Its even scarier when someone takes one of your IoT devices and intends to harm you. Like making your fridge's ice maker flood your house. They talked about this at Defcon 24.
I think it is silly. You think it is silly, but people will buy this crap. They think apps will solve their problems.
It's really more than sufficient to me. In fact, with everything else I have going on, I don't need my refrigerator texting me whenever it thinks it deserves my attention. That would actually be inconvenient.
Then, there's this hidden cost of the purported "convenience". More stuff updating, hacked etc. And, with the thousand other devices, now I have to spend time configuring what I want to manage, etc.
Reminds me of something I read years ago about the hidden costs of some tech. In one anecdote, subway riders were excited when A/C was installed on the train. Now, they could ride in comfort. What they didn't realize was the A/C exhaust heated the platform another 10 degrees or so, and they were actually less comfortable while waiting.
People with money to spend are choosing design, real estate (location over structure), experiences and food.
It's an arms race, and we measly individual consumers with real life concerns that don't center around defending our psyche from nonstop sensory ambush stand a very poor chance.
In all seriousness, it could be a good niche market "not internet capable".
Alternatively, in the summertime they could crank up your heat and potentially kill any pets you have at home.
http://www.recode.net/2016/9/29/13099092/samsung-exploding-r...
What if you have wood floors? What if water shorted electrical devices? All of this could cost you thousands in repairs.
My main concern is these devices causing bodily harm
That's a good situation for mandatory safety codes (such as the FDA requirements for 2 physical interlocks on microwaves [1]).
[1] http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRS...