The smart home revolution is well and truly underway, with big name products like Google Home and Amazon Echo hitting the shelves in time for the holidays. Before you go out and splash the cash on a bunch of connected tech, though, read this cautionary tale involving a geek in Hove and his Wi-Fi kettle.
It appears we’re not quite at the point of ‘plug and play’ when it comes to smart homes just yet, as one geek learnt during his 11 hour struggle to make a cup of tea with a Wi-Fi-enabled kettle.
Big data specialist Mark Rittman tweeted his brewing odyssey (H/T Guardian), which started early in the morning and concluded shortly after a series of spectacular Joe Hart saves bailed England out against Slovakia.
https://twitter.com/statuses/785751015517814784
https://twitter.com/statuses/785948666196553728
https://twitter.com/statuses/785981145007714304
The exact model of kettle wasn’t revealed, and it should be noted that the root of the problem seemed to be Rittman’s attempts to pair the kettle with the rest of his connected home set-up.
https://twitter.com/statuses/785893624672387073
In other words, the fault would appear to lie on the software side, rather than with the hardware itself, which isn’t really that surprising given connected home integration relies heavily on third-party support.
Perhaps it’s not time to turn out backs on modern era and go back to boiling water in saucepans and using BlackBerry phones after all?
Watch: Amazon Echo review
How smart is your kitchen? Let us know your experiences in the comments below.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.