That future would look something like this: Every day when you come home from work, the Echo (or something like it) will tell you when the mail man came by, how many times your heat or air conditioning turned on, and whether or not your kids finished the milk in the fridge. Then, when you're kicking off your shoes and changing into house clothes, you can preheat the oven, and turn on and change the channel on the TV in the kitchen -- all from your bedroom.