Smart homes felt fun at first, but after a while it became a daily irritation of yelling across the room just to execute a basic household task. Walking into a dark kitchen with your hands cupped and shouting, “Hey Google, turn on the kitchen lights” for the fourth time, because the speaker misheard you or lost its cloud connection really makes you feel like your smart home isn’t smart at all. This is why I ditched my Google Nest smart speaker.