Apple’s Smart Home Hub Might Be Able to Detect Your Emotions
Apple is no stranger to the smart home scene. They’ve had a Home app for a long time now, and it has a lot of (sadly untapped) potential. Now, they’re looking to tap into that potential a bit better with a new smart home hub. Amazon Echo better watch out!
According to Bloomberg, the device will be based around Siri, to which Apple has made numerous improvements over the years. The device is supposedly designed to “control appliances, locks, lights and curtains via voice activation.” Google is also looking to bring a smart home device to the market. Aside from maintaining their stance in the competition, Apple has another reason for creating new hardware: They haven’t done so since 2014 with the advent of the Apple Watch.
The device sounds great — however, it also sounds like it could be kind of creepy. Some of the prototypes currently being tested are equipped with facial recognition sensors. The device may act differently according to who comes into the room, but for that to work, that would mean that your Apple device would be constantly watching you to make sure you are still the same person. It feels a little like Big Brother, right? However, considering Apple’s firm beliefs in personal privacy, we think that it will only be used for good by the tech mogul. You may still want to be careful though, because hackers don’t generally have such squeaky clean morals.
As for a release date, Tim Cook said that he tested the iPad at home roughly six months prior to its release, so it’s possible we could see the new device in March, but the project could still be scrapped completely.
Would you buy Apple’s Echo-like device? Tweet us @BritandCo!
(h/t Tech Crunch; photo via Getty)