Hey to say it but that’s why I went with Amazon, they may be evil but they’re going to support their products unlike these smaller companies and Google who kills everything
this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2023
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Home Automation
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Home automation is the residential extension of building automation.
It is automation of the home, housework or household activity.
Home automation may include centralized control of lighting, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), appliances, security locks of gates and doors and other systems, to provide improved convenience, comfort, energy efficiency and security.
Warning: Working with electricity can result in injury, property damage, or even death if it is not done properly. Please keep this in mind while assisting others. If you are not sure about what you are doing, hire a licensed professional.
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I've had my smart home switches, plugs and other devices for 5 years now, I am actively looking at matter devices just to provide more longevity to my setup.
I use as much Tasmota/Beken compatible smart devices as I can. I avoid cloud (someone else's computers) as much as I can.
Just experienced this. Google killed Works with Nest and then Nest Secure. This prompted me to rethink my whole Smart Home strategy, dropping Google where possible, replacing SmartThings with Hubitat, and removing any device that wasn’t standards based (e.g. WiFi devices since k retractions are software based.)
I’ve had a more reliable system since and am actually able to enjoy Home Automation again.
Google TV (Logitech Revue) made me weary of Google products
Killing Nest integrations made me move away from Google smart devices
Removing Google Play Music so I couldn't play my music on Google Home made me think about switching from Google completely
Killing Hangouts got me to switch to iPhone after having Android since the 2010
If there was another affordable smart speaker that didn't constantly show me ads (Alexa) I'd get out of their ecosystem completely
I won't buy anything Google now and at work (software engineer) I push back on using anything Google for the reasons above.
Everything Google is a beta. They never see things through and cancel products and services Willy-Nilly.
Better regulation can fix this problem.
#LOL
No.
I'm waiting for matter to really take off...
Be prepared to be waiting a while.
Can I point out that 'Smart Devices' have stopped trying to be Smart, and just trying to Data Harvest.
Can't harvest data if there is no Internet connection
My stuff works great for me, continues to get updates and is reliable… These articles that make generalizations like this are dumb.
I use as many open devices, non-cloud devices, Zigbee devices. I run Home Assistant and Zigbee2Mqtt, for privacy reasons but also to not dependant on 3rd parties that WILL change their policy, support, software, business model…
But that's me, I can do this, because I have the knowledge and I want to invest the time in it. Manufacturers sell devices, claiming it will make things simple for consumers, only to screw them over later on. AS such I do think consumers should be protected. It's NOT acceptable devices stop providing services within 10 years of purchase (unless of course the company goes out of business). I do think companies should be forced to support devices a long time in the same way they did when the device was first sold.
ie. you could use your light bulbs without account on a hue 1 bridge, that should still be the case 10 years later.
There are some edge cases where 10 years indeed is too long (ie. severe security issues, underlying stuff that stops working, …) but there is no reason your lights should stop working because the hub you used the past 5 years is no longer supported, or the requirement of an account is created by the company, Or even the api access is limited after selling the device.
As long as consumers aren't protected, you should not buy yourself into the mercy of a random capitalist company.
This is why you should do local control only. Zwave and ESPHome are great for that. I am still trying to figure out how to get my MyQ opener to work with an ESPHome relay
What the best way to easily run voice control locally?
Hopefully home assistant very soon
Just two words - Home Assistant
Is it easy to use out of the box, or do you have to be a propeller head to use it
Relatively!
There's a bit of a learning curve initially - though much less now as you can buy a HA server pretty much ready to go.
If you stick to devices with HA compatibility out of the box, then it's really easy.
The main differentiating factor is, if you delve deep enough, you can do anything you want with it - including making it talk to things that were not compatable out of the box.
Fortunately there's a community of 'propeller heads' figuring out how to integrate all kinds of random things.
I'd never used HA until March when I had Solar & Batteries installed. The app from the manufacturer (Solis) was useless. I followed someone elses instructions on GitHub (blindly) and it worked amazingly well.
Since then, I've just learned gradually, adding different things to it. Now I know the basics, it feels friendly enough.
Today I made it switch on my Christmas Lights at 5am, switch off at sunrise. On at sunset & off at 11pm. Really easy, no code to write. Just works.
Once again, cloud based automation is for suckers
Think of it as establishing a baseline for good device behavior. And for that to happen, we need to update our laws and regulations.
Um, no. I agree the industry could narrow down the standards and make better interoperability, but let's keep the government out of this for crying out loud.
I could not agree more. Home automation regulation brought to you from the makers of the Patriot Act. No thanks. If you thought Alexa was bad before.