The PROBLEM with Smart Home Tech
Smart home tech, such as the Amazon Alexa or the Google Home, has been around for quite some time now – and there always seems to be more gadgets to buy and features to try out. Today we get into if these items worth the investment, if they’re listening to our every move and plotting against us, and more!
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Script: Holly Maley
Editor: Kim Su + Kirsten Stanley
Project Manager: Lurana McClure Rodríguez
Host: Levi Hildebrand
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When a company wants to automate they usually have to standardize processes. Most people do not want to live a standardized life. For smart devices to be more useful it needs to be safe, reliable and flexible. Also, it would help if people learned how to use smart devices.
I refuse to be an IDIOT (an Individual Dependent upon the Internet of Things). Hey Google! Kiss my @$$! Whoa, wait, that felt kinda good. On second thought..
Targeted marketing has had an exceedingly creepy relationship with my menstrual cycle since even before I started using a cycle tracker.
Of course, it also thought I was pregnant for like 4 straight years. And now that I actually am pregnant, it’s mostly avoiding the topic 😂😂😂
Convenience? ! I really cannot comprehend how people can surrender their privacy so easily to big tech compagnies; I mean, unless you have some type of disability.
They’re not eavesdropping on you. That would cost too much processing power and Google doesn’t need to listen to you, because they already know everything about you already. Thry know your location, search history phone call log etc etc.
Sometimes I put a thermos of coffee beside my bed for when I wake up. I know flipping a light switch and turning a shower tap are hard things but do we really need to sacrifice control and independence for that level of convenience?
Lol. Voice/wifi controlled coffee makers are so much bs, cuz you still should put coffee mug beforehand.
I use smart devices as a reward/motivator to do dishes. 🤣
For a long time it was when I allowed myself to stream YouTube.
Thats why I use home assistant, eveything is local. and The most important devices still have physical control
I largely got into automated google lights, for my mother, to make it easer for her to turn the lights off and on, especially so she didn’t trip over anything after turning the lights off. although she never used it that way, prefering instead to turn lights on, after getting up and going to the location in the house she wanted to be.
these days, I find it partially convenient to turn on my bathroom lights, before I struggle out of bed.
🍎
Can confirm I’m dependent.
In 2019 I lived, temporarily, in the middle of nowhere with cruddy internet. It sucked.
My siri was triggered and called emergency services due to this video. Thanks
These things are so creepy. I’ve been in the home of someone I really suspect was recording conversations in his home without telling his visitors.
I have a fully integrated Home energy solution, battery, EV charger and water heater solar diverter. It is unbeatable in its functionally, and I couldn’t be happier. What worries me is what happens if the company that runs this system is the subject of a hostile takeover, and the new company stops supporting the product. I end up with an expensive paperweight.
I actually want the smart home to always listen and watch and use its future advanced ai powers to know things before i know them, i don’t want automatic purchases from amazon or some shit like that, but a notification on my phone or watch when i am out shopping reminding me we need eggs, sign me up
I of course also want all the things he listed in the video, but what is wrong with a machine listening and watching? The ai is not going to kill you, at least not for a long time, if it went all insane, pull the plug? I mean come on
And oh no google knows all about me? And so what? I really dont see it as a problem at all
And as a side note, my heating, lighting and everything really is smart home controlled, even my lock on the bathroom door is "smart", and you know what? Everything is local, secure and works without internet, when the internet is down the only thing that does not work is talking to google, rest of the house works just fine and everything just resumes when the internet comes back, same goes for power, it just works
AI has to learn.
I would never have or use any of this crap and I do not understand why anyone would.
Smart homes are really just a need, and something for fun, but what i will say is that the only smart home gadgets that will sorta help you out are the nest thermostats and any type of wifi router
a lot of people are willingly bugged their own homes because of "fear of missing out"
👍👍
Right on… use technology, but don’t become a slave to it. There is still great pleasure to be had in doing simple things simply.
Thanks again and regards,
Ironing out the kinks my arse! The further integrated into their lives it becomes the more and more variables are involved, and the ‘kinks’ grow with the number of variables. There will _always_ be kinks to iron out. Unfortunately the further integrated these things are into someone’s life the kinks could be catastrophically significant.
gotta appreciate the fact a a computer is not considered a "smart device" but a fridge can be
All your concerns can be reduced to 0 with KNX.
The chore of doing laundry historically took something like 10 hours of active labor per week. The invention of the washing machine is credited for reducing the active time spent down to only maybe 30 minutes. Traditionally, it was women in the home that were burdened with the labors of household chores, which enforced what many consider to be unfair power dynamics in the home, but also took away their freedom to enter the workforce or engage in as many hobbies as women do today.
I don’t think it’s trivial to have a device shave off a few minutes every day for doing household chores.
I still struggle with ai thermostats. I turned down my at night turn it up when I get up, and turn down if leaving for whole day. I do have a friend with MS, she uses a smart home to lock & unlock & turn on & off lights. But most people don’t need it. I get out & meet neighbours & I even know my postman’s name talk with
Your frustration level is at next level…
objectively, telling a home pod or alexa or whatever to turn on the lights takes longer than turning on the lights, unless you live in a 18th century palace
I’m happy with a normal house. I don’t trust any of the big tech corpos with my data any more than I’d trust my own government. Which is to say, not at all.
bollox
That last line was savy AF and sadly so true at the same time 😅
Haven’t our phones been listening in on us for years already?
At least some one listening
That target srory was stupid affffff, because the main catalyst was probably the daughter literally buying a pregnancy test followed by a decline in period care purchasing.
Maybe she even went ahead and got some vitamins, whether prenatal or not, and some larger bras/more flexible bralettes. The mom knew, so she probably pushed the daughter to get prenatal vitamins.
If I remember correctly, she was actually _actually_ pretty fucking far along into her pregnancy by the time dad figured it out (GOSH! I wonder why she was afraid to tell her unhinged father…) So she may have started buying even more stuff to accommodate how her body was changing. Maybe she was shopping in the maternity section already, or maybe she was suddenly buying 3 sizes larger to try to hide her belly.
That father wasn’t mad that the algorithm recommended pregnancy items to his daughter after she had already PURCHASED pregnancy related items.
He was mad that his wife and daughter kept it from him. But, again, his completely unhinged reaction towards the target algorithm clearly shows why they were afraid to tell his crazy ass.
I just find personalized ads weird and funny at same time. Best example was me working in firm that makes billboards, 3D logos and ads for everything, and so one time we got to do a car dealership/mechanic shop that also sells things for cars, including tires: just a design of 3D tire for roof with name of the dealership, few smaller billboards and logos for tire brands on window panes. Didnt tell anyone on phone or message yet, nor net, the bill for paying the job wasnt yet made or even printed, absolutely nothing was mentioned by me. Next thing i get personalizied ads for tire brands that are meant to be put on windows and car fluids and antifreeze on billboards.
And i dont even own a car, which makes it hilarious since i dont even need any of it, but get ads anyway
Our HomePod, doesn’t seem to listen to my commands at the best of time.
i mean its pretty clear they only listen when they’re meant to
i checked the data usage
In my home smart parts is just several plugs and lightbulbs and, honestly, i already dont like how they woks. Its all controlled via remote servers. If they gone (which is already happened with some "smart" devices like smart mugs) those hardware just become junk. There is no standardization, there is tonnes of "ecosystems", very little interconnection between them (this is why Google Home attempts to support as much as possible of foreign vendors) and its all not so great and convenient. There is some attempts so solve some of problem with introducing Zigbee instead of wifi connectivity but i would prefer some small Raspberry running local daemon and controlling smart devices.
I not even touch theme of spying speakers listening to your every word…
I don’t trust any home device. Friends have an Alexa and there is a nice comforting red light when it is "muted". In all likelihood, it is not "muted", rather it is just not responding to what it hears.
The saddest thing is how this tech can be used to take over parenting. When I was a kid my mom reminded me to do my chores and homework, and read me stories and sang me lullabies at bedtime. Now the Alexa in the kitchen has scheduled daily reminders for chores and homework, and my sibling have Alexa’s in their bedrooms, which they ask to tell them stories and play music before bed.
"I’m sorry. I didn’t understand." was my alarm clock’s response to your OK Google. Then I had to find my phone, turn the screen on, enter the code then press pause. I turned the sound back up on the receiver… Then I rewound but unfortunately a tiny bit too far and had to do it all over again. It’s fairly dumb and extremely suspicious because they had me say however many things back to it so it supposedly could "learn my voice" but your voice only shares being male with my voice. Yet any women say OK Google and that triggers the same thing. So what was it actually learning in that initial calibration BS step?
6 seconds in, my Alexa device said, "Sorry, thats not me, it must be a case of mistaken a.i. identity." I have all visible cameras on my electronic devices covered. I’m pretty sure they watch as well as listen & no doubt have other cameras hidden in & on them. George Orwell & Aldous Huxley were decades ahead of their time when writing 1984 & Brave New World respectively. It creeps me out, I’m 57 years of age, I’m fearful of my own future going into old age. Not just my own, all of humanity.
On a positive note, I just discovered your channel yesterday. A happy accident. I subscribed 2 videos later & am very much enjoying your content. Thank You 👏👏
Police already try and compel private citizens to surrender Ring footage against their wills, how soon til they start demanding footage and data from your other smart tech?
My apartment already comes with a nest but I would not personally buy any of this. I am fine doing household chores and I like staying busy. I can see the pros of something like a ring doorbell because many suspicious activity has been caught on them so I’m kind of torn on that one.
Jokes on you I’m watching in the shitter
i got a virtual cookie and fruit today 🙂 ty ty
edit" i know im using a macbook to type this but nothing scares me more, i hate smart houses, i dont like assistants, and its errie. like whats the difference between a robot slave and a real one? when we give these ai ‘bodies’ like boston robotics etc what stop them from taking on thought? call me childish but i feel bad for the crap i put my current electronics through. think about it if i lost a game and told you i threw my lover across the room everyone would think im crazy, but because its just my phone i threw after losing a mobile game its all of a sudden ok, and even laughable, we are so fucked and we dont even know, like yall said its literally every sci fi movies thing robot bad human good, when all along human bad robot good. if i forced my partner to heat my bed, make coffee, make sure the water for my bath is nice and all these other housekeeping things yall would call me abusive, its what yall literally did for women, but now that its a machine its somehow okay, how about doing stuff ourselves, like when i look at the jetsons and see the movable walkway so we dont have to walk its already too much, even in airport i think its unnecessary, i can understand an argument if you are disabled but any able bodied person(s) should do stuff on their own, we are so lonely and not to be a repeat of every commentary youtuber but people are literally falling in love with robots over humans like we are in the movie ‘Her’ that should be enough of an argument to tell us to stop but no, capitalism thrives off of us being lonely and we are too busy trying to keep up with the joneses to see that, we would rather buy the latest thing temu and amazon offers than recognize we have serious issues within ourselves. im not even going to apologize, i would be one of ‘those people’ that says robot lives matter because all life fuckign matters!! regardless if its programmed that way or not, i know this is already long but lets take the show ‘Pluto’ for another example, they programmed a robot ot be a killing machine all now all he wants to do is play piano, at what point does it stop. "Not tO mAke EverYthinG aBouT raCe" but not for nothing white people should have even saw the issues with this especially when they be complaining that all the ‘mexicans’ are taking their jobs what do you think a fuckign robot is gonna do??? but to double back what even is "programming" at the end of the day. we are as living things not programmed to eat, shit, reproduce and die?? and look how thats going, people with eating disorders, people with bowel disorders, people with fertility disorders, the only thing we are good at is death, or is the only good thing death?? "life always finds away" death allows life to try
I didn’t realise I had a ‘hey google good morning’ routine, now I do after it was set off 😂
mrwhosetheboss should watch this video
Ummm…Penultimate means "Second to last," not "super-ultimate."