Home of the future?

I've recently been setting up my first smart home purchase- blinds that will close and open when programmed to keep heat out and let sunlight in for plants. This is so futuristic to me that I have been reminded of this fallow blog. 

These are the ikea Fyrtur. The inches of space left on the sides which seemed okay in the product photos, seemed different with light streaming in and when viewing at an oblique angle- I was able to see outside. I sent them back even though the marled gray is so beautiful. I swapped them for the Tredansen. The Tredansen blinds are nearly the width of the housing so they fill the window frame much better. At first I didn't like them but now they have faded into the background. 

Now my dreams have come true- sunlight wakes me in the morning, then a shade shields me from the hot morning sun, then the shades roll up all day for some nice fresh ambient light. I frequently think I have to change the configuration, only to see it is a slightly different weather or time of day than I thought and the blinds are still right on schedule. 

I enjoy tempering my experience with reading about when a technology was new. I recently saw a smart home on the show Columbo, which was set and filmed in the 70s- we have been hungry for this for a long time. But, the products are such a fact of life that I can't find breathless articles written with stars in the journalist's eyes. Well, that's not entirely true. I did find one that charmingly describes the smart home early adopters running empty pipes through all their walls so they would be ready for whatever new electronics got developed. Who would have thought it would come through the air?? 

Also though why does it take so much work on my part for it to come through the air. I realize I will need the router. I realize the blinds will need some receiver. And the remote, sure. But why also did I have to plug a disc into the router and a small guy (it is called a repeater, and it is like the plug part of a plug) into any outlet? I realize having me, the user, install the smart home app, Home Smart, on my phone, and teach it what all equipment I have, the names, the location in my home, and what I would like it to do is probably the best available solution for the most people. Maybe instead I could open and lower the blinds with the remote and after a few days it could start anticipating these times. Then as the seasons change I could use the remote again for a few days, training it anew.