This $199 home air-quality gizmo will tell you to VOC right off

Pic "Air. It's all around you. Where you live. Where you work. Where you sleep. But what's really in it?"

So begins the video outlining an exciting new product, the Awair, that against all probability is actually a real thing, rather than a brilliantly executed spoof.

Pronounced "aware" but with the word "air" at the end, this internet of flings product has everything you could wish for:

• It requires yet more surface space (when will someone create an internet-connected table to hold all your IoT products?)
• It does things that other products in your home already do but not as well and at a much higher cost
• It connects to other IoT products for no discernible reason and with no practical outcome
• It provides wonderful sounding but ludicrously unlikely scenarios where your life will be improved
• It has its own phone app
• It's been given over $1m in funding by people who should know better

What the Awair does for $199 is monitor your air. And it will tell you what the temperature, humidity and CO₂, volatile organic compound (VOC), and dust levels are in your house at any given time. It will then text you if it sees anything worrying.

For example, say you are working and you are beginning to feel a little tired. Rather than having to use your own brain and open a window to get some fresh air, the Awair will measure the air and send you a text message warning you that CO₂ levels are higher than average and maybe you should go for a walk or open a window.

Hey! Why not go for a walk? Or open a window? Or leave me the f*ck alone?

Wellness

What's more, you can select one of six settings, including productivity," "wellness," "pregnancy," and "sleep," and the Awair will alert you when the air is not optimal for that particular state.

Unless, that is, you are both pregnant and asleep – in which case you're going to have to decide which one is more important. Of course, if you want to stay asleep, probably best not to choose "sleep" or you'll get text messages telling you to open the window.

The small-speaker-sized text message generation box will also connect up with whatever other IoT products you have lying around and bother them, as well. If for example, it finds very high degree of CO₂ in your house, it will inform the Nest smart smoke alarm, whose main job it is to detect carbon monoxide and smoke. Or if the temperature in your house is to high, it will inform your smart thermostat, whose main job is to measure the temperature in your home.

What about if it detects high levels of dust in the air? Well, it could inform your air filtration unit - whose main job it is to detect the level of dust in the air. Or – get this – what if it detects a high level of VOCs in your room? Well, it could turn your Hue light bulbs a different color and, if you happen to be in the room where the bulbs are at the time, then you would be able to say "hey, there's a high level of VOCs here" and then go do something about it.

There is no end of uses to this $200 text-messaging sensor. And perhaps with the next iteration of the Awair, the company will include something useful, like actual air filtering.

In the meantime, it may be worthwhile buying a CO₂ detector, smoke alarm, thermostat, and freestanding air filter. You can have the whole mess for about the same price as one Awair, although none will promise to "learn your lifestyle". ®

Youtube Video