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Nanoleaf made a 12-sided Apple HomeKit remote

Nanoleaf made a 12-sided Apple HomeKit remote

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Nanoleaf Remote
Photo: Nanoleaf

In one of CES’s stranger announcements, Nanoleaf has introduced what’s essentially a giant 12-sided die that controls your home. You just set the die down, and it’ll set your smart home gadgets to some predetermined configuration.

The product is called the Nanoleaf Remote, and it’s meant to control gadgets that connect to Apple’s HomeKit platform. But rather than being any sort of normal remote — built around, you know, specific controls, like turning things on and off — the Nanoleaf Remote is all about switching between pre-set scenes.

Hopefully there’s a D20 next

That means you have to set up scenes on your phone in advance and then attach them to one of the remote’s 12 sides. For example, you might have an evening scene with dim lights, a party scene with loud music, or a study scene with the lights up and the music off. To switch between them, you just set the desired side face-up on the remote.

It all sounds pretty strange and confusing, to be completely honest. You’ll need to own a whole lot of smart home gadgets before you can imagine 12 different scenes worth of ways to program them. Then you’ll have to remember which side is which on the die. Also, you’ll have to keep a large, occasionally glowing die in your house.

The product will launch sometime this spring for $49.99. It’ll require some kind of hub in order to work, which could be an added cost. HomeKit users will be covered if they have an Apple TV or an iPad around the house. Nanoleaf says the product can also be configured to work with Android to control other Nanoleaf products, but that requires the company’s Rhythm module, which is another $50.