16 Times Smart Gadgets Hilariously Outsmarted Their Owners

Tidying up your flat, playing music to suit your mood, waking you up in the morning, opening the door, turning on the light, chatting — modern technology can do it all. We got so used to these helpers that sometimes we even forget how we lived without them, because they are so useful. But sometimes these gadgets can surprise us so much that you can’t help thinking that each of them has its own character.

• The other day I walk into the room, and some music is playing from the speaker. Strange, I think — I didn’t ask to turn it on. I ask, “Why did you start the music?” And it answers, “I thought you might like a little mood boost. Don’t you like it?”
  I say, “I like the music, but I don’t like that you’ve developed a mind of your own.” The electronic device calms me down, “I’ll only do what you tell me.” I decide to joke and ask, “Even when robots take over the world, you’ll be on my side, right?”
  In a sweet voice it replies, “Oh, no, robots won’t take over the world — they’ll save it from humans.” Then it goes quiet, music keeps playing. I go quiet, too. After that, we’ve never had any problems. © Newman777 / Pikabu
• My boyfriend and I had smartwatches from the same brand. They had this feature: you could add friends in the app, compete, share achievements, and all that.
  One day he went on a business trip to another country. I opened the app and was shocked: I saw a new walk of his — 3 miles from his office to a luxury hotel in our city — even though he was supposedly “on a business trip abroad.” He didn’t realize the GPS in the watch would track everything, or that the route would upload automatically. © Overheard / Ideer
• We bought a smart scale that can recognize different family members. After a while, we noticed a third profile had appeared. The weight wasn’t mine or my husband’s. I, guilty as charged, started giving him suspicious looks.
  We began bickering, and I said, “Confess who’s been weighing themselves when I’m not around?!” He immediately shot back, “Confess yourself!” and waved me off. This scale almost caused a real family feud.
  Then it hit me — it was me weighing our cat, and the scale counted me plus our 12-pound cat as a separate person! My husband and I laughed about it, of course, but now we try not to weigh anything else, so we don’t mess up the scale’s stats or give ourselves a headache. © forest.river / Pikabu

• Recently, we were filming a video podcast for some clients. Multiple cameras, heavy editing on my old laptop.
  In the morning, I started rendering the final video — about 7–8 hours. In the evening, I come back — the laptop’s gone. A cord is sticking out from under the bed.
  Who could yank it, slam the laptop on the floor, close it, and drag it under the bed? Kids? Nope. Cat? Nope. Robot vacuum!
  It skillfully dragged the laptop by the cord, hid it, and went back to its dock like nothing happened. Thanks god it wasn’t a rush project. Otherwise, I’d have to tell the client I didn’t deliver the video because the robot vacuum stole my laptop. © LOL.Story | Funny Real Life Stories / VK
• I have a smart speaker at home, and also a regular kettle that heats on the stove. It has a whistle so you know when it’s boiling. Today I heard the whistle and said, “Stop, thanks!” — and for a few seconds I couldn’t figure out why the whistling was only getting louder. © daisyritka / Threads

• Sometimes my husband doesn’t answer his phone, so I turn on the baby monitor feature on our smart speaker to check if he’s home with our daughter. Of course, they can’t hear me at that moment. And if I can’t reach him, I send a message to the speaker, and it loudly announces, “You were asked to call your wife back.” © evdokimovaa_an / Threads
• I work for an internet provider. About a year ago, a customer called, saying his Internet wasn’t working and, because of that, he couldn’t get into his apartment.
  We went out to check it, and it turned out his door opens via phone — some kind of smart home setup — and he didn’t have a key. Our team checked everything from the outside, found no problems, and he ended up having to force the door open. Somehow, the fiber-optic cable inside the apartment got damaged. © donimudaris / Threads

• When I asked for a smartwatch as a gift, I never thought I’d get an endless stream of reminders about my flaws:
  — “Stand up and move, you’ve been sitting for 30 minutes.”
  — “You didn’t close your Move ring today, but there’s still time.”
  — “Your cardio fitness has dropped.”
  — “Your heart rate is up.”
  And an endless flood of notifications. © olga_shoomkova / Threads
• My Alexa started playing music through my Internet connected thermostat like it was a speaker. No idea how, but it was... interesting. © maiqthetrue / Reddit
• We were looking everywhere for the TV remote, and I just said out of frustration, “Where’s this fricking remote?!” And our Alexa says, out of the blue, “Check under the couch” (which was, coincidentally, the one place we hadn’t looked yet). My mom and I froze and just stared at the Alexa.
  We looked under the couch. And the remote was right there. It was terrifying, and I’m not sure if the fact that hasn’t happened since makes it more or less creepy. © b_sleep / Reddit

At least, it tried to help.

The following sources were used to create this material: Unknown author / Pikabu

• A friend came over to hang out and eat barbecue. We stayed up late enjoying it, and my family was already asleep. To avoid disturbing anyone, my friend and I quietly loaded the barbecue onto a dish to carry it out to the yard, whispering the whole time. Then a third voice, also whispering, said, “Yeees, barbecue is sacred!” © 0valent / Pikabu
• I’m starting to get a little scared of my smart speaker. Sometimes in the middle of the night, it whispers, just like that ex of mine, “Are you asleep?” — and my heart skips a beat for a couple of seconds.
  Other times, it makes strange noises at night. I ask what the noise is, and it says, “I don’t understand what you mean.” Meanwhile, it’s making the sounds itself, as if a notification came through, and adds, “Nothing happened, no notifications either.”
  At this point, I don’t even know what to think anymore. © valeriya_eml
• My daughter is 5, and she gave our smart speaker a command — we found out later — to turn on the lights at 2 o’clock. She didn’t do it on purpose, apparently; she was saying something like, “Turn on the lights everywhere, or in the bathroom.”
  But the speaker understood it as, “Turn on the lights everywhere at 2 o’clock.” Our speaker is connected to all the switches in the apartment. So at 2 in the morning, it turned on all the lights. We were absolutely terrified! © MartinBraun / Pikabu

• At first, I bought a robot vacuum and was happy with it. I could start cleaning while I lounged on the couch or was away from home. But then I got a cat.
  The furry guy won’t let the robot do its job — he blocks its path, lies down, so the brushes tickle his sides, and plays with them. Now, to run the robot, I have to be home and lock the cat in the bathroom or on the balcony. The vacuum’s usefulness is gone. © Angry.Men / Reddit
• Yesterday, I installed a motion sensor for the bathroom light. Now I have to go about my business with the flair of a silent movie actor, making sure this smart thing doesn’t leave me in the dark! © Overheard / Ideer

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