House Cameras as Trojan Horses
The more I think about smart homes, the more I’m convinced many of the concepts and ideas that have come to describe the phrase don’t make sense. Examining the smart home’s most publicized “chapters,” one is likely left more confused than anything else.
The late 2010s saw the smart speaker mirage play itself out in the home. Breathless press coverage for a new paradigm shift ushered in by voice computing in the home not surprisingly turned into a head fake. Jump ahead a few years and in 2021, we can’t even say the smart speaker craze fundamentally altered the way we listen to and consume music in the home. The giants are now trying to resurrect whatever is left from the cheap smart speaker craze by using screens and cameras. Speaking of cameras, we are now seeing something of a second craze play out with smart homes when it comes to security cameras. Ring (Amazon) and Nest (Google) are becoming household names while a cottage industry of smaller camera and security companies are also seeing momentum and traction.
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