[jsnk]

"We believe that the future of smart homes will not be found in a centralized device but in an integrated combination of screens, speech recognition, sensors, dedicated devices and smart surfaces."

I think the latter part of the sentence unintentionally describes smartphones. I would say that today's smartphones are integrated combination of screens, speech recognition, sensors, dedicated devices and smart surfaces. Pretty damn good as well.

I take issue with the first part of the sentence as well. I think we do want a centralized device with centralized software. People are sick of fridge operating one way and stoves working another. Take changing clocks on microwave, coffee machine, fridge, stoves etc for example. Don't you just hate doing it one by one? Not to mention the fact that they all have different interfaces and work differently.

[jat850]

I'm a little torn on this article, and even on your comment. I think the clock example you pick out is important.

However, if your clocks in all your devices are already connected via a centralized mechanism (say, for example, a standardized home automation bus/wiring/backbone), why is it necessary to set the clocks at all? One way or another, they could be connected to a time server. I don't (shouldn't) need an app to set time on any device.

If you're talking interface unification on each device (say, a touchscreen "standard" interface and OS), that is ... maybe desirable, but potentially impractical or unlikely. With eventual interfaces (to say, fridges or stoves or whatever) being "smart", it's going to become a key differentiator among brands, along with reliability, warranty, ease to clean, energy efficiency. So I could see the manufacturers pushing back on that.

Weighing in with my own anecdote, I have a Nest thermostat in my home. There's an iPad app which I have never used (other than to test) once to adjust the temperature in my home. I walk to the device and do it there. It's faster and easier. And the author of the article addresses this issue.

[twald]

Hey, one of the founders here. When we talk about integrated, we're talking about sensors integrated in the materials like tables and walls around us. It does not mean that all of these components should be integrated in one device. I did not phrase this well enough. Thanks!

I agree that we want a centralized intelligence. I personally don't want to carry my smartphone around all the time though. We can't we use what's around us like glass, tables walls or use small projectors that track your positioning?

[VLM]

"I personally don't want to carry my smartphone around all the time though"

There is an interesting cultural phenomena where a significant fraction of the population agrees with us, and another significant fraction thinks we're completely crazy, and the two groups do not believe the opposite party exists.