2019 the year of things

5G connectivity is about more than hyper-fast download speeds to get you your movies and music faster than before. This innovation is about an “internet of things” that work together in your homes to add convenience and security to your life that you never thought you needed. But what are these things, how do they help you, and how can they do a better job of doing what they promise?

The current trend is toward voice-activated home assistants. Amazon’s Alexa, its sidekick Echo, Google’s Home Hub, and Apple’s Home-Pod are likely occupying space in your facilities as we speak. These devices are the entry point to the internet of things: typically no more intrusive than a small screen hanging on a wall or no bulkier then a cylinder tucked away in the corner of your kitchen counter. Furthermore, these devices are selling at a low enough price that they are wise investment for nearly everyone, and help with things like cueing up your favorite tunes, organizing to do lists, updating you on weather forecasts and traffic conditions, and enacting routines of simultaneous tasks with simple voice commands.

The capacity is there for personality-building on the part of these AI-guided devices; as of now, you can even play simple games with these assistants, but whether that’s awesome or scary is not up for debate.

The year 2019 is going to be filled to the brim with awesome things that will possess the ability to interact. Smart thermostats, like the Nest Learning Thermostat or the Ecobee3, can learn your habits and tendencies to heat your living space. What’s more, simple security cameras from Ring or even-full fledged security kits from Abode offer high definition video, the ability to customize motion triggers, and program a series of events to happen when an unfamiliar presence is detected.