It seems obvious: Wi-Fi already connects most gadgets in your home. So why wouldn’t it connect your smart home gadgets, too? But while it sounds obvious, the companies making these connected gadgets have been reluctant to use Wi-Fi. That’s because Wi-Fi requires a lot of power, and that’s a huge problem for any device that needs to be tiny, cheap, and able to run on a single charge for months or even years at a time.
So now, the group behind Wi-Fi is doing something about it. It’s announcing a new type of Wi-Fi today called Wi-Fi HaLow (pronounced “halo”) that’s meant to work on low-power devices. It’ll travel farther and even do a better job of traveling through walls. Basically, it’s an all around better option for smart home and IoT devices, at least if these claims hold up.
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This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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