Smart Homes Getting An AI Renovation

Upgrades provide natural conversations, cameras that find lost dogs

A decade ago, Amazon’s Echo and Google’s Home offered us a taste of the future: We speak, and our homes respond. But when ChatGPT and other AI chatbots arrived, those “smart” speakers started to feel pretty basic.

Google is rolling out Gemini generative-AI smarts to existing devices at the end of the month.

Now that they’re getting a generative- AI overhaul, the question is: Can we get more out of devices that until now have been great at setting kitchen timers, reading the weather and playing music?

Most homes are “smart”: Consumer- tech tracking firm Parks Associates reports just over half of internet-connected U.S. households own at least one smart speaker. Yet smart-home adoption has stalled since peaking in 2021, says research firm IDC. Anyone who has wrestled with a smart light, thermostat or other home tech knows the pain. A multitude of fussy apps and the need to memorize countless verbal commands were a big part of the problem.

Amazon’s Alexa+ and Google’s Gemini aim to fix that, by making smart homes less dumb. The tech giants introduced new speakers, home displays and cameras this week to capitalize on their evolved assistants, but most existing devices are also compatible.

Gemini for Home arrives at the end of the month, and Amazon says 10 million households have early access to Alexa+. As we wait for Apple’s Siri to catch up, here are the three big changes coming to our homes right now.

Cameras that tell you what’s happening

When you get a security camera alert, you tend to open an app and peer in wondering at what might be lurking in or outside your house.

With Gemini for Home—which you can gain early access now in the Google Home app—Nest cam notifications have more useful descriptions, such as “Dog jumped out of playpen,” or “USPS dropped a package off on your porch.”

Inside the app, you can ask queries like, “When did the gardener arrive last week?” to pull up relevant clips. In a demo, “What ate my grass?” showed rabbits munching in the garden. The cameras can also summarize daily highlights such as kid activity or package delivery. Amazon’s Ring announced similar features called Video Descriptions and Smart Video Search earlier this year— available to Home Premium plans.

In December, Ring will add Familiar Faces, allowing its doorbells and other cameras to recognize people you know. The system matches faces based on your videos only, and the identification is stored with your account. Also coming in December is a service that allows Alexa+ to greet people at the door, whether they’re familiar or unfamiliar faces. Ring is attempting a more ambitious task as well: finding lost dogs.

You can trigger a “Search Party” by providing details and a photo of your missing dog. Any outdoor Ring cameras in the vicinity that spot your dog will alert those camera owners.

If they want to notify you, they can with a tap. (They can also choose to ignore the alert, and even disable Search Party entirely.) Search Party, available in November, is only for dogs at launch, but Amazon is looking beyond canines. In addition to evaluating algorithms for other pets—hello, cats!—it is considering monitoring for lost people as well.

“There are thousands of people missing with dementia all the time, so you can imagine looking for them,” says Jamie Siminoff, who founded Ring and currently heads the Amazon subsidiary.

Siminoff noted the privacy concerns, and emphasized that videos will never be shared without the consent of the camera users. In addition, Ring says it doesn’t use private customer videos to train its AI models.

Speakers that have real conversations

As soon as you upgrade to Alexa+ or Gemini for Home, the biggest change you’ll notice is the humanness of the assistant. Conversations flow freely; you don’t need to repeat the wake word. We’ve asked Alexa+ about classical architecture, amenities at a campground, whether selenium is water-soluble and more, with informative responses.

We have yet to stump it. Responses to conventional smart-speaker requests are improving, too. When Gemini for Home rolls out, you can say, “Set a timer for roasted carrots”—Gemini will ask appropriate follow-ups and start a countdown. You can also ask: “Play a recent podcast featuring Serena Williams” or “My dishwasher isn’t draining.

What should I check first?” Like ChatGPT, these AI-powered assistants sometimes hallucinate, too. Alexa+ offered to make a restaurant reservation via Open- Table. The restaurant wasn’t even on the app yet it insisted we had a booking. Hey, that’s why it’s still early access.

Automation without the app headache

The magic of the smart home is when stuff happens exactly when you need it to. Previously, this felt like it required a computer-engineering degree. Now, you can create these automations just by describing what you want. Seriously.

For example, asking Gemini to “make me feel safer” will check that the doors are locked, windows closed and—if you’re not home— lights are toggling on and off. Amazon’s devices chief, Panos Panay, shared how his wife’s frustration with their son—“He just leaves the lights on!”—led her to ask Alexa to turn off lights each night at a given time. She didn’t realize she had created a routine, he says. Amazon’s new devices are equipped with more sensors to understand what’s happening in your home.

In other features rolling out in the coming months, they’ll learn habits—who’s home during the day, what doors should be locked after 10 p.m.—and will be able to adjust routines and alerts based on those patterns, the company says. (Alexa+ will come with all the new Echo devices.) We’ll be doing more testing with Alexa+, Gemini for Home and the new devices.

But these smart assistants already feel less like high-maintenance houseguests and more like family: They listen, learn and might even help find the missing dog. 

Source: Wall Street Journal

Hiraeth: Homesickness for a Place that Doesn’t Exist.

The idea of “home” has always baffled me.

Maybe it’s because I’ve never truly felt at home anywhere.

There are places where I’ve felt comfortable, but they were never technically my “home.” Even as I get older and moved to different towns and cities, I’ve never lived in an apartment or house that I’ve felt completely settled in.

There’s always this nagging restlessness, this feeling that ‘no, this isn’t home either.’

So, where is home? Some can argue that home is inside—that it’s with you all the time. I’d like to believe that and deep down, I think I really do.

But I can’t shake this feeling. All my life, I’ve sought refuge everywhere outside of myself—my grandmother’s house, friend’s houses, the homes of relatives. I’ve always felt like a visitor because, well, I was. I’ve never felt like I completely belonged anywhere, especially the place I was supposed to belong.

Over the past 15 years, I think I’ve moved just as many times. I’ve noticed a pattern: I never stay in one place longer than two years, tops. I usually bounce within a year to year and a half. I just can’t seem to get settled, to put down roots.

This is both disturbing and enlightening to me.

It disturbs me because it makes me wonder what I’m running from. Or better yet, what I’m searching for. I like that I’ve lived in so many places and met so many people. No matter where I go, I always seem to run into someone I know. I kind of like that.

I’ve come to embrace this restless energy inside of me, because it’s propelled me to keep moving, exploring, reaching. It keeps my curiosity alive. Sometimes, I feel like it keeps me young.

And sometimes it wears me down.

I’m very tired, all the time. It tears my sleep away because it never lets my mind rest. I’m always thinking ahead, always worrying, always planning. Always trying to make things work. I’m never completely grounded in the here and now, and as we all know, this moment, right now, is the only one that truly matters.

“The only present that might exist is the one in my mind. It’s the closest we come to the absolute present.”

But then I wonder if I’m always tired because I’m always searching for a place and a time that doesn’t exist. I’m pouring all of my energy into creating the life I’ve always wanted to live, the person I’ve always wanted to be, and to some extent, the place I’ve always wanted to come home to.

Hiraeth: a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was; the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for the lost places of your past.

I guess that’s an apt metaphor for life.

We’re all searching for something. Some feel it more intensely, and those are the movers and shakers, the ones who really leave their mark on this world. They let that restlessness—that drive for more—fuel them. They soak in all the places and faces and names and gestures and words and glances and (not so) chance encounters and joys and tragedies of life that propel them forward. They use it all as fodder to create something bigger; bigger than themselves. Bigger than life, sometimes.

We’re really all time travelers, maybe trying to re-create a feeling we once felt or a dream we once had.

And through this yearning—this nostalgia—we come to create something even better.

“In Greek, ‘nostalgia’ literally means the ‘pain from an old wound.’ It’s a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone.”

We draw from our pain. We draw from loss and from heartache. I think the only line we can draw between right and wrong is whether or not we’re utilizing our experiences for the betterment of ourselves and the world around us. Whether or not we’re making something beautiful from something awful. Whether or not we’re able to transform pain into love.

I think home resides in the act of taking something born from darkness and baptizing it in the light of renewal. When you’re able to find peace within pain and build from it, manifesting something you never dreamed possible because it radiates so much light and purity and love—that’s when you’ve come home.

Home isn’t a place; it’s a state of being.

Home is balance. Home is reconciliation. Home is forgiveness. Home is release.

“It’s a time machine. It goes backwards, forwards. It takes us to a place where we ache to go again.”

We ache, we journey back and we take those grueling lessons that keep showing up for us, disguised as different faces and bearing different names, and we morph them into something better. We wake up and step into our power. We lay the foundation for the home we’ve either been struggling to return to, or the one we never had.

Home lies within us all. It’s just a matter of how we choose to make our way to it.

Source: Elephant Journal

The Many Mental Benefits of Decluttering

If you need some motivation to make room for the new holiday gifts you received, or to organize your closets, now is the time. You know that sweater in your closet that doesn't look good on you, but you never got around to returning? How about that extra toaster oven you have been storing in your basement for years? Someone out there could be enjoying these items. Donating feels good. As does living in a tidy and organized environment.

Clear Your Home, Clear Your Mind

Clutter creates chaos, which impacts your ability to focus. It also limits your brain's capacity to process information. Clutter is a form of visual distraction, which increases cognitive overload and can reduce working memory. If your space is unorganized and filled with clutter it can be difficult to focus or concentrate. Research has shown that people are less irritable, less distracted, more productive, and better able to process information with an uncluttered and organized work area.

Staying organized can be a challenge for anyone. It can be a daunting task for those with ADHD, brain injury, and/or executive function deficit or disorder. Clearing the clutter and developing systems for keeping certain things like keys, phone, and wallet are essential to managing day-to-day activities and improving time management.

Not only is it hard to physically function in a cluttered space, but clutter bombards the mind with excessive stimuli. Addressing the heaps of paperwork, laundry, and thoughtfully organizing helps to calm the mind.

Improve Mental Health

Several studies show a correlation between disorganization, clutter, and mental health conditions, including, depression, anxiety, and stress. Messy environments can cause frustration, helplessness, and feeling overwhelmed.

Excessive clutter often leads to feelings of shame, hopelessness, and guilt. The feelings can spiral, making it difficult to find the motivation to address the clutter. If someone is already suffering from depression, a cluttered home can worsen that depression. It is often a cycle. The more depressed you get, the harder it is to clean and organize.

Decluttering increases self-worth, creates healthy habits, and boosts productivity. A clean and tidy home can also improve sleep, boost mood, and promote relaxation.

More Energy and More Space

Everything we own and bring into our home takes up some of our time, energy, and space. While some things are worth it, there are usually items that no longer serve us and we could do without. The more things we have, the more things we have to clean, organize and manage. Trying to stay on top of it all in a cluttered home requires more time, energy, and effort.

When our closets and drawers are jammed packed with stuff we don’t use, we spend more time looking for the things we need. How frustrating is it when you know what you are looking for, but you just can’t lay your hands on it? Getting rid of the things we don’t use creates more space and breathing room, allowing us to focus on the important things.

Declutter and Donate—It's a Win-Win!

It seems easy to accumulate all sorts of things we don’t really need, yet difficult to let them then go when they no longer serve us. There are many reasons people hold on to things, from sentimental to monetary value, but at what cost? More often than not, the things we fear getting rid of end up negatively impacting our lives, rather than benefitting them. Another reason we hold on to things that are in good condition, but we know we will never need or use again, is because we don't know what to do with them. The answer is simple: donate. Decluttering not only improves your life, it improves the lives of others in need.

Steps to Declutter

• Start Small: Set small, manageable goals. Tackle one task, one pile, or one room at a time.

• Ask for Help: Enlist the help of a family member, friend who can help you make decisions. Sometimes getting "permission" from someone else makes it easier to put your items in the donate pile.

• Take a Picture: If you have trouble parting with your children's baby clothes and books or mementos from a vacation, take a picture of them. Giving them away often feels like giving up a piece of our identity or our past, making it difficult to let go. By taking a picture of an item that carries sentimental value, you can still have that connection.

• Decide what you’re going to do with your unwanted items: The goal is to get the items out of your house and into the hands of someone who needs them. Contact local homeless shelters or donation centers to schedule a drop-off or pick-up.

Source: Psychology Today