<
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/18/smart-home-v-dumb-home-technology-system>
"When the smart home devices Elly Bailey was expecting in the post never showed
up at her Gold Coast home, she was frustrated. As a technology reviewer, these
products were crucial for her work.
When she eventually found the cause, she had to laugh. It wasn’t a
sticky-fingered neighbour or a rogue delivery driver causing her to miss
parcels but her smart doorbell – the very thing she’d hoped would prevent
missed deliveries, and part of exactly the range of internet-connected devices
she was meant to be reviewing.
“It’s pretty funny,” says Bailey, 33, who goes by the handle @ellyawesome on
TikTok, where she has more than 1.1 million followers. She had been loving her
Google Nest doorbell up until then. She could see who was at the front door
from upstairs and speak to delivery people through her phone while she was out.
But it had one obvious flaw: “When someone presses this doorbell, all it does
is send a notification to my phone.” She says this feature is “great” when
she’s out but without a telltale chime she was missing deliveries while at home
and away from her phone. She complained about this to her followers in a clip
that has been liked more than 1,400 times.
“The crazy irony is the doorbell itself does make a little ding-dong sound when
you press the doorbell button but it’s only loud enough for the person at the
door to hear it,” she says."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
