Lights that talk to window blinds. Sprinklers that check the weather. The ‘Internet of Things’ promises to revolutionize our daily lives, but only, MIT professor Neil Gershenfeld argues, if our appliances are connected to each other via an open framework like the rest of the Internet—not hindered by proprietary systems. Scott Jenson, an interaction designer at Google, adds that building smart technology that understands the whims of its unpredictable human owners is a harder challenge than it appears.