Staples Connect products, hopes to fix this notification loophole by pushing relevant warnings to HDTVs and other living room electronics.

Perhaps born out of a collaboration with consumer device maker LG and Staples, Zonoff says that in the near future, “premium smart TVs” will display so-called ambient alerts for important household events. For example if the system detects that a door or window has been opened unexpectedly, users will see notifications appear on compatible HDTV screens. Whether these bulletins will actually interrupt the video stream or take a more subtle form of text scrolling across display edges isn’t yet clear.

Another ability Zonoff touts is for the Staples Connect to pipe audio alarms through home theater gear. The idea is that if you’ve got the music cranked up to level 11, you’ll still get a heads-up when something trips one of your sensors.

Staples and Zonoff also haven’t limited the ambient alert feature to only consumer hardware made by LG. That said, given the new partnership with the Korean firm to integrate support for its upcoming line-up of LED bulbs, I wouldn’t be surprised if LG electronics find a home within the Staples Connect smart-abode solution first.

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