Smart Home: triumphs and frustrations

[jaywalker]

I have had something of an epiphany over the last few weeks. The smart iPhone app things were one thing, but to be able to tell Alexa (Echo) to turn them off/on was something else. Setting heating and lights (and percentage dimmed lights) by voice, without having to find my iPhone is wonderful. Also being able to play music - and through my hi fi when 'dot' is released later this month (small wonder google is releasing something similar in November and Apple are 'working on it').

But I have some frustrations. I hope this thread may 1. act as a wish list 2. alert users to new products available.

I want to be able to ask Alexa to read my kindle books and do my shopping. Already enabled in USA, not here.

I need Alexa controlled blinds (so I can activate them from Mexico). Anyone know of a system that works?

To be able to turn garden watering (just a tap and a hose currently) off and on. Not a new irrigation system, just a controller between tap and pipe that goes on/off to voice command.

Where is my cat? (without the need for an enormous collar around cat's neck).

Why cannot I find an alarm or siren that goes off if powered ON? i.e. plugged into a smart plug. All such devices seem proprietary and linked to their own hub. I just want a machine that plays an alarm if the plug is powered ON. (the plug powers on with Hive if the window is forced open - so far I can just turn on a light!).

Can anyone recommend the best garden lighting system (no need for intelligence as will be turned on via smart plug).

Are there any motion-triggered cameras that can alert movement through windows?

Other needs to follow ...

[Burbage]

It's not just me, is it?

[Robert Poste's Child]

*selects dart, inserts into tranquiliser gun and releases safety catch*

[Seabag]

*opens bottle of wine at 08:37, and necks half in one go*

[PeckhamRose]

Gets up off chair and walks to window and opens curtains. Presses numbers on phone to speak to a mate. Gets up goes out for a walk up road speaks to neighbours and buys milk. I am the smart one in this relationship between me and any 'its'.

[TheArtfulDogger]

Asks alexa for best method for committing suicide after realising modern technology is scary

Alexa offers magma as a solution (less painful than biting dolls)

Blind Winged Angel comes to rescue

Duran Duran plays his orgasmatron in the background

Oh hang on realised I asked Alexa for science fiction not for suicide ... Bad pronouncation !

[jaywalker]

I feel like i'm in a school playground suddenly (where indeed I was bullied for my enthusiasms).

There are many posts where a similar response might be made (so many comments on things that are of no interest to me and which those expressing an interest strike me as stupid - probably the majority of threads in fact). But isn't the ethic that if you DO have an interest then it should be open to others? Ridicule just closes the thread down. Of course it MIGHT be that NO ONE is interested in the internet of things - in which case I am solipsistic and the ridicule is appropriate. But the hundreds of millions of pounds being invested in smart-home tech would suggest otherwise.

if you think a post is irrelevant, of no interest, or simply an artifact of an obsession, then better to ignore it than cast scorn?

For sure I'll take my enthusiasm elsewhere.

But as a parting shot: I remember that the CEO of IBM once said we'd only need 5 computers in the world. That where I worked (30 years ago) said computers were of no use to the organisation. That when I suggested networking them might be a good idea they laughed at me. That the internet was thought to be a superfluous technology (we already talk to each other WITHIN the organisation so why this?). That wifi would probably cook our brains. That the internet of things is just a gimmick. It isn't.

[Robert Poste's Child]

Think it was teasing rather than pouring scorn, Jaywalker. To be honest your post was so, how to put it, high-altitude that I wondered if you were being satirical or had had quite a bit to drink. Each to their own, I guess.

[Burbage]

jaywalker Wrote:

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> That the internet of things is just a gimmick. It

> isn't.

Indeed it isn't. And nor is Donald Trump.

But I would, respectfully, suggest that information about your devices, including your alarm systems or lack of them, might better be got from the vendors or from separate, dedicated forums where, perhaps, you haven't shared information about your economic status or where you live.

There you will find answers to almost everything. Almost everything, that is, except the cat - if it won't wear a collar, you'll just have to buy it a phone. Raspberry Pi features heavily in those answers, I guess because the vendors have no interest at all in making things interoperable, and that seems to be what you're after. The Raspberry Pi is a bit of a learning curve, admittedly, but once you've got the hang of it you'll be hollering at your taps in no time.

Finally, it might be worth examining why the vendors are investing so many millions in 'smart home' tech. A big reason seems to be 'frictionless' e-commerce. The first stage in that was turning computers from configurable multi-purpose communication machines into pocketable store-fronts, where you can do anything you want for only a few dollars a time. Now they want to do that to your home.

[nxjen]

This explains why many (most?) are not enthused about smart homes

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/12/english-man-spends-11-hours-trying-to-make-cup-of-tea-with-wi-fi-kettle

[JohnL]

nxjen Wrote:

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> This explains why many (most?) are not enthused

> about smart homes

>

> https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/12

> /english-man-spends-11-hours-trying-to-make-cup-of

> -tea-with-wi-fi-kettle

We won't choose though - it'll creep up on us - not using Alexa though :).

Devices connected to the internet in my flat: phone, tablet, xbox, ps3, tv, laptop. If I re list this in 5 years how many will be even if it's just for remote querying of a device if a problem happens - once they're on the internet central contol evolves anyway. IPv6 is the key probably.