Smart Home Trends That Will Dominate 2021 and Beyond

Traditional home systems were specifically designed to work with limited connectivity. The users were also restricted to control systems within a given range. Fortunately, the emergence of smart home technology has opened door to various possibilities. It has leveraged connectivity that allows owners to get remote access to their homes.

Ever since internet became available to the public in 1991, various features were unravelled across the globe. Technology has evolved in a futuristic way making our lives far simpler. Smart home feature is one such comfort that is taking the world by storm. Smart home devices help ease decision-making, solve daily challenges, and make life healthier and safer. Now, house owner doesn’t have to worry about whether a device at home is left on, smart technology will do the work of automatically switching off devices if no one is at home. In a nutshell, smart homes are the domestic face of the Internet of Things (IoT). Some of the widely adopted applications of smart home are control, comfort and security.

According to a research report, smart home device market was valued at US$55 billion in 2016 and is expected to grow to US$174 billion by 2025. Another statistics suggest that there are over 175 million smart homes in the world right now. The recent trend in smart home application pins artificial intelligence and automation to offer domestic help in a new and innovative way. These latest trends ensure both advanced technological appliances and security. Facial recognition devices, video door alarms, remote-controlled locks and ultra-modern burglar alarms are some of the trending security choices that smart homes have put in the corridor. Henceforth, Analytics Insight brings you a list of smart home trends that will dominate the market in 2021 and beyond.

Latest trends in smart home applications

Better connectivity

Connectivity has always been the bottom line of smart home appliances. Lack of connectivity is one of the major problems that influence user experience and hampers adoption. Already, companies that design smart home appliances are working extensively to address the challenge by implementing different approaches. One of the major smart home trends in connectivity is to offer a hub for connected devices that enables centralised control and management. Personalised connectivity hubs like Zigbee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other IoT connectivity technologies will take over the smart home market in 2021.

Robots at home

When I say robots at home, it is not a humanoid robot butler that I’m talking about. Even though movies showed it as a possible phase, it is far away from the current technological advances. However, robots entered the house premises with simple innovations like robotic vacuum cleaners and lawnmowers. But the improvement in artificial intelligence has opened door to far advanced features like robots used for cooking, cleaning and doing simple household works. Especially, smart home robots can be a companion and caretaker for the elderly and people with disabilities. These domestic robots will take over smart home applications and serve day-to-day tasks.

Wireless remote control

Wireless remote control devices are on its way to the smart home market. This wireless remote control provision leverages the facility to control your home through a wireless medium. This is not just efficient, secure and comfortable, but also saves energy. For example, all the kitchen devices can be remotely controlled, reducing the energy spent on it. Even other devices like smart AC can be wirelessly controlled to manage the thermostats.

The sentient home

Sentient home symbolises the future of smart homes where the house will be an entirely intuitive environment that manages external and internal necessities for residents. A sentiment home has smart devices and is totally connected to wireless control. The home will automatically adjust in real-time, a spectrum of facilities that support individuals, preferences inefficiency and weather patterns. On a whole, these smart houses are totally automatic that the house routines on their own. Automated applications controlled with artificial intelligence will cope with the day-by-day functions of the home efficiently and in a manner that accrues data so that machine learning can continue to optimise all processes.

Consumer security, privacy and confidence

The general threat that people envisage while using technology is the breach of privacy and data. However, that doesn’t stop people from expecting more. When it comes to smart home appliances, people look for advanced technological devices. However, this drives us to a spot where consumers get the right to know how their data is being used and understand how to benefit from them. In 2021 and beyond, smart home manufacturers will concentrate more on how to collect minimum data and provide maximum service to consumers.

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Published at Sun, 17 Jan 2021 04:52:30 +0000

World Insight: Global tech leaders share visions on post-COVID-19 era at CES 2021

by Julia Pierrepont III, Huang Heng

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) — The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year, held online for the first time this week, has invited leading professionals from the technological, health and financial industries to share their unique, forward-looking visions for the future.

Global leaders including Hans Vestberg, chairperson and CEO of Verizon; Mary Barra, chairperson and CEO of General Motors; Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, and newcomers like TikTok’s Head of Global Marketing Nick Tran, joined the virtual meeting to forecast the post COVID-19 era.

“No amount of distance can keep us from exploring the world together,” said Verizon’s Hans Vestberg, highlighting the unparalleled power of 5G to change the world.

Verizon Wireless is the second-largest wireless carrier in the United States, with 120.3 million subscribers as of the third quarter of 2020.

COVID-19 has helped speed up the development of work-from-home, distance learning and telemedicine, pushing the digital revolution to leapfrog, according to Vestberg.

“The future of productivity is now the current reality of work. The future of learning is now the current reality of school. The future of mobile payments is now our current reality of banking. The future of streaming is the current reality of entertainment,” he explained.

“Instead of being our future, it’s our present. Our 5G future is here,” he added.

To Vestberg, 5G is much more than just another technology innovation. It’s an industrial revolution and a platform that will make countless other innovations possible.

“5G innovation opens doors to other innovations,” Vestberg said.

He explained that using 5G-backed augmented reality, viewers can participate in sports, visit museums and galleries, and attend universities, all without leaving their living room.

Vestberg and National Football League (NFL) Commissioner Roger Goodell stressed 5G’s ability to radically improve sports viewership and create personalized fan engagement, particularly in venues like Verizon’s 5G super stadiums, which the company will roll out in 28 cities in 2021. The stadiums will offer seven customized camera angles, virtual players interactivity, and instant replay on-demand among others.

The National Football League, a professional American football league, is the wealthiest professional sport league in the country. In the 2020 regular season amid COVID-19, NFL games averaged 15.1 million viewers, down 8 percent from the 2019 regular season.

Verizon is also working with the Smithsonian in the U.S. capitol, the world’s largest museum and research complex with 19 museums, nine research centers and New York City’s famed Metropolitan Museum, to make 3D augmented reality (AR) digital replicas of their valuable artifacts, so that they can be viewed from anywhere in the world.

Lonnie Bunch III, secretary of the Smithsonian, explained how they are using 5G AR to launch an exhibition when most of museums and public education facilities are closed due to COVID-19.

“It can bring education to life beyond the classroom and help whomever come to explore important subjects in ways that bring our shared history to life… and can help us achieve a more inclusive future,” he said.

General Motors anticipated a bright future in transportation with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion, and is committed to building the infrastructure to make that future a reality, said the company’s chairperson and CEO.

“We are at an inflection point that is moving toward putting everyone in EV (electric vehicle). GM intends to lead that charge,” Barra said. “With the indisputable science behind climate change, investors are asking to put purpose alongside profit. So we must use this moment to look forward with optimism and hope.”

“2020 must be a call-to-action to address the health crisis, racial injustice and climate change,” she said.

In the eco-sustainability arena, GM and its battery partner, LG from South Korea, have managed to reduce the amount of problematic cobalt in their batteries by 70 percent, using more aluminum instead, according to Barra. Their engineering innovations also enabled their batteries to produce 60 percent more power, which is no mean feat.

Social media upstart TikTok also shared their perception of the future of social media. TikTok’s Tran told attendees that he perceived his company’s mission as helping to “democratize entertainment” by providing creators with a robust and innovative platform that could adapt to the demands and tastes of its users.

“We are less of a social platform than an entertainment platform powered by the community,” Tran said. “Our creators can make an endless amount of content, and our algorithms allow users to see more content they like.”

TikTok, based in Los Angeles, is a video-sharing social networking service owned by Chinese company ByteDance. It generated over 800 million monthly active users last year.

Besides, Microsoft’s Brad Smith warned of the challenges posted by the new technology to the future, including indiscriminate cyberattacks, which he called “a danger that the world cannot afford.”

He believed the only way to protect the future is to understand the threats of the present. To do that, companies and governments must stop exploiting data and share it in new ways, or the world would fall victim to the same problem that contributed to the 9/11 terrorist attack a decade ago.

He warned that the perils of new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) cannot be ignored. For example, facial recognition can be easily misused and machine learning could promote bias and discrimination.

“People around the world are looking at us and they want to know not just about our hearts, but about our souls… As we think about the decade ahead and about all the promise of AI, we have to think as well of the new guardrails we need to create, so that humanity remains in control of our technology,” he stressed.

“Technology has no conscience, but people do,” Smith said. “We must exercise our conscience. Every day we go to work, we must decide to use technology for good or ill. That is our challenge… and our responsibility.” Enditem

Published at Sun, 17 Jan 2021 04:18:45 +0000