By Gia Miller
Design by Aeneas Eaton
Remember The Clapper—that “smart home” device from the mid-1980s that didn’t always respond to claps but would absolutely turn your lights on/off when your dog barked or someone cheered on TV? Yeah, it was a nightmare. Although the device was redesigned and rebranded as the Smart Clapper in the early 1990s, that type of smart home technology is now considered archaic. And as technology continues to advance at a seemingly rapid pace, expect to see our current “genius” gadgets and devices (you know, the ones that respond confidently to the wrong command and still need to be unplugged and plugged back in) to join The Clapper in the smart home history books sooner rather than later. Because what’s coming is even better: a move toward homes that will essentially run themselves.
1. Lighting that knows you
“Having a light switch in the middle of beautiful wallpaper can ruin the whole aesthetic in a room,” says Tanya Tochner, owner of ROCKS Jewelry | Gifts | Home Design in Chappaqua and Scarsdale. “But with Lutron’s remotes or apps, there’s no more ugly switch, and you can control it all without getting up or even when you’re not home.” And that’s just the beginning when it comes to smart home lighting. “A two-way communication protocol for digital lighting control, called DALI, gives you the ability to set scenes in your home,” explains Tara Dietz, owner of Bedford Lighting & Home. “For example, if you’re entertaining in the evening, you can bring down the color temperature, intensity and brightness for every light in the room, and it’s all controlled through one app. Plus, it can be run through Bluetooth, so you don’t have to rewire your entire home. You just need the proper bulbs or fixtures.” Similarly, Lutron products also let you program wake-up/turn-down sequences that gradually raise or lower your shades. Or for those who wish lights would automatically turn on as they walk into a room, some can now sense your presence, keeping the lights on even if you’re not moving.
2. Forget the keys
“The big trend is to have front doors you can unlock with your phone,” says Ellen Schwartz, a real estate agent with Julia B. Sotheby’s in Bedford. “But I think people are a bit afraid of that because what if their phone isn’t charged, or there’s no power in the house? Do these locks have a backup system?” Schwartz’s concerns are valid, and there are some alternatives to traditional battery-powered smart locks. Lockin’s Aeon smart lock, available in face or palm vein recognition, is powered via a small solar panel the size of a remote control, while their new V7 Max, which features finger vein, palm vein and 3D facial recognition, is charged via a light source from a separate device plugged in nearby (if you do lose power, the lock itself has a built-in battery backup). So while you don’t have to change batteries or rely on your mobile phone, an imperfect source of energy is still required.
3. It’s all about you (and your spouse, and your kids, etc.)
“Biometric technology is not just coming into the home—it has already arrived,” says Schwartz. “The trend is moving toward technology that identifies you without having to actively touch anything. High-end security cameras can now tag specific faces. They don’t just alert you to motion. They alert you that Michael is at the front door.” And it goes beyond that. Your house will know you walked into the living room and activate your Spotify playlist, following you as you move throughout your home. It will enter “safe mode” so your toddler can’t burn themselves on the oven when they waddle into the kitchen, and it will even monitor your health, including your heart rate and respiratory patterns of a sleeping infant or an elderly parent—all without wearable technology.
4. Appliances that know you better than your doctor
Whether you want them to or not, major kitchen and bathroom appliances are getting even more personal. In the kitchen, refrigerators can now identify when food is running low or expiring soon, track what foods you do (and don’t) eat and make your grocery list. Samsung’s latest, part of their Bespoke AI Family Hub, features a touch screen with Google’s Gemini, so it can identify each item by brand and even give you recipes for the ingredients you have on hand. In the bathroom, appliances will be able to measure everything (and yes, we mean everything). “Smart toilets and bathroom apps are in development that use biometrics to track your weight, posture and even analyze your waste, identifying each family member and tracking their health metrics over time,” says Schwartz.
5. One singular ecosystem
Pop quiz: Can you name all the “smart” brands in your home—the ones that offer or require an app? How many home-related apps are on your phone right now? Wouldn’t it be nice if they were all controlled by one app? Enter Matter, a communication standard that, in simple terms, allows your devices to play nicely with each other. Launched in 2022 with brands like Amazon, Apple and Google, Matter is a universal language built into devices that allows them to talk to each other through your preferred home hub. (Amazon, Apple, and Google are the big brands, but there are others.) Currently, there are thousands of Matter-compatible devices that can be part of your home hub, which means you can control multiple devices at once via touch or voice command. And for older devices created before Matter, there’s something called a Matter bridge that allows many to work in your home hub. It’s what will make your house a truly smart home. For example, imagine you’re running late for work, so you tell your home hub you’re leaving for the day. As you’re pulling out of your driveway, your door locks, the lights are turned off, the thermostat switches to eco mode, the robot vacuum begins cleaning and the smart plug cuts power to the coffee maker just in case you forgot to turn it off. Now your only worry is getting to the train on time.
“We’re not quite there yet,” says Rob Capparelli, vice president of Entertainment Technology in Mount Kisco. “Siri will understand a command about 80 percent of the time, and after two or three tries, it’s just easier to type it in. The same goes for TV—sometimes it’s easier just to pick up the remote. But I think we will be there in the next three to five years.” So stay tuned, folks; the future is almost here.
This article was edited by Julie Schwietert Collazo and fact-checked by Isabella Aranda Garcia. We’d like to thank the talented artist whose artwork we purchased from Adobe Stock.
This article was published in the March/April 2026 edition of Connect to Northern Westchester.
Gia Miller is an award-winning journalist and the editor-in-chief/co-publisher of Connect to Northern Westchester. She has a magazine journalism degree (yes, that's a real thing) from the University of Georgia and has written for countless national publications, ranging from SELF to The Washington Post. Gia desperately wishes schools still taught grammar. Also, she wants everyone to know they can delete the word "that" from about 90% of their sentences, and there's no such thing as "first annual." When she's not running her media empire, Gia enjoys spending quality time with friends and family, laughing at her crazy dog and listening to a good podcast. She thanks multiple alarms, fermented grapes and her amazing husband for helping her get through each day. Her love languages are food and humor.
Aeneas Eaton
Based in northern Westchester, Aeneas is a graphic designer, creative and artist who has a fondness for print design and bold colors. He enjoys turning the wacky and eccentric ideas that come to his mind into reality, whether it be on the computer or through painting.
