smart home for smart people

Everyone’s talking about the smart home these days – but what does that really mean? If you have one or two Amazon Echo smart speakers in your apartment or a Google Nest router with speakers, do you have a smart home? Or is your home only smart if you have a smart doorbell monitoring your smart camera, your smart lights automatically waking you up when the smart blinds are rolled up, and your smart home cooling your office for the day’s work? Is the AC running at the right time?

In our special Smart Home Week articles, we take you through the down and dirty (or, if you have a RoboVac, the down and clean) of smart homes. We answer questions such as what exactly is a smart home, do you need one, and if so, which of the many ecosystems should you be using? We also feature articles on each of those ecosystems — Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and the Home Assistant — written by people who actually use them and can tell you how well each system has worked. How well (or badly) it worked for them.

We examine some of the privacy issues surrounding smart homes (and tell you which are myth and which are real). And finally, we take you through a community of ecologically smart homes, show you how these brand-new smart homes work, and introduce you to one of the families who actually live there. Are.