The Building Of The Contextually Aware Home

Google and Apple are working to build a Smart Home that is user friendly, but who will make the first learning home?

Imagine walking into your home after a long day at work and having the appliances respond to your presence. The lights dim, the oven preheats, and when you open your phone next to the fridge a list of ingredients appears for tonights dinner. A playlist, especially made for this occasion, starts to play throughout the house. This is all happening thanks to the beautiful orchestra of API data and smart devices in the home.

This is the smart home experience that’s been promised to consumers for years. In the past few months there have been developments that make it seem that this promise could be coming soon.

This summer both Google and Apple presented their solutions for the language divide among smart home devices. Google’s answer is their recent acquisition of Nest Labs and it’s Thread Network. Google’s position is to use the Nest thermostat as a hub where all the wireless devices in your house will touch base to receive orders. Apple’s approach, without any surprise, centers around iOS and Siri. Apple’s concept is that the consumer will add devices to their phone and then use voice commands to speak the wishes to the hardware.

Neither approach is wrong, in fact, most homeowners will end up using both systems. Apple is creating a home network that receives commands like, “Siri, let’s watch Netflix in the living room”. While Google (Nest Labs) would like for your devices to try and guess when you would like to have your home ready for movie viewing.

This difference of approaches is similar to how the two tech companies went after user experience on the smart phone. Apple invested in Siri to create a friendly voice recognition interface. Google, having already a strong lead in voice recognition, decided that the future of mobile was in it’s Now interface. In Now they serve up “cards” of relevant information based on contextually relevant cues.

We learned from this past approach that Google had the right idea with contextual awareness. Many people don’t realize the value of our devices taking smart guesses. That’s most likely because the majority of us don’t feed these services enough data. That’s all about to change soon. We have wristbands that track our physiological state, smart phones that act as a collector of your daily behaviors and tasks, and a home that monitors the rest. All of this data means the cloud is about to know all.

Google’s recent acquisition of Dropcam is proof that it’s serious about learning your activities inside the home. Most consumers know Dropcam for it’s “nannycam” like service that it offers over the internet. Dropcam’s true power comes in it’s Custom Activity Zone technology. It’s just a simple way of creating intuitive motion detection spots around the home. Watch this video for examples of how you could use the technology to create triggers.

There is a lot of debate over which of these systems will end up being the dominant player. The conversation revolves mostly around how each of these devices will talk to each other point to point (lightbulb to lightbulb to hub). The more interesting conversation is how these devices will work together to create a seamless environment that is easy for consumers to learn and use. Google has the right approach about making smart guesses, and Apple has the ability to make the smart home a mainstream reality. Let’s hope that everyone learns to play nice, and that our homes just straight up … learn.

How You Can Help Build A Smarter Home For Yourself

Now that you have a bit of perspective on how the Smart Home market is shaping up, it’s time to figure out what system is right for you. The first step to buying the correct hardware for your home is looking at your current living situation. Are you renting or owning? Do you have a significant other or children? What’s your primary purpose for going Smart?

Most people pioneering this movement can be cataloged into a few camps; those who wish to save money or the environment, those who want a have a cool conversation piece, and those who see automation as a way to simplify their lives. Once you identify your primary goal for home automation you can figure out which smart home item is right for you. My primary goal was something that was part conversation piece and part life simplifier. That’s why my first purchase was the Philips Hue Lights Starter Pack. Hue is perfect because it truly helps you manage how the lights work in your house, and they are pretty fun too.

If you are looking to save money and protect the environment, then the Nest Learning Thermostat is a great first smart home purchase. It’s also a great first purchase because Nest is shaping up to be the best hub for all of your IoT (Internet of Things) devices. After setup you can connect your thermostat to all sorts of smart triggers. For some ideas check out the website IFTTT, a place where you can set up internet event listeners to trigger actions on your smart home devices.

For those who are looking to add something in their homes to simplify their lives I would recommend the Kwikset Kevo deadbolt. It makes it super easy for you to enter and exit your home with ease via the bluetooth on your phone, as well as give out guest keys to anyone. If you are an AirBnB Host, I can not think of a better solution for remote management. As a matter of fact if I was an AirBnB host I would get all three solutions mentioned here.

I’ve picked these three technologies because they are some of the most senior Smart Home products available out on the market. The last thing you want is a device that goes unsupported a few years after you buy it. So go on and pioneer into the future with your newly smart and connected home. You are now set for a home that will not only be easier for you to manage, but you are also future proofed for when homes are connected to the learning grid.