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What exactly is a "smart home" now other than a voice recognition program that plays music and turns on the lights? Why do I need a "standard" for that?

groby_b 4y ago
You want a music player and light switches that actually do the things you wanted them to do? Without being tied to a single vendor?
wongarsu 4y ago
For me "smart home" is more about opening the window blinds in the morning, and turning on the bedroom lights to wake me up. Easily adding light switches that do what I want, and where I want it, without worrying which cables are installed (want to have two separately controlled lamps instead of one? Add a switch next to your bed? no problem). Yes, all these things have been possible for decades, "smart home" just gives them a new branding and a different UX. But once you have a couple of things it becomes handy to have devices communicate. My smart power plug tells me how much energy is being drawn. I could use that to dim the lights when I turn on the projector, but that requires the two devices to live in a common ecosystem of some kind. That's what standards are for.
sxg 4y ago
You need a standard so you can use lights and music players from different vendors at the same time. You also need a standard to ensure future devices that don't yet exist also work with your smart home. A third reason: a new upstart can't easily gain traction in the smart home space without a standard to quickly interoperate with existing smart devices.
progman32 4y ago
Some examples, inspired by my own automations or ones I've seen implemented: - Warns me if I leave my garage door open, but only if I'm not home. Optionally close it remotely. Provide video feed to see if it's safe to remotely close. - When I walk out the door, warns me if I have windows or doors open or the stove's on. Automatically arms security. Automatically turn off all lights, music, heat, etc but only if I don't have guests over. - If burglar alarm goes off, turn on interior lights, flash exterior lights, turn on the radio, trigger my car's alarm, push relevant video feed to phone. If the alarm is disarmed, use the same presence and door sensors to turn lights on and off automatically. - Triggers notifications (or the alarm as appropriate) if cams detect a human. Turn off certain cams if anyone's home. - When any of my 3d printers finish, ring my phone. Optionally cut power to the printers if something goes wrong. - Warn me when the garage door opens and it's below freezing outside. - If any of my electrical circuits go over-current, warn me and optionally automatically shed some load. - If it's about to rain, automatically close windows and disable the sprinkler system. - Open the blinds when my smartphone alarm goes off. - Defer car charging, running the dryer, etc until solar panels have excess capacity. - Warn me if my fridge or other critical things stop working. All of these things use equipment from different manufacturers. It's great to have them all play together - but it's only possible because Home Assistant has an entire army of contributors who reverse engineer all sorts of closed protocols. A standard helps with that. Ideally, staying exclusively on the local network.
- ramesh31 4y ago
  Ah, so another thing to sell to rich people at a huge markup. Got it.
  - nomel 4y ago
    You can find contact sensors, motion sensors, cameras, thermometers, and smart plugs for < $15 each. Being rich is definitely not required. One use case I have, to save significant amounts of money, is that I get a notification if a window is open and the inside vs outside temperature difference is too great. The sensors have paid for themselves many times over already.
    - progman32 4y ago
      Removing any and all monthly subscriptions is also a huge monetary saving - as is being able to convert hardware that was abandoned by some cloudy company. If you're techy, you can buy cheap used stuff from ebay and flash it with open source software. Plus, I know that if I invest my $15 in a widget flashed with open source software, I know I probably won't have to save up another $15 in two years.
      - nomel 4y ago
        I personally don't use any cloud products, and would strongly recommend against it. I buy local network/Zigbee, and use Apple Home/homeassistant for cloud access.
        progman32 4y ago
        I admit I experienced some schadenfreude when Insteon went down a short while back. Local-only support or bust.
  - progman32 4y ago
    I've got a total investment of well under $500 to achieve the above. Part of the beauty of this is that I can buy the cheapest, dumbest stuff and get the capabilities of the marked up junk. Edit: I don't think I'm addressing your point. I find my system is extremely useful, keeps me safer, and saves me money. I feel that's worth my modest investment. Can you clarify your position? I do think that most IOT junk is hugely marked up (and hostile). I just think that Home Assistant is one of the few players in the IoT sphere that is _not_.
Digit-Al 4y ago
Troy Hunt did a series on how he set up his smart home, and finished with a bunch of use cases from his own setup [1]. This article also has links to the other posts in his series, showing how he set it all up and what a mess it all is at the moment. [1] https://www.troyhunt.com/iot-unravelled-part-5-practical-use-case-videos/ https://www.troyhunt.com/iot-unravelled-part-5-practical-use...

groby_b 4y ago

You want a music player and light switches that actually do the things you wanted them to do? Without being tied to a single vendor?

wongarsu 4y ago

For me "smart home" is more about opening the window blinds in the morning, and turning on the bedroom lights to wake me up. Easily adding light switches that do what I want, and where I want it, without worrying which cables are installed (want to have two separately controlled lamps instead of one? Add a switch next to your bed? no problem). Yes, all these things have been possible for decades, "smart home" just gives them a new branding and a different UX. But once you have a couple of things it becomes handy to have devices communicate. My smart power plug tells me how much energy is being drawn. I could use that to dim the lights when I turn on the projector, but that requires the two devices to live in a common ecosystem of some kind. That's what standards are for.

sxg 4y ago

You need a standard so you can use lights and music players from different vendors at the same time. You also need a standard to ensure future devices that don't yet exist also work with your smart home. A third reason: a new upstart can't easily gain traction in the smart home space without a standard to quickly interoperate with existing smart devices.

progman32 4y ago

Some examples, inspired by my own automations or ones I've seen implemented: - Warns me if I leave my garage door open, but only if I'm not home. Optionally close it remotely. Provide video feed to see if it's safe to remotely close. - When I walk out the door, warns me if I have windows or doors open or the stove's on. Automatically arms security. Automatically turn off all lights, music, heat, etc but only if I don't have guests over. - If burglar alarm goes off, turn on interior lights, flash exterior lights, turn on the radio, trigger my car's alarm, push relevant video feed to phone. If the alarm is disarmed, use the same presence and door sensors to turn lights on and off automatically. - Triggers notifications (or the alarm as appropriate) if cams detect a human. Turn off certain cams if anyone's home. - When any of my 3d printers finish, ring my phone. Optionally cut power to the printers if something goes wrong. - Warn me when the garage door opens and it's below freezing outside. - If any of my electrical circuits go over-current, warn me and optionally automatically shed some load. - If it's about to rain, automatically close windows and disable the sprinkler system. - Open the blinds when my smartphone alarm goes off. - Defer car charging, running the dryer, etc until solar panels have excess capacity. - Warn me if my fridge or other critical things stop working. All of these things use equipment from different manufacturers. It's great to have them all play together - but it's only possible because Home Assistant has an entire army of contributors who reverse engineer all sorts of closed protocols. A standard helps with that. Ideally, staying exclusively on the local network.

ramesh31 4y ago
Ah, so another thing to sell to rich people at a huge markup. Got it.
- nomel 4y ago
  You can find contact sensors, motion sensors, cameras, thermometers, and smart plugs for < $15 each. Being rich is definitely not required. One use case I have, to save significant amounts of money, is that I get a notification if a window is open and the inside vs outside temperature difference is too great. The sensors have paid for themselves many times over already.
  - progman32 4y ago
    Removing any and all monthly subscriptions is also a huge monetary saving - as is being able to convert hardware that was abandoned by some cloudy company. If you're techy, you can buy cheap used stuff from ebay and flash it with open source software. Plus, I know that if I invest my $15 in a widget flashed with open source software, I know I probably won't have to save up another $15 in two years.
    - nomel 4y ago
      I personally don't use any cloud products, and would strongly recommend against it. I buy local network/Zigbee, and use Apple Home/homeassistant for cloud access.
      - progman32 4y ago
        I admit I experienced some schadenfreude when Insteon went down a short while back. Local-only support or bust.
- progman32 4y ago
  I've got a total investment of well under $500 to achieve the above. Part of the beauty of this is that I can buy the cheapest, dumbest stuff and get the capabilities of the marked up junk. Edit: I don't think I'm addressing your point. I find my system is extremely useful, keeps me safer, and saves me money. I feel that's worth my modest investment. Can you clarify your position? I do think that most IOT junk is hugely marked up (and hostile). I just think that Home Assistant is one of the few players in the IoT sphere that is _not_.

Digit-Al 4y ago

Troy Hunt did a series on how he set up his smart home, and finished with a bunch of use cases from his own setup [1]. This article also has links to the other posts in his series, showing how he set it all up and what a mess it all is at the moment. [1] https://www.troyhunt.com/iot-unravelled-part-5-practical-use-case-videos/ https://www.troyhunt.com/iot-unravelled-part-5-practical-use...