Register

I agree with the Privacy Policy

In The News

IRobot faces a murky future amid rising Roomba competitors

February 01, 2024

home automation

The Boston Globe

The company is still “number one,” said Elizabeth Parks, president of market research firm Parks Associates in Dallas. But it’s a shaky number one. Parks estimates that iRobot had nearly two-thirds of the robot vacuum market in 2018, but now holds only a 48 percent share. Meanwhile, rival robot makers like SharkNinja, Roborock, Eufy, and Ecovacs have been steadily chipping away.

One possible reason, according to Parks, is concern about data privacy. More advanced versions of the Roomba and other robots use visual sensors to generate detailed maps of the user’s home. This information is shared with the manufacturers to develop more advanced products, but it could also potentially be used to monitor users.

From the article, "IRobot faces a murky future amid rising Roomba competitors" by Hiawatha Bray

Previously In The News

TV Producers May Start Making You Wait For New Shows Online

The changes are especially noticeable at Hulu, which is owned by parents of the very television networks -- Fox, ABC and NBC -- threatened by changes in the way we watch TV. Hulu has set itself apart...

The New Face Of Digital Piracy: Part One

Consider: the Motion Picture Association of America estimated global losses to the movie industry at $18.2 billion — and that was in 2005. CreativeFuture, citing a 2013 study by NetNames, states that...

Smart Home Goal: No Doorbell Left Behind

In a second-quarter 2016 survey of on-line households, research company Parks Associates found that 50 percent of smart-doorbell owners use the devices to see who's at the door when they're not home,...

Two out of five U.S. homes want to swap the remote for their voice

So notes a recent report from Parks Associates, which found that 43 percent of all broadband households in the U.S. that use — or plan to use — a smart TV or streaming media player want to be able to...

‹
1
2
...
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
...
730
731
›