• MSN Money, Monday, July 6, 2015 2:30 PM

The issue with the Internet of Things (IoT) and the connected home is that they're not even remotely connected. At least not seamlessly. Thanks to competing communication protocols and manufacturers building closed ecosystems, you need a new app every time you add something "connected" to your house. But developer Alticast has proposed another solution. One that uses something that's already in the home: your cable box. Other than the fact that it gives you access to hundreds of channels and videos-on-demand, your cable box is about as exciting as a doorknob. It's a gateway to somewhere else, and it's forgotten as soon as you step through that door. But that bland portal to the entertainment world could also be the answer to fixing the hydra of IoT hubs from Belkin, Lowe's, Quirky, Philips and others needed to create a connected home.

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