In this April 2017 photo provided by GiveDirectly, GiveDirectly basic income recipient Irine Ogolla poses in front of her home with her son near Lake Victoria in Kenya. Hawaii is considering doling out universal basic income, where everyone gets a chunk of money with no strings attached. The idea has attracted supporters across the U.S. and elsewhere as technology leaders, elected officials and economists debate what our lives will look like when robots and machines take over more jobs that human beings have held for decades.

Most smart home devices, like smart light bulbs or connected door locks, are most useful when they're capable of communicating with one another. That's why companies like Apple and Google have developed their own respective "languages" for enabling these devices to stay in sync. But some argue that this interconnectivity hasn't completely solved the smart home's biggest issues. In order to get those benefits, consumers must choose one specific platform, like Apple's HomeKit or Google's Works With Nest, which could limit the choices they have when shopping for smart home products. Andy Rubin, the creator of Android and CEO of newly launched tech company Essential, is trying to change that.