蘑菇AV

The news: Even before the IFA 2025 show floor opens in Berlin, brands are flooding Europe鈥檚 CES with announcements pushing AI beyond PCs and phones into the smart home. Ambient intelligence promises proactive tech: Manufacturers unveiled ecosystems that link appliances, security, lighting, and entertainment鈥攗sing 鈥渁mbient intelligence鈥� to replace voice and app commands with proactive, intuitive service. Our take: The race to ambient intelligence shows where innovation is headed鈥攊nvisible systems that anticipate needs. But over-automation risks eroding consumer control and deepening dependence on walled gardens.

The news: Apple could soon renew its smart home and robotics plans with a slew of products. The hardware giant is planning an AI-enabled tabletop robot, per Bloomberg, a smart home camera, and a smart speaker with a display. This could all be accompanied by a major Siri upgrade built on large language models (LLMs). Our take: This could be Apple鈥檚 biggest ecosystem play since the iPhone. If successful, it could drive growth in a post-iPhone era, reestablish Apple in the AI game, and usher in a new era of home-based intelligence.

The broader perspective: Pressure from major retailers like Walmart, Target, and Home Depot has reportedly played a role in the administration鈥檚 shifting stance, with executives warning that current tariffs could lead to price spikes and product shortages.

Home Security Heroes. Integral Ad Science (IAS). Ipsos. Mashable. MIT Technology Review. NBC News. OpenSecrets. Reuters. Tech.co. The Associated Press. The Financial Brand. The Guardian. The Hill. The Verge. The Washington Post. TikTok. UNESCO. Valent Projects. Variety. Wired.

It鈥檚 the latest expansion of AI into the mainstream and could bring AI to millions of homes. The announcements at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) indicate that companies are productizing AI within consumer devices, moving beyond business applications.

While the tool boosts security camera convenience, Amazon must overcome past privacy violations to win customer confidence.

Apple uses safety and security to win over consumers. Birkenstock focuses on education, showcased through a three-part docuseries. And Taco Bell, with the help of Pete Davidson, apologized for 鈥渙ver-innovating鈥� its breakfast menu.

Ring Home Security: Security cameras are the focus of Amazon鈥檚 IoT strategy. Amazon continues to add Ring devices and features at a steady clip, releasing new indoor cameras, car cameras, and extended security features鈥攁ll in 2023. But it鈥檚 also integrating Ring more closely with AWS and Alexa. Ring retains a lead in home security.

Despite economic headwinds slowing growth, most smart home IoT device categories continue to gain users looking for increased capabilities.

The top three tasks that boomers Internet users find technology important for are managing money (cited by 73% of respondents), staying informed with current events (69%), and keeping their home secure (59%), per an October 2023 Razorfish survey conducted by GWI.

Lack of people and process training is the biggest obstacle to leveraging AI, cited by 42% of B2C professionals worldwide in a Twilio survey. Other barriers to AI adoption include security or compliance (36%), poor organizational processes (34%), and poor-quality data (31%).

So Amazon may want to see if they can each share from brick and mortar retail and I think they could build it around the home and garden category. Outdoor furniture could be popular during this. I also think Amazon has a lot of Greek flagship electronics for the smart home and protecting your home, security, ring doorbell, things of that nature.