With increasing frequency people buy "smart" devices for their homes, connected to the Internet and manageable from a smartphone. These "smart homes" are already a relevant market, in April 2016, 10% of homes in the United States had an automated device, by 2.017 it had risen to 15% and it is estimated that the market will be US $ 21 billion for the year 2021 . By installing Internet-connected devices, non-animated objects are converted into "intelligent" objects, they are provided with connected "brains" and the ability to gather information about the house and the people who live there. This valuable information is added to that generated with computers and smartphones and which is valuable for intelligence agencies, for the advertising industry and particularly for advertisers in all media.
However, the devices for "smart homes" are very new and have their details. Here is an interesting recent experience made to test the operation of multiple devices and the sometimes worrisome results, others comic.
The experiment
A journalist turned her apartment into a "smart home" to find out how it would work. He tried to locate as many devices and belongings as he could: Echo Amazon, lighting, coffee maker, baby monitor, toys, vacuum cleaner, TV, toothbrush, picture frame, sex toy and bed. 14 apps were downloaded to the smartphone and with the Alexa software, through the Echo speaker, devices with voice commands were controlled. You could see everything that happened in the house, even in the absence of the owner. Voice commands could turn on the lighting, coffee maker and music. You could exchange voice messages with the baby through a toy. To vacuum, instructions were sent to a robot from a smartphone.
The fantasy of the smart home is that it should allow saving time and effort, however the friction involved in trying to simultaneously make devices from different companies work means that many things took much longer to make them work.
The curious experiences
· Bed - Indicates heart rate and breathing, turns in bed, warms the bed and issues a morning report.
· Coffee machine - I only reacted to a very specific phrasing and not always.
· Security Camera - With air quality control sensors, detected movement or noise, automatically records everything you can see, inadvertently registered the owner walking naked !!
· Sleep Tracker - Requires the email of the person with whom you are sleeping to obtain permission to provide reports on the other side of the bed and to top off reports the noise level !!
Information for others
The pattern that emerged in the intelligent home was the following:
· The devices communicated daily to their manufacturer, even when they had not been used. This flow of information from the smart home about daily life will be used to extend the profile of users.
· Internet functionality is a component of all devices and in cases like the TV is being included as a device capacity, even if you do not want to use it.
· When an intelligent device is acquired, it does not only belong to the buyer, the custody is actually shared with the manufacturer.
For the basics, smart things are not always better
· Clock vs. Apple Watch - The Apple Watch to give the time requires a tilt of the arm and consumes battery, the simple clock simply shows the time.
· Car mount vs. Smart console - Few apps work with existing consoles, the simple mount is cheap and less frustrating.
· Alarm vs. Amazon Echo Spot - The Echo Sport is an alarm with a camera constantly aimed at the owner and disturbs the sleep.
· Kitchen timer vs. Echo - The app must be manipulated with every change of kitchen condition, in the timer is a button.