FOR the longest time, alarm systems and smart home systems - the latter featuring I/Os to automate functions - were conceptually fixed. They managed sensor inputs and they drove outputs, always through a local controller, managed by a local keypad. As the world moved to wired and wireless networks, not only systems, but single devices, could be managed on a smart phone app - that static concept has been broken. This does not mean to say that there are no longer traditional-looking alarm and automation solutions, the latest of these built around affordable wireless with slightly longer life batteries. What it means is that every single device in the home from the watering system, air conditioners, smart locks, baby monitoring cameras, pet monitoring cameras, lighting systems, thermostats, electric lawnmowers, weather stations, exercise equipment, smoke sensors, window blinds, alarm clocks, pool pumps, smart speakers, doorbells, video intercoms, cameras, smart switches, light bulbs, pressure cookers, barbeques, smart beds, vacuum cleaning robots, extension cords and everything in between are now automated and driven by separate apps in a way guaranteed to do a user's head in. In a real way, it's as if the worst fears of home automation standardisation organisations have come to pass and the chances these devices will be wrangled into a single coherent form later seem remote, indeed. Rather than integrating devices to create smart systems, market forces are squeezing manufacturers and app developers into making individual devices smart to create sales hooks and generate recurring revenue. There's nothing wrong with such motivations and in many cases, the devices work well enough, it's just that they don't make a home smart, so much as scatterbrained.
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