This is the Miniserver. This is the bit you don’t see, but the bit which saves you up to 50,000 tasks a day.

Imagine walking into a room, and with no input the room is exactly how you like it. The lights have automatically come on to a favourite lighting mood, the temperature is at your perfect setting, the background music is your favourite soundtrack, and the blinds have adjusted to stop the direct sunlight as it dips below the horizon.

You haven’t lifted a finger, no shouting at a smart assistant, your “real smart home” knows exactly what to do and when to do it to be as unobtrusive as possible.

When you leave the house, a simple gesture to the switch by the front door means your house knows you’re away. The lights switch off, the heating reduces to a background temperature to save energy, the ventilation returns to trickle, and the blinds and curtains are back to automatic. The security system is now armed, a last minute notification warns you the garage door is open, and the lights have reverted to simulated occupancy to ensure your house appears as it always does to passers by to keep opportunist thieves at bay.