Smart homes come
with challenges

Slept through our alarm wake-up the other morning, missed spin class at the club but made it up by extending our daily workout the rest of the week by 30 minutes.

Wife said it was our body telling us it needed to rest/recuperate, but we think we were just lazy.

Sure, we could have had one of those smart clocks that nudges you or one of those smart beds that shakes the h*** out of you until you’re thrown out of bed.

But there’s a hard and very broad line we draw on how much smart home technology and AI tracking/learning stuff we’re going to use to make our lives better, easier, more fulfilling.

Talk till you’re blue in the face but you will never convince us that we simply can’t live/ without… “A smart home is a household of network-integrated technologies/services for a better standard of living and assists users in reducing their workload.”

Seriously, not even the copywriter who created that believes it!

We understand the industry explanation that smart home technology encompasses energy management, security and accessibility to manage your home’s temperature, lighting, entertainment, sleep, daily bodily functions so you’re free to do…something.

We have yet to figure out what.

And lest we forget, all of those network-integrated devices, systems and services include and centre on your computer, big beautiful flatscreen and phone.

What they don’t bother telling you is that in addition to “helping” you, they’re constantly scraping information about your household and personal activities/movements/habits so the device manufacturer/service provider can have a continuing revenue stream.

Oh yeah, we’re pretty sure they’ll recommend you upgrade things in the house as well as sell your data to others for them to use.

If the smart home technology company is really smart/creative, it also “rents” the apps that make the stuff work, so you always have the most advanced features/capabilities.

In other instances, they simply quit supporting the free apps after a while because they’ve moved on and so should you.  

Now none of this is illegal because well, you signed up to take advantage of all those advanced features, capabilities when you sped right through the user agreement, checked the box and said that’s cool…gimme, gimme, gimme.

It all started innocently enough when you signed up for your cable, FTTH and/or wireless internet service that connected you to the online world and like the Red Bull energy drink…gave you wings.

Steady Growth – The demand for smart home technology – entertainment, security, energy savings and convenience – continues to be strong in SEA, the Americas and the EU.

With smart home devices/systems so overpowering, it’s no wonder the market racked up over $100B in sales this past year and is projected to grow to at least $240B plus by 2032.

The idea of having your home loaded with smart devices, services, things that protect and serve you is so overwhelming it’s a global phenomenon.

Of course, it all starts innocently enough because everyone wants one of those big, beautiful and downright inexpensive huge screens we saw at CES the first of the year.

Yes, those AI-enabled Mini-LED and OLED TVs you drooled over last year were impressive but the new Micro RGBs we saw in January at CES took performance and viewing quality to a whole new level.

Even smaller, more enhanced RGB mini-LEDs improved contrast, enriched color volume and produced picture quality that is unbelievable.

And the neat thing is they are remarkably inexpensive–cheap even.

No Samsung, LG, Hisense, Sony, TCL, Panasonic and others didn’t skimp on anything with the new 55 – 65-inch and larger flatscreens to make them more affordable.

In fact, they made them more appealing with simplified connection to your internet service and have increasingly popular AI capabilities built into their ACR (automatic content recognition) features that simplify the task of finding the shows/movies you want to watch even when you don’t even know you want to watch them.  

In addition to streamlining your connectivity and reducing the frustration of finding something to watch, ACR also benefits the TV maker by making it fast, easy (and profitable) for them to collect and use your viewer data to make ads that aren’t quite so jarring and are more focused on reaching folks who are interested in the product/service.

Signing up for the ACR service is easy.   

Just one click, done and done.

Of course, if you’re not interested in giving them a constant revenue stream, that’s a little more difficult.

You have to go through a confusing set of menus just to say, “Nope, no way.”

Fortunately, a lot of online folks (rebels?) have studied the problem in detail and offer free ways to disable the ACR “feature” — check out this guide.

Common Language – Now that smart home products, services and applications speak a common language, they have become increasingly popular because of the increased ease of integration and use. 

It’s pretty logical for your TV and smartphone to be the hub of your smart home since they’re the gathering point in your house/life.

The biggest hurdle in the past was the challenge of ensuring all of your smart devices and capabilities talked to each other.

In the early days of smart home devices, every manufacturer developed its own unique and “better” connectivity solution. 

That was great if you filled your home with a single manufacturer’s products/services or wanted to rely on a smart home integrator to solve everything.

In a rare move to work together for the common good, hundreds of companies in the Connectivity Standards Alliance established a single Matter-certified ecosystem protocol to ensure devices and applications would natively work with any/all complaint controllers, devices and applications.

Interoperability standards like Matter have been crucial in overcoming the compatibility hurdles that have enhanced the user interest/experience and were massive boosts to increase sales across the board.

Google, Amazon and Apple have implemented Matter-certified advanced AI models that allow you to use conversational and natural language voice control with the various devices and products around the house.

Problem solved! 

The interest in smart home technologies and devices has been worldwide thanks to AI integration, rising smartphone penetration with security, energy management, entertainment and health/wellness being the leading product segments.

Dominating – Thanks to manufacturers making smart TVs fast, easy-to-install and use, they have quickly taken over the home screen market and offer makers something they want/need…a steady revenue stream. 

More than 50 percent of today’s connected homes have a smart TV with voice assistant integration.

It’s estimated that 84 percent of the smart home users in the US control their devices by voice assistants and mobile apps.

This is followed by smart speakers in popularity.

Many households stop there according to a report from smart home/security service provider Vivint. 53 percent of their respondents feel the smart home is still too expensive even though 55 percent of them plan to buy one or two more smart devices over the next 12 months.  

Ease of use and actual day-to-day use of smart home systems are still major impediments.

Twenty percent of the respondents said there were simply too many smart home special application apps, but they would be making their purchases in select areas where they could see real and/or perceived benefits.

Cautious Optimism – Households around the globe want more than single home solutions, they are searching for a set of services, products and capabilities that economically meet their needs– especially when budgets are tight.

Today’s high cost-of-living has placed a heavy burden on household budgets and made consumers lower their interest in inflexible bundles. It also reduced the selective purchase of smart home devices where there was a tangible benefit/value and increased folks’ peace of mind.  

For example, we really enjoyed our smart Nest thermostat when it was first installed.

It was really neat to come home from a trip or with everyone away from the house for the day to know the temperature was down while we were gone – saving electricity – and having a house that had just recently been warmed to the temperature our wife preferred (she likes it cooler than we do).

It was nice to know we weren’t wasting our heating budget; yet when we got home, it was comfortable. 

Of course, then Goole ended support for the earlier models which meant an end to our app connectivity, remote control and smart features.

Naturally, they had a solution to the issue…buy the newest unit and BAM!! problem solved and life would return to “normal.”

It was a smart home solution we had become accustomed to but since it still functioned like an old manual thermostat…we adjusted.

Yep, we’re back to the “old” way of manually controlling the heat… it’s not all that bad.

Lighting Up – Lighting control, sensor, bulb and application producers are all trying to encourage homeowners to take advantage of today’s/tomorrow’s smart lighting technology/solutions.

The idea of converting all of our home’s lights to smart lights – bulbs, switches, app/voice control, dimming and color changes – always seemed “cute” but…

Sure, it’s convenient to have the lights come on/go off automatically when you enter/leave a room, but we already have a voice activated control, especially when no one is in the room.

With a sixth sense our wife will very gently remind us to “Shut the light off and quit wasting energy!”

It works almost 100 percent of the time.

The idea of dimming lights or changing colors to change the mood is cute but after all these years of marriage, we know it’s going to take more than a lighting change to change the mood. 

_{Source – Adobe Stock}

Even though we live in a relatively quiet (safe) neighborhood, we’ve always been concerned about the safety/security of our home and family.

The dizzying array of home security HD cameras, advanced sensors, doorbells, locks, sirens and remote-control security devices/applications is almost overwhelming. 

We took the easy route – a security service that set-up and monitors everything 24×7 and neighbors who always check on each other.  

Just don’t think we need another camera looking over our shoulder or following what we’re doing.

After all, living in the US it’s estimated that you’re captured on a camera up to 200 times a day.

If you’re a Londoner, your image is captured about 300 times a day.

If you live in or visit a major city in China…don’t think about it too much.

Concern at Home – While homeowners want the features, capabilities and services that smart home devices provide, they are also concerned about data breaches and data theft.

The biggest concern people have today isn’t how and if the smart technology is going to make life easier, better for them but what happens if/when cyberthieves use new, powerful and insidiously creative AI-powered prompt ware.

Yes, every smart home device/service manufacturer boasts about their robust security, but hackers/whackers work real hard to develop creative solutions that will infiltrate the home network, steal personal/family data and even hijack devices.

If your smart home folks don’t offer an aggressive program of security updates, it might be wise to keep looking before you buy because hackers love to prowl the internet testing for home/device vulnerabilities including advanced capabilities that allow them to trick devices/services to reveal data and bypass traditional security.

Of course, you know the solution…strong passwords, WPA3 encryption and regular firmware updates.

If you’re real paranoid or security conscious, you might want to disable – tape over – your big screen’s camera and disable the microphone and voice controls when they’re not being used.

Informed Purchases – It probably goes without saying but the sweet spot for smart home device sales is the younger crowds who have grown up with and are comfortable with today’s advanced technology.  But they are not impulse purchases because they want key questions answered before they buy.

Of course, little things like home/personal security aren’t going to slow the sale of smart home devices, especially among the younger generation.  

Consumers’ interest in energy efficiency, security and convenience continues to expand.

The major push with AI integration, increased internet access and lower sensor costs will only make people become comfortable with the more advanced interoperability standards, features and capabilities.

After all, people – young and old – are increasingly comfortable with internet anywhere, anytime and using their smartphone for everything so the idea of controlling your thermostat, controlling your home lighting and checking your security cameras is increasingly too good to pass up.

And as companies like Samsung, LG, Panasonic and others say…but wait, there’s more.

Yeah, refrigerators that monitor the stuff they’re holding and even order more when it’s used or has gone bad, dishwashers that automatically sense when dishes need to be washed, stoves that sense what you’re cooking and monitors it to ensure it’s done just right and let’s not forget the recently reintroduced Roomba robotic vacuum that cleans up after you.

While some folks (primarily manufacturers and over-enthusiastic industry analysts) like to say it won’t be long before smart home technology will be an integral part of our lives, we don’t think we’ll jump into the deep end for a while.

We’ve barely learned how to live with/manage our smartphone, smart TV, smart speakers and garage door opener.

The idea of adding more smart home tools/services/products to do stuff before we realize/care if it’s done just doesn’t work for us right now.

And we certainly won’t be an early adopter because we know how that works out.

Suddenly, we just know Monique in BigBug will nicely tell us, “To reinitialize, press one. To make a complaint, press two. To reach technical advice, press three.”

Thanks, but we’ll check our refrigerator/pantry ourselves, pick up what we need, wash our own dishes/clothes and clean up after ourselves.

It will give us something to do now that AI is busy reducing our workload.