Chances are, if you're reading this article, you have at least one smart home device in your household. After all, according to several studies on the topic, nearly half of U.S. households currently have at least one. From smart speakers and connected thermostats to light bulbs and video cameras, these gadgets have quickly moved from cutting edge to mainstream. If you have multiple smart devices in your home, you've likely discovered what's keeping much of the remaining half of U.S. households from buying their first one. It's hard to make them work together.

Do you live in a Smart Home? Can you control your lighting, heating, and electronic devices with nothing more than a smartphone? It's no secret that demand for smart homes and devices has gone from novelty to necessity. Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistants like Siri and Alexa have exploded in popularity and have been accepted into millions of homes. Many consumers have come to not only accept the help of these devices but have come to rely upon them. Can you even begin to imagine life today without social media, smartphones, or GPS systems?

AIoT, which refers to the integration of artificial intelligence technology and the Internet of Things in practical applications. Currently, more and more people have combined AI and IoT together. The field of AI and IoT integration has been hot in recent years. Whether it is the capital market or mass entrepreneurship, all have shown great enthusiasm for it. Since 2017, AIoT has become a hot word in the Internet of Things industry.

Various horizontal and vertical approaches exist for entering the IoT market. The debate about IoT market strategies will continue because of the bold projections for the IoT market. Unfortunately, hype leads to myth, and myth leads to confusion. Moving forward means taking a step back to look for clues about how the IoT market could evolve. Let's dive into a practical example from the Smart Home market to see how the future of HVAC systems is intertwined with AI and IoT.

AI will play a large role in the era of Big Data. We have no doubt because the future of HVAC reveals AI and IoT. The debate about IoT market strategies will continue because of the expansive, even wild projections for the IoT market. Unfortunately, hype leads to myth, and myth leads to confusion. Moving forward means taking a step back to look for clues about how the IoT market could evolve.

Apple's main claim to fame is a proven track record for successful products. But with its latest, the HomePod smart speaker, some analysts say its old formula for success -- going for the high end of the market and tightly controlling its ecosystem -- has let it down. Recent analyst reports suggest that the HomePod isn't selling well. Bloomberg reported last week that Apple even cut its internal sales estimates. While Apple hasn't released numbers on HomePod sales, it's expected to give some sense of the HomePod's sales in its next earnings report on May 1. HomePod sales are important to the Cupertino, Calif.

Amazon's Echo has long ruled the smart home market, but Google Home's recent updates make it a contender for the top slot. The smart home market is evolving faster than you can say "third-party device," and the competition between these heavyweight companies is good for your wallet. Understanding the pros and cons of each platform is essential, especially when integrating home security devices. When it comes to digital assistants, Google Home and Amazon Echo are the clear front-runners in the smart home market. Their platforms utilize voice controls and massive libraries of available skills, and both offer integration with a number of third-party devices.

Amazon's Alexa has made it onto a variety of platforms in the past few months and the virtual assistant will head into home TVs next. In a post Thursday, Amazon confirmed that Alexa will now be able to support home theater equipment like TVs and AV receivers natively. As part of these new functions, users can now call for Alexa to control functions like device power and playback. These skills can also be natively controlled straight from Alexa without having to go through a secondary skill prompt. At launch, the skills will be available on devices from Sony, Logitech and BroadLink.

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence IoT Briefing subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here. Nest is looking to improve the artificial intelligence (AI) and use of machine learning for its products, as indicated by the recent appointment of Yoky Matsuoka as the company's chief technology officer. Matsuoka, who previously cofounded Alphabet's X unit before becoming the VP of technology at Nest, will leave her current position at Apple to employ her expertise in AI and robotics for the company, according to Recode. This move will likely lead to Nest introducing the Google Assistant to its devices, better positioning the voice assistant within the competitive smart home market.

Predicting the future is more art than science, yet it's always an interesting exercise to engage in as a new year comes upon us. So with the close of what was a difficult, though interesting year in the technology business, here's a look at my predictions for the top 10 tech developments of 2017. One of the key metrics for the relative health of the tech industry has always been the measurement of unit shipments and/or revenues for various categories of hardware-based tech devices. From PCs, tablets and smartphones, through smartwatches, smart TVs and head-mounted displays, there has been a decades-long obsession with counting the numbers and drawing conclusions from how the results end up. The problem is, the lines between these categories have been getting murkier and more difficult to distinguish for years, making what once seemed like well-defined groupings become increasingly arbitrary.