For doorbells, lights, water leaks, smarter is better
COMMENTARY back away. “Guilty,” I say. No denying I have violated the restraining order certain family members who shall remain unnamed have placed against me. I am forbidden from operating the TV remotes. Whenever I do, the television and all its various components (again, why?) lurch into inoperable modes, eliciting bad language from same nameless family members. My name is used in vain.
“I was just trying to turn off the TV since no one was watching,” I say.
“First of all, you were pointing with the wrong end of the remote. It goes this way,” says the voice. It’s no use. What happened to the days when you got up and turned the TV on and off with one knob?
Faced with new technology, I’m like a farm dog on Wall Street, willing to work but out of my element. If it were up to me, and good thing it isn’t, we’d still have crank up cars and men delivering ice blocks for the ice box and coal for the furnace.
Yet the world inventively marches on.
Recognizing my limitations and my obligation to tell you about the latest smart home technology, I tap someone who knows way more than I do. I call my techno-trend-tracking friend and lifestyle expert Kathryn Emery. This same woman built my Bitmoji. You want to talk about life-changing.
“Smart home is definitely having its moment, and that trend will continue to elevate as people look for ways to make life more convenient at home with technology,” says Emery.
“But can a home be too