The ultimate appeal of a smart home is the anticipation that one day we will have systems in our homes that have the intelligence to understand and predict our behavior, and adjust the environment to the users preferences, which it learns autonomously. This level of automation is currently impossible to do mechanically, making software the only viable option. Moreover, the days have long gone where a user has to fiddle with dozens of buttons to operate a system—in its place, we now have touch screens and tablets with adaptive and programmable user interfaces.
The ultimate appeal of a smart home is the anticipation that one day we will have systems in our homes that have the intelligence to understand and predict our behavior, and adjust the environment to the users preferences, which it learns autonomously. This level of automation is currently impossible to do mechanically, making software the only viable option. Moreover, the days have long gone where a user has to fiddle with dozens of buttons to operate a system—in its place, we now have touch screens and tablets with adaptive and programmable user interfaces.
In 1982, Alan Kay, a computer pioneer, said in a talk: “People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.” Some companies have found huge success in this approach, such as Apple. Microsoft is also moving in this direction with its Surface tablets and its acquisition of Nokia's mobile phone division.
However, it is easier said than done. “Hardware can mean so many things—processor, board, system plus accessories. To build an ecosystem, it can be very expensive and time-consuming, and it is certainly better to take a more evolutionary route, to bootstrap, leverage and to stand on the shoulders of giants,” said Wei-Chao Chen, co-founder of Skywatch. “Software improvements beget hardware changes, and vice versa. I think we are at the onset of smart home services, and software is the primary limiting factor where the battles would be carried out.”
Nick Evans, CEO of Tile, thinks it is worth it. In a talk at the 2014 International CES, Evan says: “It's very challenging to develop a product like [Tile], but at the end of the day, you have your teams working very closely together. If you can't do this mechanically, we'll figure out a way to do this in software; in software if that's going to be kind of clunky to set it up, we'll put a button on [the device]. We'll make the button very hard to see on the Tile, but it's actually still there.
“This is the direction everything's going: to not have everything so modular, to not throw stuff over the fence and have this integration. It's the only way you can really build fantastic, magical products that just work. It's definitely worth it at the end of the day,” Evans added.
Touch panel vs. Smartphone app
It was only a few years ago that integrators and end users needed a dedicated touch panel to control home automation systems. Apple's introduction of the iPad and the subsequent explosion of tablets has made it much more affordable to add a touch screen panel to a home automation system. They are also much more convenient due to their support for general purpose computing and multitasking capabilities.
However, users have also come to expect certain standards when it comes to user interfaces. In terms of user experience, a good user experience goes beyond UI design. It encompasses hardware functionality and pleasing aesthetics to allow users to take full advantage of their devices in a satisfactory way. While gimmicks and eye- catching designs may attract users at first, it is not enough to retain customers.
“Good UI/UX is important for customer retention, and to attract customer attention. Good UI/UX can also reduce RMA and customer support loading. In short, very important. I don't think manufacturers are getting them wrong, just that they are not evolving quickly enough,” Chen said. “The only way to nail down UI/UX issues, we think, is to go directly to the consumers. Crowdfunded startups seem to be doing fairly well in particular because the successful ones learn to present their products in a consumer-friendly way, an essential factor in order to achieve successful funding threshold.”
“In terms of interoperability, for end users, an open API is often not relevant as long as the whole solution works well together. This means either a system integrator or a solution provider needs to create a workable solution for the customers. We see that it has become increasingly difficult for system integrators to provide such solutions because of technical complexities and UX considerations,” Chen continued. “That is why we think MVaaS or companies that can facilitate and package these solutions as products have higher values going forward. My view is, if you are providing solutions, an open API is often not necessary. On the other hand, for component suppliers (such as camera vendors), open APIs are usually unavoidable.”
.jpg)
Reaching for the cloud
There are obvious benefits to hooking up appliances to the Internet. An air purifier can pull data from the internet to inform users of what to wear and if they should worry about certain pollutants. Utilities can monitor energy and water usage to operate more efficiently. Users can control their appliances from wherever they are. Device makers can push updates to offer users new features. Limitless possibilities arise when connecting a home appliance to a vast jungle of data and information and also to other users.
For example, home security cameras benefit greatly from the ubiquitous connectivity and smartphones of today. The problem with traditional security cameras, both CCTV and network cameras, is that local storage is easily tampered with if the intruder knows where to look. Whether images are stored in an SD card on the camera or a hidden NVR or NAS, the intruder has the opportunity to destroy evidence. There are many cases where security footage was not able to assist in solving the crime because the intruder had already removed or formatted the hard drive or SD card, as is often the case for inside jobs, said David Lim, CTO of Weltin Global.
Having off-site backups is best practice for any type of data, but that option may be too much trouble or too expensive for some users. That is why cloud-enabled home security products are so attractive. In terms of security, all images are stored safely in the cloud, so users do not have to worry about missing critical moments due to hardware failure or tampering. Users can also view live video via apps on PC or mobile devices.
The dropping prices of cloud computing platforms provided by the likes of Amazon, Google and Microsoft has made it much easier for camera makers to offer users the option to backup security footage to the cloud, Lim said. Weltin builds its cloud services on top of the infrastructure of IBM and Google, which removes a huge burden in terms of up-front investment, as well as security and reliability.
“I see more pros than cons by using IaaS services to deploy cloud video services. It allows us to go to many markets faster than building our own infrastructure, and is therefore more cost efficient for fragmented markets in particular,” Chen said. “It could be marginally more expensive at scale, but at that point there is no real trouble switching to IDC or co-located solutions. There is no differences in terms of data security between using IDCs and IaaS solutions.”
.jpg)
Connectivity raises security concerns
As the number of connect devices in the home increase, and as they replace “dumb” devices that play a critical role in home safety and security, the security of these devices has become a pressing issue. The Edward Snowden revelations significantly grew awareness of government spying and issues regarding privacy in the digital age, but the problems go much deeper. Criminals and other parties with malicious intent now have a much wider playground with the multitude of connected devices. This was not a big deal before now, but the number of devices and the role they play in a home has increased the threat level exponentially. And it is only going to get worse. “Users demand the functionality. Users increasingly want more control over their devices, so turning traditional hardware appliances into IoT ones becomes a market trend,” said Frank Tse, researcher at Nexusguard. “Users also demand fast response and live data, which requires adding internet connection and turn the device into an always-on Internet client.”
Proofpoint, a security solution provider, found earlier this year that cyber criminals were using household IoT devices— including home-networking routers, connected multi-media centers, televisions and at least one refrigerator—to launch attacks. Belkin's WeMo line of smart home products were revealed to have vulnerabilities that left 500,000 users at risk. In March, researchers found that more than 300,000 routers were compromised by malware that modified DNS settings. The recent Heartbleed bug that affects some versions of OpenSSL defeats encryption. Just this month, Sans Institute researchers infected video surveillance DVRs with Bitcoin- mining malware.
“Bot-nets are already a major security concern and the emergence of thingbots may make the situation much worse,” David Knight, General Manager of Proofpoint's Information Security division said in a statement. “Many of these devices are poorly protected at best and consumers have virtually no way to detect or fix infections when they do occur. Enterprises may find distributed attacks increasing as more and more of these devices come online and attackers find additional ways to exploit them.”
Networking appliances and other devices is an old concept, but has not been implemented on a massive scale until recent years. Since security is often not a priority in the product development process, manufacturers are content running older versions of software, which may have known vulnerabilities or have weak security.
Users, however, are also at fault. “The security of smart home devices has so far been based on trusting manufactures, but users are the weakest link in security.” He recommends users to at least change the default passwords, turn off features they don't need, and configure their home router's firewall to allow access from trusted sources only.
Asked if it is good enough to rely on the goodwill of manufacturers to make more secure devices, Tse's response was blunt: “Never.” Whether it is due to a lack of understanding the risks, a lack of resources to implement adequate security, or sheer laziness, device makers clearly need to step up their game. “Manufacturers are recommended to turn off web-enabled features by default for some types of devices, such as refrigerators and air conditioners. This will make users aware they are turning on one feature of that device and the risks it may entail,” Tse said. “Manufactures are also recommended to do data classification and implement necessary countermeasures, such as encrypting data and storing it on servers rather than locally.”
Usability is key
Generally, consumers choose products that have an advantage in price, design, and usability, in this order, Chen said. “Usability comes later, and as it is the viral factor, I think it is ultimately the most important factor. To this end, price needs to go down to a certain level before mass market adoption, but the cheapest products almost never win, unless they have become obvious commodities.” Consumers are very cost sensitive, but a good design turns the game around, he added.