We’re getting ready to reveal a big new update as Koto and we’d like to invite you to come along for the ride. Over the past two years we’ve shipped thousands of CubeSensors to over 50 countries worldwide. Since then, the Cubes have collected over 500 million environmental readings and helped thousands of families and offices.

We’ve also received hundreds of your emails with suggestions for improvements. Based on your feedback, we’re now ready to make monitoring your indoors even more affordable, accessible, simpler to set up and useful – and not always in the shape of a cube!

This is why we’re launching the next generation of smart sensors for your home under a new name. Koto is all about simplicity, great design and helping you discover meaningful patterns in your environment over time.

Join us on Indiegogo on September 28

Head over to koto.io, our new home, for a first look at the Koto family. We’ve been working on Koto for quite some time now, but we’re still missing its most important part: you.

We hope you’ll join us for our exclusive Indiegogo launch on September 28. We can’t wait to tell you more about how Koto will help you to make your home healthier. As with CubeSensors, your support will be crucial for bringing our vision to life, so please help us spread the word about Koto in the days leading to the launch.

What does this mean for existing Cubes?

Your Cubes will soon get cool new friends! All new Koto sensors will work seamlessly with your existing CubeSensors devices. And all the software updates we’ll announce during our campaign will also make your existing Cubes smarter. You’ll be getting a lot of the new free updates even before Koto sensors will be ready to ship.

Having a hot summer? It’s a good thing most of us work in air conditioned offices! But what about our beloved pets that stay indoors during the hottest part of the day? There are several things you can do to keep them safe during a heat wave. And the CubeSensors you have around the home can help you keep track of your home’s temperature and humidity even when you’re not around.

Set the right temperature depending on your pet’s breed

Generally speaking, dogs and cats are still comfortables at slightly higher temperatures than humans. For example, most cats won’t have problems dealing with temperatures up to 85°F (30°C). In fact, I often find my own cats, even the long haired Maine Coon, napping in the sunniest and hottest spots of the flat.

On the other hand, chinchillas can start overheating when the temperature rises above 75°F (24°C) and will have serious problems at temperatures cats are still comfortable with.

Different breeds and older animals also have different preferences and needs. It’s a good idea to ask your vet for personalized recommendations for your pet and use to the Cubes to check that your pets aren’t exposed to dangerously highly temperatures.

High humidity is just as dangerous

You can also use the Cubes to keep an eye on the humidity levels, which can get uncomfortably high on really hot days. Dogs keep cool by panting, which evaporates moisture from their lungs and takes the heat away from their bodies. Just like your sweat can’t evaporate as easily when the humidity is too high, your dog won’t be able to keep herself cool if it’s too humid. Ideally, you should aim for less than 60% humidity.

Having the AC on can help you lower the humidity. That’s why ACs are a better choice than fans if you have pets. Fans do help to move the air around, but aren’t as effective at keeping your pets cool.

Leave your pets with plenty of shade, fresh water and cool treats

Even with the AC on, it’s a good idea to prepare a few extra cooling measures before leaving home in the morning. Close the blinds, curtains or shades on your closed windows after you’ve let the fresh morning air in. This will lower the energy costs of air conditioning, while also creating cool spots where your pets can retreat to during the hottest part of the day.

And while pets keep their cool differently from us, they do appreciate cool treats just as we do. Cool, fresh and clean water should always be at the reach of their paws. Dogs might even appreciate ice cubes in their water bowls or freezing toys they can chew on. You can also make cooled mats available, either by buying ones filled with cooling gel or by soaking regular mats in cold water.

Have you noticed some of the little things we’ve added to your CubeSensors web app? Most noticeably, we’ve now improved the information you see for Cubes that are either discharged or disconnected from the network. When any of your Cubes goes offline, the app will show you more details about why and when that happened and what you can do to bring the Cube back online.

For those of you who use CubeSensors Sleep to track your bedrooms, we’ve recently added advice on how you can prepare your bedrooms for sleep. This advice only appears in the evening and only for Cubes that are used in bedrooms, so it doesn’t get in the way when you don’t need it.

And even though our office Cubes are complaining about raising temperatures, we’re still working hard on even bigger summer updates for the app and your Cubes. We can’t wait to tell you more about what we’re preparing!