Skip to main content

Skylink Group’s Nova smart garage door controller syncs with Amazon Alexa

SK - NOVA Garage
Image used with permission by copyright holder
From the connected oven in your kitchen to the talking dryer in your laundry room, just about every corner of your home has entered the 21st century. Your garage, on the other hand, may seem a few decades behind. Sure, it houses your decidedly modern cars (perhaps those are connected as well), but for the most part, it seems as though smart home technology hasn’t quite made it to that area of property. Skylink Group, however, is looking to change that. At CES 2018, the company debuted the Nova, a Wi-Fi enabled, universal garage door controller said to sync across all connected home accessories, and be compatible with Amazon Alexa.

Perhaps the most appealing thing about the Nova is that you ought to be able to retrofit it directly onto most garage door controllers in existence, which means you won’t need to rewire your entire home simply to add this one smart home accessory to the mix. Simply access the SkylinkNet iOS or Android app, and get to work pairing it with the controller you’re used to using.

From there, you’ll be able to remotely open or close your garage door using the Skylink app. Nova is also compatible with the If This Then That (IFTTT) platform and Alexa Voice Services, which means you can control your garage door and a host of other connected devices all at once, and using your voice.

The Nova itself doubles as an LED light fixture, and claims to detect alarms from smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in your home. Anytime one of these alarms sounds, Nova will automatically open your garage door to aid in ventilation in the case of an emergency.

Promising minimal wiring for an efficient and safe installation and setup process, the Nova seeks to fit quite seamlessly into any garage.

“With the Nova, we are providing homeowners with a smart hub that can control a majority of smart home accessories on the market, while offering an added safety solution to ensure the safety of families across the globe,” said Skylink Group president Gallen Tsui. “The built-in sound detector will revolutionize the way we view the smart home — what was once an extraneous function of the home will now be considered an essential.”

Nova will sell for $100 when it becomes available at the Skylink website in spring 2018.

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
Google Home adds support for garage door controls
Google Home icon on home screen.

Google Home gives you access to a wide variety of smart home devices, and garage doors have now joined the party. Support for smart garage controllers is rolling out to select users -- although it only appears to be available to folks previewing the new Google Home app and does not yet have an official release date.

Still, seeing the product category added to any version of Google Home is great news for smart home enthusiasts. Google Home is one of the most widely used smart home platforms on the market, and as smart garages continue to gain traction, it’s nice to see their inclusion in the app (even if they’re still not as popular as smart thermostats or video doorbells).

Read more
Adorable smart home robot unveiled at CES 2023 could be a great addition to your family
A child playing with the EBO X.

Every January, CES brings us a laundry list of innovative, intriguing products that’ll probably never see the light of day. Enabot, an under-the-radar robot company, seems to be bucking that trend at CES 2023, with its impressive EBO X smart home robot offering up dozens of futuristic features and a release date planned for the second quarter of this year.

EBO X is an adorable smart home robot that serves multiple purposes in your household. After mapping its surroundings, the self-balancing, two-wheeled companion can follow you around your home, provide two-way communication through its 4K camera, pump out music via its Harman speakers, sync with other Alexa devices, and provide security alerts while you’re away.

Read more
Nanoleaf reveals new Matter-enabled smart lights at CES 2023
The Nanoleaf 4D TV syncing lights to the colors on TV.

Nanoleaf, a manufacturer of smart lights, introduced several new products to its lineup during CES 2023. The most exciting addition is the Nanoleaf Skylight, which mounts onto your ceiling to provide an impressive array of light shows. It’s also completely modular and can be arranged into a variety of shapes to fit every space in your home.

The Skylight connects to your smart ecosystem through Wi-Fi and works with Matter -- meaning you shouldn’t run into any compatibility issues with your current setup. The modular ceiling fixture can produce more than 16 million colors, its brightness can be adjusted through the accompanying smartphone app, and you can even set schedules to automatically adjust its settings throughout the day. The only downside? It won’t be launching for quite a while, with an expected release date in the third quarter of 2023.

Read more