Boy…That Face Rings a Bell…
Rumor has it that Ring is considering adding facial recognition, as well as other features like license plate reading, to its cameras – something that other brands like Nest already have (at least on some devices). As reported by Ars Technica, Ring fielded a survey to some beta testers last week to gauge potential interest in new features such as facial recognition, package protection, license plate protection, and visual and audible alarms, among others.
The NPD Take:
- Given the negative press that Ring has dealt with over the past several months regarding its privacy measures, these additions could be concerning to some. To others, advancements like these could be welcome as they improve the level of security that Ring products would provide. We believe that most consumers would not be put-off by these features, but rather welcome the addition (so long as there are options to turn them on or off at will).
Smart Speakers Get Smarter?
Smart speakers may one day not just react to our voice commands, but be smart enough to be context-aware and react to ambient sounds like a knock on the door or the beep of an oven timer. Listen Learner is currently a technology that exists only in the form of a research paper from Carnegie Mellon, but the paper describes examples such as the speaker recognizing a knock at the door and sending a smartphone alert…theoretically eliminating (just a tidbit of) the benefit of investing in a smart doorbell. The paper also says Listen Learner would come “pre-smart”, already recognizing a range of sounds, so consumers wouldn’t have to spend much time teaching the system.
The NPD Take:
- The value of having this device simply pinging your phone when the doorbell rings or the oven alarm goes off is semi-questionable for a broad consumer audience. However, if this contextual awareness can initiate routines for other connected devices (either with or without the additional intelligence of occupancy sensors), the value would increase.