At present, I can't imagine ever wanting a "smart" blender. I've got a 15-year old Vitamix that still powers through my daily smoothies with gusto. I had to r

At present, I can't imagine ever wanting a "smart" blender. I've got a 15-year old Vitamix that still powers through my daily smoothies with gusto. I had to replace it's blade assembly, once. I can't imagine a smart blender remaining functional for anywhere near that long. However, I've also been hilariously wrong about tech before. For example, in the late 90's I heard about wireless network research. I didn't get it. What's so hard about plugging in a damned computer to ethernet? Now I have multiple wifi devices and not one of them is a desktop computer. The payoff for smart devices might be hard for us to imagine right now. The risks, on the other hand, are readily apparent. For example, a smart thermostat could be hacked into and your house's temperature set to something undesirable. For example, if it's winter and you're in a cold climate, turning the heat off completely while you're away could cause your pipes to burst. It's therefore important that we keep security and reliability in mind when making these devices, so that what we might gain isn't offset by a certain loss in reliability. Continuing with the smart thermostat as an example, it should probably not be possible to set it below 0 C unless you have physical access to the device, and it should probably raise some very annoying warnings even then. It's also important that "smart" devices remain functional for a time period comparable to their more traditional counterparts. We tolerate obscene obsolescence rates in cell phones, mainly because their capabilities are expanding so rapidly. People don't want to buy a new thermostat every couple of years. In fact, most people would expect a thermostat to last a couple of decades, even if it's "smart". That means designing them to last with standards that will be supported for a long time. In short, we might not see the upside to "smart" appliances just yet, but they could materialize. It is, however, important to insist on "smart" appliances that aren't too "dumb", nor should we accept appliances with short lives as a result of being "smart".