When I envision the future of the smart home I see a gradual transition away from cold, hard, and clunky hardware towards a more playful, soft, and delightful aesthetic. A great example is a recent Google experiment called Little Signals: Little Signals explores new patterns for technology in our daily lives. The six objects in this design study make use of different sensorial cues to subtly signal for attention. They keep us in the loop, but softly, moving from the background to the foreground as needed.