A Smart Home Neighborhood: Residents Find it Enjoyably Convenient or a Bit Creepy

In Black Diamond, Wash., Lennar Homes has built smart homes in a 4,800 unit development that also includes traditional homes. The company has made Amazon technology a standard feature in the homes it has built, which are also located in other parts of the country. The smart homes benefit Amazon as it encourages adoption of its smart home technology and services. Meanwhile, Lennar uses the smart homes to separate itself from competitors. However according to a Zillow survey, smart home technology is low on the list of desire home features. The technology provides a number conveniences for users, but some have raised privacy concerns associated with the technology. The Lennar Homes have several cameras that can provide video feeds of the exterior and interior of the home. Others leery of the technology have concerns about all the personal data collected by the users who occupy the homes. That data could ultimately be used to generate revenue for the companies that control it. | Read More