It's FREE
“A month ago, Marcus, a 31-year-old man living in Springfield, Missouri, decided to go all in on the smart home. A diehard fan of the Apple AAPL -0.27% ecosystem, he began outfitting his house with gadgets certified as ‘Works with Apple HomeKit,’ Apple’s proprietary communication standard for controlling third-party smart home devices with iOS and its intelligent voice assistant, Siri,” Aaron Tilley reports for Forbes. “At first, everything worked flawlessly. His front door would automatically unlock as he walked up to his house when his phone got within a certain distance. The lights would brighten gradually after he woke up. ‘I work long, 10-hour days,’ said Marcus, who asked that his full name not be used, in an phone interview on Monday. ‘Having things automated lets me sleep better. For the month I’ve been using this stuff, I love it.’”
“But there was one big problem lurking below the surface of his Jetsonian setup. Marcus had placed an iPad Pro in his living room to serve as a central, voice-controlled hub for his smart home,” Tilley reports. “He used it basically as an Apple version of the Amazon Echo, a tube-shaped smart speaker that’s powered by Amazon’s intelligent voice assistant, Alexa. Without pressing a button, he could say things like, ‘Hey Siri, dim the lights,’ and the lights around him would dim. By placing the iPad in the living room, he could control the August Smart Lock too over a Bluetooth connection. He was so jazzed by his setup that he invited over his neighbor, Mike, to check it out.”
“Last Friday morning, as Marcus was pulling out of the driveway, Mike walked up with a grin asking if he could borrow some flour. Marcus responded sure and started to get out of the car to let him in,” Tilley reports. “But before Marcus could do anything, his neighbor said, ‘I’ll let myself in,’ and ran over to the front door. He then shouted, ‘Hey Siri, unlock the front door.’ The door unlocked.”
Read more in the full article here.
About Post Author
Share this via:
