Yahoo News Is this Britain’s smartest boat? Argos and Google team up to create a floating smart home to teach people about tech
Smart speakers are still on the up with a total of 26.1 million shipments across the world in the second quarter of 2019, whether that’s the cute Echo Dot speaker or Google Home Hub.
But do you actually know what to do with your device? According to research conduct by OnePoll of 2000 adults who own a smart home device, most aren’t taking full advantage of their gadget’s intelligent potential.
In general, most people use their devices to play music, find the weather forecast, and a whopping 35 per cent use it to tell the time. One of the best use cases has to be that 48 per cent of the OnePoll respondents have used it to resolve an argument. A worthy cause I’m sure, however, this is only scratching the surface of what smart home products can do.
If you want to get more out of your smart speaker than simply telling the time or resolving disagreements, then help is at hand. Argos and Google have teamed up to deck out a boat at St Katharine’s Dock in Wapping to show people how to use their smart home devices, from the Google Nest Hub Max to the Nest connected doorbell.
Open for today only, the public are invited to apply to take part in this nautical immersive experience which will offer a humorous lesson in how to connect up their home.
Speaking about the partnership, Chirag Shah, smart home Buyer at Argos, said: “We are thrilled to showcase all the amazing things that smart home devices can do and bring them to life in such a fun way for our customers. This immersive event is a fantastic opportunity for people of all ages to discover how truly helpful the Google Nest Mini can be, and we ‘anchorage’ everyone to explore just how connected their homes can become.”
To sign up to try out the smart boat, visit Eventbrite to apply. You'll be able to find it at 50 St Katharine's Way, St Katharine's & Wapping, E1W 1LA. There’s also a competition to win an overnight stay on the boat, complete with dinner cooked by a personal chef.
Showcasing the smart home tech in a domestic setting is one way the tech companies are trying to get people to understand and get used to how the devices work. In the past, Google has set up a smart home in John Lewis, as well as in apartments with the luxury home rental platform The Plum Guide, whilst this summer, Amazon kitted out some beach huts in Bournemouth with its tech that were available to stay in.
They have their work cut out, even more, this year, following a string of scandals which showed that human contractors were listening in to recordings taken by smart speakers in homes. In fact, in the US there was a 2.4 per cent decline in smart speaker sales in the second quarter of 2019, following several periods of sustained growth.
Showcasing the speakers and their usage with other smart home tech is certainly one way to attempt to repair their damaged reputations.
