The smart home has long been a dream. Think of how much simpler, easier – cooler – it would be to have a personal assistant help you manage all the daily chores, everything from raising the temperature to locking the doors. Just a few more little things you’d no longer have to think about. The poster child for bringing this connected vision to reality is Nest, the home automation company that burst onto the scene a few years ago and was soon acquired by Google’s parent company, Alphabet. Led by Tony Fadell, the man behind the iconic iPod, the tech sphere had high hopes for the company. But the company is failing, and with it, so too is the idea of a smart home.