4 ms·

Yes, sorry for the hyperbole. But in general, for a "smart home" you're going to have apps, logins, setup processes, updates, compatibility grids, security conc

Yes, sorry for the hyperbole. But in general, for a "smart home" you're going to have apps, logins, setup processes, updates, compatibility grids, security concerns, etc. I don't know what the total hours of effort are. But I'm pretty sure they're more than I have when I just screw in a lightbulb, plug in a dumb tea kettle, etc. And so far I haven't heard any compelling use cases. For me, the "smart lighting" I'd enjoy would be getting a few manual dimmer switches installed. Changing color would be neat if it could be done via a similar dumb switch, but it's not something I'd take up a "smart home hobby" for.

annabellish 9y ago
Smart lighting is where most of my experience lies. Adding a bulb is a case of screwing it in, going to the app, hitting "register new bulb", and assigning it to the room its in. At that point it just joins in the same behavior as the rest. Because they're LED bulbs, they have a very long lifetime and are unlikely to die. I don't think I'd call that level of investment anything near a hobby. You can go a lot deeper with configuration options and other integrations and _make_ it a hobby, but the core behaviour is barely less trivial than a traditional lightbulb.
- IntronExon 9y ago
  Go out into the world, and poll a few hundred people of all ages and backgrounds. Take note of how many either lose interest or start laughing when your explanation of how to install a lightbulb continues past “screw it in.”
  - annabellish 9y ago
    Most of the people I've discussed it with have been quite interested, actually. It's an easy technology to demo. The price usually turns them off, however.
- hashkb 9y ago
  My experience has been different. My Sylvania Zigbee bulbs, if they don't pair perfectly out of the box, require a reset-and-re-pair process that I usually have to go through three or four times per bulb. Also, try pairing 4 bulbs on the same switch at once... you'll be lucky to get two to join. Or, try running an automation that sends more than 4 individual state updates to the Zigbee network at once... one or two lights will change. Most of the smart home apps (whether you're using the Hue app or SmartThings or whatever) need a cloud connection for some ridiculous reason to control the lights; and suffer from a chronic case of not knowing the current state of the lights. All in all, it comes across as very immature technology. It's as unreliable compared to WiFi as WiFi is compared to Ethernet.
CaptSpify 9y ago
Just because you don't have value in something doesn't mean nobody else does.

annabellish 9y ago

Smart lighting is where most of my experience lies. Adding a bulb is a case of screwing it in, going to the app, hitting "register new bulb", and assigning it to the room its in. At that point it just joins in the same behavior as the rest. Because they're LED bulbs, they have a very long lifetime and are unlikely to die. I don't think I'd call that level of investment anything near a hobby. You can go a lot deeper with configuration options and other integrations and _make_ it a hobby, but the core behaviour is barely less trivial than a traditional lightbulb.

IntronExon 9y ago
Go out into the world, and poll a few hundred people of all ages and backgrounds. Take note of how many either lose interest or start laughing when your explanation of how to install a lightbulb continues past “screw it in.”
- annabellish 9y ago
  Most of the people I've discussed it with have been quite interested, actually. It's an easy technology to demo. The price usually turns them off, however.
hashkb 9y ago
My experience has been different. My Sylvania Zigbee bulbs, if they don't pair perfectly out of the box, require a reset-and-re-pair process that I usually have to go through three or four times per bulb. Also, try pairing 4 bulbs on the same switch at once... you'll be lucky to get two to join. Or, try running an automation that sends more than 4 individual state updates to the Zigbee network at once... one or two lights will change. Most of the smart home apps (whether you're using the Hue app or SmartThings or whatever) need a cloud connection for some ridiculous reason to control the lights; and suffer from a chronic case of not knowing the current state of the lights. All in all, it comes across as very immature technology. It's as unreliable compared to WiFi as WiFi is compared to Ethernet.

CaptSpify 9y ago

Just because you don't have value in something doesn't mean nobody else does.