Andrew O'Hara
GE Lighting is rebranding its C by GE smart home line as CYNC, ahead of a debut of several new products, and an imminent HomeKit support addition.
GE's smart home line now dubbed CYNC — a stylized spelling of "sync" — is getting a shot in the arm. Alongside the new branding the company is introducing several new products including bulbs, a motion sensor, a switch, and a camera.
All products in the CYNC line aim to be easy to use and require no additional hub to operate.
To start, GE Lighting has an updated $20 color-changing Direct Connect Smart Bulb. It is joined by an indoor motion sensor and an adhesive wall switch that magnetically connects and can be moved around.
CYNC's Outdoor Smart Plug features dual outlets in a weatherproof body. Each outlet has an independent cover and it connects over both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
The new CYNC Indoor Smart Camera has a compact design, articulating base, and can record locally onto a microSD card. For privacy, there is a cover that can slide into place that no only covers the lens, but physically disconnects the microphone from working until the cover is opened.
For $3 per month or $30 per year, per camera, users can subscribe to Cam CYNC which allows access from anywhere. The camera itself retails for $69.99.
Coming soon is the CYNC Fan Speed Smart Switch which will allow control of ceiling fans from the GE CYNC app.
These devices were first shown off at CES 2021, but they're now available nationwide. At launch, all of the new GE Lighting CYNC line supports Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant but the company says HomeKit will launch by year's end.
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7 Comments
Expensive camera. Money sucking monthly subscription to get remote access. Competition has cameras that don’t require the subscription.
It probably says something about me that I saw the new name and thought it was CYNIC.
In terms of colored bulbs, I think Nanoleaf is the one to beat. With the latest firmware, mine have been excellent with Thread support with fast reaction. I also have a bunch of Hue colored bulbs and they are ok but the Nanoleaf are what I am buying in the future.
Better late than never I suppose.
I just got a Synology NAS going, which handles my wireless Time Machine and local backups, with redundanct drives. Next up is hooking up some PoE video cameras and see how localized CCTV works out.