Nanoleaf CEO joins to talk smart home news on HomeKit Insider

Gimmy Chu, who’s appeared on the HomeKit Insider podcast a few times, co-founded the Toronto, CA-based Nanoleaf in 2013. He leads their daily operations as well as new product development.

Nanoleaf has been a pioneer in the smart home space, launching the very first Thread-enabled products in conjunction with Apple. It’s since been a continued supporter of Apple Home as well as Matter.

After going under, smart wall controller Brilliant is back after being purchased by a pair of private investment groups. They plan to not only continue the brand, but to release the second-gen products by the end of the year.

Brilliant’s old CEO is now an advisor to the company and many of its employees stayed on board as well. The new products are expected to be more affordable, as well as support Matter.

LifX, also a once-struggling entity before being purchased by Feit, has a pair of new smart bulbs. They have the new polychrome T10 opal frosted glass tube and the B10 polychrome candle bulb.

Ikea, after a long delay, has finally released its Matter update from beta. This update is now available on its Dirigera hub.

Smart lock darling Level has also just been acquired by Assa Abloy, who was forced to sell of August and Yale just last year. They plan to continue running the brand as a standalone entity, as well as investing in its technology.

The rest of the episode was devoted to discussing Nanoleaf’s newest gear. Many were released during its Nanoleaf Live event two weeks ago where we saw the permanent outdoor lights, Blocks system, and the Sense+ wall switch.

Keep up with everything Apple in the weekly AppleInsider Podcast. Just say, “Hey, Siri,” to your HomePod mini and ask it, and our latest HomeKit Insider episode too. If you want an ad-free main AppleInsider Podcast experience, you can support the AppleInsider podcast by subscribing for $5 per month through Apple’s Podcasts app, or via Patreon if you prefer any other podcast player.