Home and the post-internet world

Picture this: You’re sitting with your morning read and a cup of coffee. Alexa (Amazon’s voice-controlled personal assistant) is sitting across the room. “Alexa,” you say, without looking up, “Tell Roomba to start cleaning.” Moments later you hear a faint mechanical purring as Roomba, your vacuum bot, undocks itself from its perch and begins scrubbing the floor on command.

Sounds like futuristic sci-fi? Not quite. This is happening right now in 2017, courtesy smart gadgets and the Internet of Things (IoT). As the Internet steps beyond computers and smartphones and begins to ‘talk’ to sensors embedded in everyday devices, these ‘things’ are slowly beginning to weave themselves into the warp and weft of our lives. According to IT research firm, Gartner, there will be 21 billion such connected smart things by 2020 in and around us.

Forget 2020. That cup of coffee you’re having today, for instance… That could well have come from the Behmor Connected Temperature Control Coffee Maker. The Wi-Fi enabled coffee machine not only lets you use a companion iOS/Android app to remotely brew your java, it also lets you set the brewing temperature and pre-soak time for the coffee beans. Take that, coffee snobs!

And Amazon Alexa (now almost three years old and residing in a smart speaker called Echo) is not alone on the Blue Planet. Seeing the vast opportunity up ahead, most IT majors are poking a finger deep in the smart home pie. There’s Google Home (madeby.google.com/home/) with its Google Assistant. Apple offers its Home Kit (www.apple.com/shop/accessories/all-accessories/homekit). And Samsung is homing in with SmartThings (www.smartthings.com/). Apart from allowing you to query their hands-free digital assistants for the news, weather, music, traffic or sports, these smart controllers essentially let you operate smart plugs and switches, monitor the house and secure it.

From lighting, air-conditioning, and heating to home appliances such as vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, ovens, baby monitors, air purifiers and security systems, today’s smart home can have them all. Right off the shelf. If you have the proclivity and the pockets for it, that is.

Speaking of security, you can instal IoT-aware home surveillance cameras such as the Wi-Fi enabled Motorola Focus 85 that are triggered by inconspicuous infrared motion sensors or presence sensors, and you can watch the camera feed sitting anywhere in the world.

Have you heard of the Moen U Smart Shower controller? This comes with a smartphone app that lets you pre-ordain 12 different personalised settings for the shower. These include temperature shower timer, notifications — even name and greetings. All that from any location within the Wi -Fi cloud of your hearth. Needless to say, you need a special shower valve to get going.

Those who’ve seen the light can now instal IoT bulbs such as the Reos Lite — India’s first Bluetooth-enabled LED Smart Bulb. The smartphone-controlled 13-watt Reos employs a regular socket. It produces 1,100 lumens of light and lets you pick from a spectrum of 16 million colours as well as alter luminosity. A proximity feature switches the bulb on when your phone is within range, and turns it off when you step out of its Bluetooth ambit. Phone in silent mode? Reos alerts you about incoming calls, mail, messages, and even social media alerts. Likewise, you can also buy the Philips Hue Smart Lighting System.

IoT is a term that encompasses 11 protocols including NFC (Near Field Communication), Bluetooth, ZigBee and a whole alphabet soup of standards. The premise behind IoT is to eventually span the entire breadth of connectivity between devices, systems and services.

There’s Android in your oven too. The Dacor Discovery iQ “intelligent” kitchen kiln boasts Wi-Fi connectivity as it roasts. A GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) and stereo sound prowess to deliver multimedia experiences through a seven-inch LCD-glass touchscreen panel. Cooking enthusiasts can use the appliance to download cooking apps from Google Play, look up recipes and stream videos.

Similarly, Indian companies such as LG, Godrej and IFB offer IoT-enabled washing machines. Then, there are digital smart locks for your front door, IoT suitcases and baggage trackers to trace luggage, key and wallet finders.

So is all right with the IoT world then? Not quite. Security is the biggest hurdle that plagues these smart devices. It’s something that IoT vendors like to brush under the carpet. However, everyone should be aware that many IoT gadgets can be altered to spy on you. Be it a remote security device or baby cameras, smart TVs, cars and toys can (and have) been hacked to spy on their owners. Eavesdropping, surveillance, monitoring, location tracking… everything is possible. It is not easy, but it is possible, and so IoT remains a double-edged sword.

Ashish Bhatia is a tech columnist and editor of The Luxe Log