This is going to be a bit ranty, so be warned...
I think people in general are kind of dumb in terms of useful vs shiny.
When I first heard about Amazon wanting to unlock your door to prevent theft, my immediate response was roughly: "It'll be a cold day in hell before I ever give control of my home access to any company".
I then went on to describe what I WOULD do, and that is purchase a box with a lock on it, chained to something. But here's the thing. There are so many low-tech ways to solve this problem.
- The aforementioned box with a child-safety lock on it and a plate on the inside lid that immediately disables the lock and springs the box open.
- An alcove in the side of your house that does essentially the same thing as the box, but looks more like a mail slot but for packages.
- The same thing as above, only in your garage door.
What these things all have in common is that they're low tech and effective, which isn't the new shiny. People are so goddamned dumb about this stuff that they would rather string up cameras everywhere, or give control of their home access to a company and allow strangers into their home. It blows my fucking mind.
And so many people haven't picked up on the fact that Amazon didn't go for the low tech solution because it doesn't lock you in. Your local chinese restaurant can just as readily use that box as Amazon can, whereas, if they haven't already started doing it, they're going to start giving other companies access to those doors and charging for it. They're going to start charging the grocery store delivery service to open that door for them, and that delivery service is going to pass that on to you. You're literally going to be paying amazon to open your goddamned door.
I feel like a sane person in a sea of crazy.