www.thepeninsulaqatar.com CAMPUS | 4 HEALTH & FITNESS| 10 ENTERTAINMENT | 11 QU-LAWC organises Researchers find Just took 9 days Qatari-South Korean enzyme that may help to write ADHM: legal forum prevent Alzheimer’s Karan Johar MONDAY 24 OCTOBER 2016 Email: [email protected] thepeninsulaqatar @peninsulaqatar @peninsula_qatar As iPhone sales growth slows, Apple is teaming up with a handful of builders and using various kinds of test beds to inch its way into the market for Internet-connected home furnishings, a nascent field that has attracted rivals like Alphabet Inc’s Google and Amazon.com. Inside the iHome P | 2-3 02 | MONDAY 24 OCTOBER 2016 COVER STORY Inside the iHome: Builders pitch gizmo-packed houses By Prashant Gopal Bloomberg n a darkened master bedroom, David Kaiserman stood in shirtsleeves next to a turned-down king bed. “Good morning, Siri,” he said to the iPad in his Ihand, and the lights went on while the blackout shades retracted. “Your home is ready to rise and shine,” the virtual assistant replied. Inside this four-bedroom stucco house in Alameda, California, Kaiserman, president of the technology divi- sion at construction company Lennar Corp, was pitch- ing a vision of a home controlled via iPhone or iPad. Tap your phone, and AC/DC’s “Back in Black” blasts. Tap again, and the bath runs at a blissful 101 degrees. Sweet, right? Of course, your dad might view it as a bit over the top. All told, $30,000 worth of gadgets and gizmos were on display here, many run with Apple’s free HomeKit app. As iPhone sales growth slows, Apple is teaming up with a handful of builders and using these kinds of test beds to inch its way into the market for Internet- connected home furnishings, a nascent field that has attracted rivals like Alphabet Inc’s Google and Ama- zon.com. The gamble is that pricey wireless home devices will be an easier sell when bundled into the home it- stream,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s Vice-President of $32 at Home Depot — and there’s always hiding a key self. Builders market granite countertops and brushed- product marketing. “The best place to start is at the under the flower pot. nickel fixtures at thousands of models homes across beginning, when a house is just being created.” In Fremont, California, about 15 minutes from Fa- the US Why not video doorbells? The convenience on display in the Alameda stucco cebook’s headquarters, Los Angeles-based KB Home Unlike Google and Amazon, however, Apple isn’t doesn’t come cheap. A single motorised, battery-op- is also getting its own Apple house ready. Along with hawking hardware meant to connect the home. In- erated Lutron shade starts at $349. Or consider the the automated thermostat, lights, security system, stead, the HomeKit app could increase the value of Schlage “touchscreen deadbolt,” which can be con- locks, fans and shades, it lets you, on voice command, its iOS ecosystem — and make it tougher for users to trolled remotely, so you can text an unexpected vis- change the colour of the light underneath a vanity. switch to Android phones and tablets. itor a code. With the words “good night,” the light turns purple. “We want to bring home automation to the main- It can retail for $200. A regular deadbolt fetches With a “good morning,” it switches to white. MONDAY 24 OCTOBER 2016 | 03 COVER STORY KB offers wireless devices as up- When she stirs, it triggers the home’s When the associate professor of ecutive at a consulting firm, bought a grades. A basic package runs about lights, turns on soothing music on the marketing pulls up to the house in $357,000 Lennar smart home after vis- $2,000, “which once rolled into a mort- Sonos wireless speakers and even tells his BMW, the GPS on his phone alerts iting a model north of Tampa, Florida. gage is pennies a month,” according to the coffee maker downstairs to start the garage door to open and turns on With his Nexia system, his lights spokesman Craig LeMessurier. Lennar brewing java for red-eyed parents. lights in various colours and brightness automatically start dimming in the builds the cost into the price of homes. You can pick one up for $199. Many throughout his home, depending on evening, signaling that it’s time to get The Alameda house sells for $1.2m, parents brew the coffee themselves his preferences and the time of day. At ready for bed. When his wife, April, though it was a beta model and an ac- and let their babies wail — or buy a least, in theory, they do. went into labor two months ago, he tual dwelling wouldn’t include $30,000 traditional baby monitor for as little as “Certain devices obey, and some do stayed with her in the hospital and worth of gadgets. $19.99. Connected home devices can not,” Giesler said. texted a temporary entry code to a Apple is also working with Brook- cost five times the price of the old- Homebuilders started offering friend who walked the dog. field Residential Properties, and other fashioned version, according to Target smart devices such as automatic locks Since buying his house, Bieber has builders. The companies declined to spokeswoman Jenna Reck. and thermostats more than five years spent another $1,000 for wireless mo- say when the homes would go on sale. “The smart home will get there but ago. In its current model homes, Mi- tion detectors, a video camera and Consumers will buy about $24bn it’s not there yet,” Reck said. “Adoption ami-based Lennar works with a com- controls for his light dimmers, ceiling worth of connected home devices in is happening even slower than people pany called Nexia, a unit of Ingersoll- fans and irrigation system. 2016, according to Strategy Analytics predicted.” Rand Plc. Neighbours ask him for advice on Inc. Though that’s a drop in the buck- As with all things tech, there is the Lennar’s Kaiserman hopes work- their own smart home device purchas- et compared with smartphones, the matter of glitches, frustration and com- ing with Apple will have a “halo effect,” es, and he plans to add motorized research and consulting firm expects plexity. Markus Giesler, 40, equipped helping convince customers that a new blinds. those sales to nearly double by 2020. his 1924 house with an Apple home home in a subdivision can be a “cool” “I’ll be watching a movie and sud- For most people, connected homes system so he could be a subject for his alternative to an existing one. denly I have to get up and pull blinds remain a ways off, said Jonathan Gaw, own academic research at the Schulich No doubt, Apple would be heart- — apparently it’s just too much for me an analyst with research firm IDC. School of Business at York University in ened by the experience of Ken Bie- at that point,” Bieber said. “I’m so used The proliferating devices remain dif- Canada. ber. Last year, Bieber, a 39-year-old ex- to saying things and they just happen.” ficult to install in older homes and, in some cases, seem useless. Gaw cites the wireless candle he saw the other day. “Give me a break,” he said. “That on- ly hurts the message. It tells people that we have gone too far. There’s too much crap out there, it’s only diluting stuff that’s really cool.” Even some who sell such gadgets say the hype may be getting ahead of the reality. The discount retailer Target opened its own Target Open House showroom a year ago in San Francis- co. Shoppers walk through a futuristic home, watching prerecorded displays projected onto its transparent acrylic walls and furniture. In the nursery, a baby wears a Wi- Fi onesie — made by a company called Mimo, founded by whizzes from MIT. It tracks the infant’s breathing, skin temperature, sleep and body position. 04 | MONDAY 24 OCTOBER 2016 CAMPUS CHSS holds meet on ‘Ancient Languages in the Arabian Peninsula: Their Impact on the Arabic Language’ he Center for Humanities and Attending the session were CAS the Center for Humanities and Social Social Sciences (CHSS) at Qa- Dean Dr Rashid Al Kuwari (pictured), Sciences, which has contributed fruit- tar University College of Arts CAS associate deans for Research and fully to the promotion of academic re- Tand Sciences (QU-CAS) recent- Graduate Studies Dr Hala Al Essa and search at the college and the university ly held its second international con- for Academic Affairs Dr Hassan Ab- level. He said: “The Center continues to ference on “Ancient Languages in the dul Aziz, CHSS Director Dr Kaltham Al deliver on its mission to advance inter- Arabian Peninsula: Their Impact on the Ghanim, and Leiden University Center disciplinary research, which contrib- Arabic language”. for the Study of Ancient Arabia Direc- utes to providing a supportive environ- Organised in collaboration with the tor Dr Ahmed Al Galad as well as CAS ment for researchers from inside and Leiden University Center for the Study faculty, researchers and students. outside the college, as well as a wide of Ancient Arabia, the event brought Discussions focused on a wide range of training programmes and ac- together scholars and experts from QU, range of topics such as the symbols of ademic events.” Doha Institute of Higher Studies, Amer- language and style of the ancient in- Dr Al Ghanim said: “CHSS is com- ican University of Beirut (AUB), Yar- scriptions in the south of the Arabian mitted to promoting quality research mouk University in Jordan, Leiden Uni- Peninsula, the relationship between which is relevant to the needs of Qa- versity in The Netherlands, the French ancient languages in the south of the tar and the region.