The smart home is hardly a new concept: keyless locks, heaters and air conditioning units that learn what temperature we like to live in, lights that turn themselves on and off automatically, universal remote control consoles, carbon monoxide detectors… a panoply of technical delights that, as usually happens with technology, is taking shape with fits and starts, seemingly lacking any coordination. So far, this has been a complex environment of protocols, manufacturers and integrators that that has only been within reach of the super wealthy, the super-interested, the super-skilled, or combinations thereof.

But things might now be starting to take shape, as some of the big players position themselves. At its most recent WWDC at the beginning of June, Apple launched Homekit, an attempt to convert the iPhone into a kind of hub storing information and controls for a smart home, effectively applying the same philosophy as HealthKit does to monitoring our health parameters.

Then, mid-month, perhaps in response to Apple’s announcement, Google announced its alternative for the smart home ahead of its Google I/O developers’ conference, based on its recently acquired Nest, which would be your home’s nerve center. In reality, both systems are based on the development of an open API that allows other manufacturers to include their devices: in the case of Nest, Mercedes Benz, Whilpool, Jawbone, LIFX intelligent light bulbs, Chamberlain garage doors, Harmony remote control consoles, conditional commands management IFTTT (If This Then That), or the recently acquired Dropcam cameras are expected to join in under a joint certification called “Works with Nest”, and managed via Google Now interface. Among the ideas are an air conditioning or heating system that comes on when you begin your drive home, light bulbs that flash red when carbon monoxide levels increase, along with a Jawbone bracelet that monitors the house according to whether you are asleep or awake.

Such a scenario doubtless seduced Nest Labs when considering Google’s purchase offer. Still to be answered is how to manage all the information a user would generate: what might it be worth knowing exactly when somebody gets up or goes to bed, gets home, turns on the lights, sets the temperature, and anything else that there might be to say about our lives as more and more manufacturers connect their devices to the internet? What else needs to be on the table, aside from convenience for us to feel comfortable sharing this information, and where might such a scenario be taking us?