Apparently we should have all eyes glued to the home management space over the next year. Verizon is the latest to jump on the bandwagon saying it will launch a “connected home service” in the near future for controlling functions like lighting, temperature, and home security automatically. Details are scarce, which makes me wonder if Verizon will initially just throw some IP cameras and machine sensors together as a solution, but certainly the operator already has a management portal for controlling other aspects of your FiOS broadband home.
Meanwhile, Verizon is far from the only company investing in home management. Dave wrote about Blake Krikorian’s Crestron app only yesterday, and several big guys (Microsoft, Google, etc.) have already come at the problem from an energy management standpoint. As a veteran of home automation attempts earlier in the decade, I’m still a skeptic on how quickly consumers will jump on board with industry efforts. But hey, it’s gotta happen some time, right?