The Future of the Connected Home

Continuum LLC. Proprietary & Confidential.
The Future of the
Connected Home
Kevin Young
SVP Product Experience
@KevinYoungR
The Technological, Cultural, and Business
Shifts Impacting IoT and the Home

Technology is evolving at
a fascinating pace. The
current six living
generations on our planet
have witnessed
advancements in
technology that are
unprecedented.
This image is a recently
filed patent by Amazon.
It shows an AFC
(Airborne Fulfillment
Center) floating 45,000
feet above the ground
and Unarmed
Autonomous Vehicles—
drones—delivering
ordered goods in nearly
real time. This is just a
patent, so who knows if
the AFC will ever come to
fruition. But it does give
us a window into what
one of the world’s most
innovative companies is
thinking about.
2Continuum LLC. Proprietary & Confidential.
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/drone-delivery-flying-blimp-fulfillment-165934556.html

47 percent of U.S. jobs
could be automated
within the next
two decades.
Oxford University study
3http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/future-of-employment.pdf Continuum LLC. Proprietary & Confidential.

Oxford University studyhttp://imgur.com/gallery/jV8L20Q
This is recently released
video of the Handle
robot from Boston
Dynamics. It can travel
at nine miles an hour,
jump four feet vertically,
and lift 100 pounds. It
accomplishes this by
combining the ability to
move on both wheels
and legs.
Robotics are rapidly
evolving. How will this
continue to impact jobs
that require physical
labor? And then, of
course, there is machine
learning. What will
happen when computers
can do our jobs better
than we can?

Meanwhile, we humans
are experimenting on
ourselves. This picture is
a person implanting a
RFID chip beneath their
skin. Body hackers
embed electronics into
themselves for fashion,
experimentation, and
function.
Access to information is
getting closer and closer
to our physical bodies.
Isn't it inevitable that our
search engine will soon
be embedded in us?
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rfid_implant_after.jpghttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RFID_hand_1.jpg

https://www.flickr.com/photos/campuspartybrasil/6843216937
Neil Harbisson is color
blind and convinced a
doctor to implant a
camera in the back of his
skull that allows him to
“hear” colors. The camera
detects the dominant
color in his field of view
and translates it to audio
signals.
We are living through an
extremely exciting time as
sensing, monitoring, and
data assessment are
transforming our lives. It
is exciting, but I will admit
that it’s also potentially
frightening. I have three
children, and I wonder
what their world will look
like.
As with most new
technologies, there are
tremendous possibilities
but we haven't yet figured
out how to align their
potential with human
values.

IoT
The Internet of Things is
an amazing opportunity
to create an ecosystem
of products and services
that work together
seamlessly to improve
our lives.
However…

IoT?
… we aren't there yet.
Many of today’s IoT
products and services
are pushing technical
capabilities because they
can—not because they
should. We will figure this
all out, but it might take a
while.

https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/04/griffin-connects-your-toast-to-your-phone/
We certainly saw this at
CES this year. Do we
really need an IoT
toaster? Is it important
to use our smartphone
to set the desired level
of toast darkness and
have it inform us when
the toast is ready?
I applaud the effort, and
the people who created
this product are, in
many ways, ahead of
their time. However,
many have questioned
the human need for an
IoT product such as this.
These companies are
helping us figure it out
as we live through this
process of natural
technology selection.
They are helping us
advance and evolve our
technological species.

And, even when we do
get this right—when we
create something with
great technical
capabilities that
addresses true human
needs and values—
there can be other
challenges.
10
https://storage.googleapis.com/madebygoog/v1/banners/home_banner.jpg

Two-thirds of consumers are
worried about their technology
eavesdropping on them.
Gartner survey 11
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3177317/internet-of-things/consumers-are-wary-of-smart-homes-that-know-too-much.html
https://storage.googleapis.com/madebygoog/v1/banners/home_banner.jpg

And technologies such as
virtual reality are
challenging our behavior
patterns and social
norms. As humans, we
are fascinated by the
technical possibilities but
struggle to understand
how it can fit
meaningfully into our
lives.
12https://static.pexels.com/photos/166055/pexels-photo-166055.jpeg
So where do we go from
here? How do we
harness the potential of
the exciting and
concurrently frightening
opportunities that
technology is offering
us?

I consider myself very
lucky that my job is to
help figure this out. Help
understand how to align
human needs and values
with the technology
solutions that exist
today, and that we
anticipate to exist in the
future. My job is to help
humanize technology.

Backcasting
TIME
IMPACT At Continuum, we
accomplish this through
a process we call
Backcasting. This
approach helps
companies break away
from the incremental
innovation can happen
when pushing
technology without
sufficiently considering
human values and
needs.

Backcasting
TIME
IMPACT If you understand the
needs of consumers
and don’t limit
yourself to considering
the technical
capabilities of your
current organization,
you can think more
ambitiously about the
ideal state of your
company and its
offerings.

Backcasting
TIME
IMPACT From there, you can
Backcast a pipeline of
that are on the
trajectory toward this
ideal state. This allows
near-term wins that
are closer to the
capabilities of your
current organization,
but also deliver
greater benefits and
therefore impact for
people.

Future of Family Future of Education
Future of First Response
https://www.flickr.com/photos/changereality/6370807801/
Future of Dying
Continuum has applied
the Backcasting
approach to a wide
variety of challenges,
taking on ambitious
national and global issues
such as the future of
parenting, education,
first respoonse, and even
death. What role can
emerging technologies
play in addressing these
topics and creating a
better world for us all?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Boston_Marathon_explosions_(8652948903).jpg

Future of Family
Future of Family
An example of a recent
Backcasting project is a
partnership with Fisher-
Price to think about the
advancements in
technology that can
support early childhood
development.
For over 85 years, Fisher-
Price has been creating
that help families with
ECD–the social, physical,
and mental
developmental needs of
children. What role can
and should technology
play in supporting this
mission?

If you are a parent, you
know about screen time.
I mentioned that I have
three young children, so I
live with this tension
every day. We feel guilt
that screens are helping
raise our children. They
limit social and physical
development. And it's
unknown what long-term
exposure does to us.
At the same time, the
digital world offers my
children awesome
educational potential—
far more than I am able
to provide. Can we find a
way to emphasize the
benefit of this digital
exposure while reducing
the downside?

It’s exciting to imagine
the potential health
benefits that new
technologies can offer
parents and families.
Given the challenges of
childhood obesity and
diabetes, monitoring the
nutrition and activity of
your children has
tremendous benefit. But
no one is doing this yet.
Why not?

“The future
smells like
wood.”
DAVID ROSE
To help Fisher-Price
envision this future state,
we spoke with thought
leaders and subject
matter experts in the
areas of child
development, technology,
and social/cultural
behavior.
David Rose, an innovator
and a pioneer in the
Internet of Things field
and author of Enchanted
Objects, inspired us by
sharing the untapped
potential of meaningfully
connected experiences. At
the same time, he
reminded us to avoid
becoming enamored with
overt demonstrations of
technology. He noted,
“The future smells like
wood. ” David believes
that tech will become
increasingly invisible,
seamlessly fitting into our
lives without interrupting
our natural behavior
patterns.

We explored the
emerging technologies
that could be most
relevant to this initiative.
Magic Leap is developing
technology which
projects an image
directly onto your retina.
This tricks the brain into
thinking the image is
being seen in real life.
Their work is highly
secretive so they haven’t
revealed specifics of the
technology. And skeptics
are questioning the
validity of their
technology. But I believe
they might be on to
something. As of
February 2016, they were
valued at $4.5 billion and
have received funding
from Google, Qualcomm,
and Alibaba.
https://www.magicleap.com/#/home

Imagine how this type of
immersive and
contextual experience
could evolve the world of
education and how
parents approach raising
children.
https://www.magicleap.com/#/home

http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/02/27/sonys-concept-projector-becomes-xperia-touch-e1499-price-tag-details-announced/
Magic Leap’s
holographic-like images
might not become fully
realized but, on the
trajectory to that ideal
experience, Sony just
announced the release
date for the Xperia Touch
projector. Images are
projected onto any
surface and cameras can
detect and respond to
interactions with the
content. Solutions such
as this will help break the
screen time paradigm
and the isolation that
exists with human-to-
screen interaction. It can
open digital experiences
to be more socially
interactive.

Core values don’t expireCore values don’t expire
When embarking on a
“Future of…” initiative
(or, for that matter, any
innovation project), it’s
critically important to
not lose track of people.
Millennial parents don’t
share behavioral
patterns or attitudes
with their Gen X or
Boomer parents.
However, I believe core
parenting values don’t
expire. 50 years ago,
parents wanted to raise
strong, healthy, resilient
children. And I predict
that that will remain
true 50 years from now.
With this in mind, it was
important to avoid ideas
that compromised the
human element of
parenting.

With this learning in
mind, we began
envisioning ideas that
would leverage our
research of applicable
technologies and
consumer needs. For
example, we imagined
an e-textile blanket that
felt like a normal blanket
but could measure the
baby's body
temperature—changing
color to alert parents if
the baby was developing
a fever.

Another idea was to
capture memories. Many
families mark their
children’s growth on a
wall in their home. What
if this tradition could be
augmented by a
“memory tree” that
would capture these
milestones? Parents
could even dial back
time and see pictures
and sounds or videos of
their child at different
ages.

The culmination of this
initiative was a short film
that premiered at SXSW
2016. The film follows a
day in the life of a family
5-10 years in the future.
Technology is seamlessly
working for the family—
enabling and augmenting
the parents’ ability to
support the development
of the social, mental, and
physical needs of their
children.
The Future of Parenting

29Continuum LLC. Proprietary & Confidential.CLARA
MATTEO
FRANK
The Sleep Ring
A ring by the parents’
bedside monitors the
depth of sleep for all
family members by
commutating with their
e-textile clothing. When
the baby is about to
wake, it notifies the
parent in lighter sleep and
wakes them—before the
baby wakes everyone in
the house.

The Owl and
Friends
In the film, Clara builds a
physical felt owl, and it’s
digitally transmitted to
their at-home 3D fabric
printer. Later in the day,
she brings her owl into a
Digital Grove–a virtual
playground that was
created by her and is
activated by the
proximity of the owl.
That night, when
preparing for bed,
Clara’s mom reads her a
bedtime story in what
looks and feels like a
normal paper-page
book, but each page
comes alive with events
that happened in Clara’s
day—including the
friend that she created
that morning.

Window to the
World
This is a digital window
that augments the
natural environment. By
engaging with objects
seen in and through the
window, Clara and
Matteo can activate an
educational experience
tailored to their specific
ages. They see a bird
outside and point to it,
activating educational
content specific to that
animal and their learning
needs.

Enhanced
Learning Toys
Later, Clara and Matteo
are playing together
with the Rock-a-Stack,
a classic Fisher-Price
learning toy. Matteo
places the last ring on
top and, to celebrate
this achievement
milestone, the bird that
he earlier saw in the
window appears through
a digitally projected
image. In addition, when
the rings are stacked in
the correct sequence, it
unlocks the next level of
educational play
complexity by revealing
a puzzle on the outside
of the rings. In this way,
the toy grows with the
child and responds to his
developmental stage.

Smart Nutrition
Tray
As food is placed on the
nutrition tray, it detects
the type of food and
informs the parents of
the food group,
nutritional value, and the
percentage the child has
consumed toward her
daily goal.

`
Memory Tree
A digital Memory Tree
acts as the hearth of the
home. It captures
meaningful data as
events take place
throughout their day.
When Matteo takes his
first steps, the house
recognizes this
important event,
captures it through
video, and saves it to
the Memory Tree.

Memory Tree
This tree acts as a
digital growth chart for
the family, recording the
children at different
ages and taking a photo
or video to be viewed
later. Parents can
rewind time on the
growth chart and view
pictures and videos of
their children at their
recorded growth stages.

Advance to the next slide
to see the Future of
Parenting film created by
Continuum and Fisher-
Price.
The Future of Parenting

Future of Family Future of Education
Future of First Response Future of Dying
Continuum has worked in
a variety of categories
and project challenges.
We've encouraged our
clients to avoid the
temptation of pushing
technology solutions that
don't deliver on true
human needs.
But what else have we
learned from these
projects? Although these
projects are very
different, we’ve seen
themes that we have
started to collect. And
we don't just look at
these themes as trends.
We feel that these
business, cultural, and
technology trends
combine to form greater
shifts that we should be
aware of.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Boston_Marathon_explosions_(8652948903).jpg

WE IDENTIFY TRENDS

THROUGH A CULTURAL,
BUSINESS, AND
TECHNOLOGY LENS

TO UNDERSTAND THEIR
INTERSECTIONS

AND THE MAJOR
SHIFTS TO COME

SHIFT ONE

https://www.flickr.com/photos/54815908@N00/8035615003
culture
MODULAR
FAMILY
MODULAR
FAMILY
Parenthood is no longer a
given, and if you decide to
do it, there’s no wrong (or
right) way. Being a parent
is less of a life stage and
more of a personal project
(among many projects).
We are seeing a proliferation of
parenting arrangements—gay couples,
older parents, intentional single parents,
cohabitation, and multi-generational
families where a grandparent is the
primary caretaker. Millennials are living
the idea of “it takes a village,” seeking
out their friends to help teach their
children and impart different qualities
and skills they don’t posses.
For those who do have kids, it is a
chosen project, not an expected life
stage. Having kids is less defining and
all-encompassing, especially for
women, who share responsibility with
partners and friends. Having babies
later in life means less willingness to
give up as much of established life. The
economy means it’s also harder to
dedicate to being a parent full time.
Not being defined by parenthood has
big implications on the stuff you buy for
your kids. How can all these things not
scream, “This is my entire life!” right
now? And having all these parenting
arrangements means that kid gear
needs to be incredibly easy to use.

SWARM
DEMOCRACY
business
http://michaellorinfriedman.com/political-rallies/
Being a consumer is a
political act. Where you
spend your money on
what is a reflection of
your values. People are
thinking critically before
opening their wallets and
their opinions online to
fellow consumers and
companies, who are
closely listening (and
beholden).
Millennials are the first generation in
U.S. history who will have less money
than their parents.
They have less money and less space
for stuff, so when they do buy stuff, it
is more precious. And as they see
things like Super PACS, and feel more
impotent in the political process,
being a consumer is an arena where
they have influence.
So they think hard about what they
are buying and crowdsource. Thanks
to the flatness of the internet, they
know a lot more about companies and
their process and have more of a
voice than ever before.
With this transparency comes
accountability. Companies can’t get
away with as much.

REAL-TIME
EVERYTHING
technology
http://www.health24.com/Medical/Skin-cancer/Melanoma/Melanoma-20120721
Answers and information
are accessible at all times
thanks to personal tech
and “Dr. Google.” We
don’t need to do upfront
research and our
expectation is that what
we need to know is
accessible wherever and
whenever.
Information is everywhere. On the
train to work in the morning, you can
research that odd-looking mole on
your back. Take a picture,
crowdsource the problem…where is
this headed?
Cyberchondria is a thing. We are
making ourselves literally sick with
worry as we self diagnose through
online research. One in 20 Google
searches are health-related.
Last year, Google modified their
health-related search functionality.
They recruited consulting physicians,
and experts from Harvard Medical
School and the Mayo Clinic, to evaluate
the medical conditions that appear in
patient searches. Through a new
algorithm, Google will cross-reference
symptoms with what it deems “high
quality medical information” to
present a more balanced search
result.

technology
business
culture

LIFE
AMPLIFIED
t he shif t
LIFE
AMPLIFIED
Our lives online hold just
as much weight as our
“real lives.” For young
kids, the distinction is
becoming increasingly
blurred. What do our
data trails say about us?
How can parents help
their children navigate
this landscape?
People today are capturing,
documenting, and sharing their lives
in real time. Millennials value
experiences over material things and
the best way to preserve and profit
from fleeting, intangible moments is
to freeze them.
Millennials tends to look at their lives
online as productions, illustrating
their brand.
Gen Z, which grew up on the internet,
however, has a very natural way of
existing online. Their digital selves
don’t differ from their offline selves.
This is largely due to the quantity of
their output (they Snapchat more
than 10x a day).
Additionally, as social media
platforms are evolving, Facebook
encourages users to think of their life
as a narrative with a timeline,
whereas Snapchat forces non-linear,
in-the-moment expression.

SHIFT TWO

culture
DESIGN
YOUR
IDENTITY
DESIGN
YOUR
IDENTITY
Identity is no longer
something assigned to you;
it’s something you discover
along the way. With this
approach to self, products
need to accommodate this
fluidity. This translates to
the utmost simplicity, or
total customization.
Early life no-gender zone: Your boys
may want to wear dresses, but don’t
jump to conclusions just yet. They
reside in a place where gender is fluid
and they are free to play.
Transhumanism: We’ve been hacking
our bodies for a long time now (glasses
to contact lenses) and it’s just about
to get more intense (RFID chips).
What’s next?
People are beginning to create
personalized diets for themselves as a
way to assert their individuality.

VIBRANT
WELLNE$$
business Health is no longer just
about making sure you’re
not sick (retroactively), it’s
about being vibrant
(proactively). This extends
to your mental health and
happiness.
Wellness is the next trillion-dollar
industry.
Food as medicine: Under the umbrella
of the preventative health movement,
recognition of how much non-food
items are in our food, and becoming
acutely aware of ingredients lists and
food labels, people are questioning
what does organic really mean?
Healthcare in its current form (aka
emergency care) is really expensive
and pushing people and insurance to
increase preventative care–mostly as
a cost-saving measure.
Our optimal self–whether healthy,
balanced, fulfilled–doesn’t come
cheap. From boot camps, retreats, and
green juices, to reliable health
insurance, quality child daycare, and
credible education: access to who we
want to be requires time and money.
But it’s something we’re willing to
invest in. So how will companies help
us feel, do, and look good?

MACHINED
CHOICE
https://www.forbes.com/sites/theopriestley/2015/07/02/is-this-a-killer-robot-uprising-hardly/#3540d4da2396
MACHINED
CHOICE
technology Machine learning >
selection/choosing >
shopping. What was
originally 1,000 choices is
whittled down to three,
curated for you by your
digital trail of choices and
behavior data points.
As jobs are being taken over by
robots, whether that’s at the
checkout at CVS or at a factory
in China, humans are being
pushed out. This means we have
to juggle more, and adapt an
agile approach to our careers in
order to stay hirable.
What exactly can be outsourced
to a robot? What is essentially
human?

technology
business
culture

AUTO
COLLABORATION
http://www.tested.com/tech/robots/536762-10-incredibly-charming-home-robots/item/pepper/
t he shif t
AUTO
COLLABORATION
Robots… are they friends or
enemies? Our POV: they’re
here to help and we control if
that’s friendly or not. We’re
figuring it out right now but
in the future, people will
understand roles better: their
own (what’s human: advice,
IRL relationships) and that of
the bots that will populate
artifacts/physical
touchpoints. We need to
learn what’s permissible and
secure first in order to curate
this collaborative
relationship. It’s a challenge
now: every time a poll is
wrong, fake news happens.
When a baby doll in Germany
leaks personal info, it’s a step
back. But bots do and will
help us to make the right
choices for us. We choose
from three instead of
thousands of choices.
Hopefully, bots make things
fun, too. Can wellness be
more fun instead of
stressful? Can robots helps
us find time to relax?

SHIFT THREE

GIRLS
ON TOP
culture
GIRLS
ON TOP
For the first time ever, the
majority of the American
workforce is female, and
younger women are
outpacing men in education
and salary. Yet women who
are mothers are struggling
to balance work and home
life. And though females at
top tiers of a company or
C-suite correlate with
higher performance, there
are only 20 female CEOs on
the Forbes 500 list (a
number that decreased
from last year). So how will
companies achieve parity
between men and women?
Only 4.2% of Fortune 500 companies
are run by women.
At home, fewer men are the sole
breadwinner.
IMPLICATION FOR HOME: At home,
roles are changing and will continue to
change. Right now, both parents are
learning to balance work life (a change
from previous decades). Paid work,
housework, and child care are no
longer gender-assigned. So how can
companies help ease and facilitate
these changes in how we define
gender? Hint: There is no traditional
“female” or “male.” They are
converging.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/5329025804/ 56Continuum LLC. Proprietary & Confidential.

COLLEGE
IS DEAD
business
COLLEGE
IS DEAD
Higher education today isn’t
preparing graduates for the
real world. Everyone agrees
it needs to change. The
question is: How? If college
is no longer a given, the
focus becomes how can
your kids’ education become
enriching to their personal
journies.
Going to college used to be assurance
of a good job, and thus a shot at a good
life. But with privatization of higher
education, tuition costs tripling, the
growing number of Millennial post-
grads who are unemployed, and the
ability to buy grades, the value of
college is under serious scrutiny,
especially by super-pragmatic Gen Z.
There is a huge skills gap in the
workforce spurring arguments for a
focus on STEM curriculum, vocational
programs, and apprenticeships.
Everyone agrees it needs to change.
Meanwhile, Gen Z have become
subscribers to “YouTube University,”
where they are learning from videos
instead of books.
So if college is no longer a given, the
focus becomes how can your child’s
education be enriching to their
personal journey? Does this mean we
no longer save for college? Does travel
become a new form of education, and
portability essential?
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Student_protest_march_past_Houses_of_Parliament.jpg

FEAR
OF TECH
technology Because this is a relatively
new territory, we’re still
scrambling to figure out how
to integrate personal tech
into our lives in a healthy
way. As the negative effect
of our modern, sedentary
lifestyles catch up to us, it
begs the question, did our
prehistoric ancestors have it
right?
Free-range kids: A parenting
movement, gaining in popularity, that
doesn’t succumb to the idea that kids
are always in danger, literally or
figuratively of falling behind
academically. Kids are allowed to range
freely and take time to do what they
want to do in order to figure out what
they love.
With the ubiquity of tech, going
outdoors has become a novel activity,
drawing kids out of their indoor world.
FEAR
OF TECH

59Continuum LLC. Proprietary & Confidential.https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Student_protest_march_past_
Houses_of_Parliament.jpg
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/5329025804/
technology
business
culture

OWN THE
JOURNEY
t he shif t
OWN THE
JOURNEY
A new economic climate has
led to shifting priorities and
expectations. Life becomes
an ever-shifting journey,
with unexpected twists and
turns, instead of a set, linear
trajectory determined by a
few choices made early on
in life.
Today, people and their stuff are taking
up less space. It’s circumstantial; we
don’t need as much and we can’t afford
as much. On top of that, there are
cultural changes afoot. People are
prioritizing experiences over material
things and looking to share items they
would formerly own (Airbnb, Spotify,
Zipcar).
The sharing economy means you can
experience multiple “lives” and opt into
things temporarily that used to be out of
your reach, like Airbnb-ing a fancy
apartment.
As education and work disperse from
expensive central campuses and offices
to digestible content created at any
given moment in the flux of daily life,
pop-up environments like WeWork will
lead to spaces like WeLearn.
We all want access to stuff without the
burden of ownership. We want the
convenience and fulfillment of owning,
we want things exactly where we need
and want it. On top of that, we’re living
and working longer. So how will
companies re-scale their offerings to
give us what we want, when we want it,
without burden? We want to own what’s
right for that moment.

61Continuum LLC. Proprietary & Confidential. 61Continuum LLC. Proprietary & Confidential.

Technology, cultural, and
business trends are creating
major shifts impacting our
world. And compelling
technologies will continue to
change our our world in
fascinating, and potentially
terrifying, ways that are
difficult to imagine. That’s
part of my job—to help
humanize technology,
determining how to leverage
technology in a way that will
benefit our most important
asset.

Thank you!
Kevin Young
SVP, Product Experience
kyoung@continuuminnovation.com
@KevinYoungR

The Future of the Connected Home

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