Rachio debuts affordable, water-saving smart hose timer at CES 2023

Installing a smart sprinkler in your yard is a great way to cut down on water waste and lower your utility bills — but it’s also a pricey (and time-consuming) investment. Rachio is looking to change that, as the company debuted a $99 smart hose timer at CES 2023. The gadget is surprisingly simple, yet offers impressive versatility. After attaching the smart valve to your existing outdoor spigot, you’ll be able to monitor your water usage, create watering schedules, and use the Rachio app to get detailed stats about how much water you’re saving. And since it connects to your network via Wi-Fi, you can schedule a watering or check its status regardless of where you are. Like its older and more expensive sibling, the Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controller, the Smart Hose Timer offers built-in Weather Intelligence. This allows it to track your local weather forecast and adjust your watering schedule as needed. So if the sky decides to bring rain to your lawn, the Smart Hose Timer can simply skip your planned watering session to cut down on your usage. Once the rain passes, it’ll then continue with your programming schedule without any manual input. Keep in mind that the Rachio Smart Hose Timer only includes the smart valve and Wi-Fi hub — it’ll be up to you to purchase your own sprinklers for your hose and plan out your watering setup. But if you already have a litany of sprinklers and other gear stowed away in your garage, this could be a great way to automate your lawn care without dropping tons of cash. The Rachio Smart Hose Timer will arrive this March and is expected to carry a price of $99. Segway — the company responsible for Paul Blart’s preferred mode of transportation — already has a surprisingly robust smart home lineup. The company expanded its catalog at CES 2024, revealing a new series of robot lawn mowers (Navimow i Series) and a new portable power station (Segway Cube Series). The upcoming Navimow i Series makes a few big improvements over Segway’s existing H Series. Along with the ability to work without wires (which are typically used to set boundaries for the robot), the i Series employs a technology known as the Exact Fusion Locating System (EFLS). Segway says this will let the robot lawn mower better track its location and ensure it’s cutting your lawn as close to specifications as possible. Samsung SmartThings — an application designed to connect and control your smart home devices — doesn’t quite get the same attention as platforms like Google Home or Apple HomeKit. However, it made some big announcements at CES 2024, and it’s shaping up to be a big year for Samsung’s first-party platform. Along with enhanced support for TVs and new uses for QR codes, SmartThings is rolling out a brilliant Map View feature, which creates a digital map of your home and shows you exactly where all your connected devices are located. Here’s how it works. Instead of scrolling through a list of all your devices or jumping between groups in your smartphone app, Map View lets you see a 3D representation of your home on your smartphone. Inside this map, you’ll find icons for all your smart home gadgets corresponding to their actual physical location. That means you can quickly find exactly which device you want to control without needing to scroll through a long list. Samsung unleashed a flurry of announcements at CES 2024, including several upcoming smart home appliances powered by AI. The lineup features an induction cooktop, washer and dryer combo, slide-in range, and refrigerator, all of which use new A.I. features to streamline your daily chores. The Samsung Bespoke 4-Door Flex Refrigerator was among the first reveals, debuting ahead of CES 2024. Featuring the premium AI Family Hub+ and AI Vision Inside, the futuristic fridge can scan and identify 33 different types of food items and send you alerts before they expire. Upgrade your lifestyleDigital Trends helps readers keep tabs on the fast-paced world of tech with all the latest news, fun product reviews, insightful editorials, and one-of-a-kind sneak peeks.