Get the latest tech news

Living with the ghost of a smart home’s past

The old owner never quite disappears.

Slowly, over weeks of tech support calls and hours digging through shockingly deep coat closets, we learned that while the old owner was gone, his digital ghost remained. It refused to be connected to their Nest account alongside the cameras also left behind, which meant that every night at midnight, the heat would turn on, eager to roast a long-gone homeowner and send my sister-in-law down three flights of stairs to fix it. Do you want to spend half the day freeing all those Hue bulbs from their obnoxious and broken recessed light housings, or do you want to leave a potential gift for the next homeowner and get started on nesting in your new place?

Get the Android app