4 ms·

I don't know, I have been a professional software developer for 15 years, and my whole house is smart. The trade offs are worth it to me.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
phendrenad2 4y ago
Same here. This joke/meme is cute but it isn't really true, lots of tech people have smart devices.
- Moru 4y ago
  Some tech enthusiasts just aren't old enough yet to become tech people :-)
WalterBright 4y ago
I still have no idea why anyone would want automated light switches. Unless they are bedridden. The conventional light switches never fail. The dimmer switches go out every 5 years or so, and I eventually get fed up and just replace them with a conventional switch. I've had programmable thermostats, but the user interfaces on them are so terrible I eventually replace them with one with a simple dial and thermostat.
- icoder 4y ago
  If I wake up early with my 3m old son and hit the livingroom switch, various christmas lights turn on. Before that I will have turned on a dim salt lamp in our bedroom with a small butten I have near the bed, as to not wake my gf. I turn it off with the wall switch while leaving the room. The light in the hallway is dim because it is still early. Since he didn't poop I only need a dim light in the changing area operated by my foot. Various lights in the house turn on automatically by movement or door opening. Lights near the front door go on dinly just before subset and get brighter with movement. The wall switch in the kitchen turns on multiple lights including cabinet downlighting. These things and more, and the fact I can change them relatively easily and wihtout rewiring, I find convenient and that brings me value. You don't have to understand though, we both can like different things.
- deepspace 4y ago
  That is true for some switches made by fly-by-night Silicon Valley companies. Especially the ones that need a Wifi connection to work. The ones I use are made by Lutron, who has a long history of making conventional light switches. They act just like normal switches, and I could sell my house without the home automation system, and it would be perfectly functional for the new owner. Having carefully designs home automation brings lots of little conveniences. When I walk into a room when it is dark, the light automatically turns on. When it becomes cloudy during the day, lights in the darker living areas turn on. When I go to bed, I press one button, and all the lights in the house turn off, and the motion sensors are disabled. Another button press in the morning re-enables the sensors and turns on the lights in all the "morning activity" areas of the house. Bottom line is that I seldom have to press a light switch. I always automagically have light when and where I need it.
  - WalterBright 4y ago
    > Bottom line is that I seldom have to press a light switch I just don't think of it as a burden. I don't think about it at all. My hand goes up to the switch. I know I don't think about it, because when the power goes out my hand still automatically turns the switch on, even when I'm carrying a lamp. There's a second where I blink wonderering why the light didn't go on. I have some 1-watt LED lights plugged in and on all the time, so I don't fall down the stairs. I figure the 1 watt is less than the power draw of motion detectors, etc.
  - nostromo123 4y ago
    Yeah, pressing a light switch is a huge strain on the body and mind ;-) Lolz aside, as an engineer, the main turnoff for me is not the privacy, though that is a concern, but the introduction of complexity. I like my house like I like my software: clean and minimalistic :)
- mihaaly 4y ago
  And then we graciously disregarded the trouble of 'obsolete' hardware that is not supported anymore by the 'brand new improved and with most super revolutionary functionality in the universe' version of the software. I am fed up with phone apps already because of that, nearly no month or several week goes by without one warning me: UPDATE! NOW! And then when you update its behaviour is altered, many times functionalities you liked are gone. The whole thing is more like a nuisance than genuine help. Exposing myself potentially to the same kind of problems concerning my whole home?! No thank you! (recently, after long deliberation and consultation with my keen wife, I gave up the idea of robotic vacums. some are excluded due to shameless price or physical configuration, but many due to the inability to operate without a phone app. i will do my vacuuming without connecting to home wifi, thanks)
  - WalterBright 4y ago
    The twitter app on my iphone tried to upgrade itself, and failed because the upgrade won't work on an older iphone. Trying to download the previous version does not work. Do I want to spend a grand upgrading the phone just to use twitter? Nah.
  - Brybry 4y ago
    I have similar fundamental issues with a robotic vacuum but a robotic vacuum has been a game changer for my dysfunctional household where no one actually vacuumed regularly. It doesn't matter if it's the best vacuum or the most secure vacuum or even the cheapest, for us it matters if it actually gets used and thus the floors are cleaner. Same reason I've come to like our stick vacuum: we're far more likely to use it than other vacuums that are technically better but are heavier/louder/more difficult to store/etc.
    - mihaaly 4y ago
      Yeah, that option is on my mind too!
  - ghgr 4y ago
    Regarding the robot vacuum you can have the best of both worlds if you get a compatible device and flash an open-source firmware, like Valetudo [1]. You can operate the device by pressing a button, and you can configure it from a locally-hosted webapp (it doesn't need internet access). [1] https://github.com/rand256/valetudo https://github.com/rand256/valetudo
- flask_manager 4y ago
  I prefer waking up to a light turning on than a noisy alarm; but also like having a normal switch the rest of the day. I have also used them to relocate a switch to a more useful place for much cheaper/in a rental. (Automatic switch in the out of reach or inconvenient location, battery switch in reach of where I want it).
- katbyte 4y ago
  Motion on, auto off, turn on at dusk, turn off at midnight, turn off when I’m not home. Turn on when I come home. battery-less switches that can go anywhere and trigger anything. Smart lights and outlets are the only smart thing in my home and they really are great imho It was sorta a pain to set up, over half a decade ago, now it’s small tweaks now and then but otherwise just works.
- eternityforest 4y ago
  Light switches are just not currently one of the better use cases(Although RGB bulbs are fantastic for special effects and decorations). Smarthomes are currently better at monitoring than they are at control, there's just not that much that needs real automation
- shapefrog 4y ago
  > I still have no idea why anyone would want automated light switches. Security.
  - mbg721 4y ago
    The security part is a solved problem, unless you think a burglar is obsessed with your house in particular; they've made outlet timers for decades.
    - shapefrog 4y ago
      automated light switches == outlet timers for decades > unless you think a burglar is obsessed with your house in particular IMO burglars are obsessed with an easy score - "Lights on looks like someone is home - fuck it I will rob the empty looking house up the street"
      - mbg721 4y ago
        Well yes, but my point was that you don't need a Smart House in order to do the job of a $10 hardware store device.
        shapefrog 4y ago
        My lights coming on and going off at set times of day or the porch light coming on in response to motion then going off again when nobody is there is "Smart".
        mbg721 4y ago
        That's actually smart, without my mocking scare-quotes. I think we very much agree, but I'm responding in the context of one parent higher comment than you are.
    - shard 4y ago
      I looked into that... Outlet timers are now more expensive than a smart power plug ($10 vs $5). I went the smart route.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

phendrenad2 4y ago

Same here. This joke/meme is cute but it isn't really true, lots of tech people have smart devices.

Moru 4y ago
Some tech enthusiasts just aren't old enough yet to become tech people :-)

WalterBright 4y ago

I still have no idea why anyone would want automated light switches. Unless they are bedridden. The conventional light switches never fail. The dimmer switches go out every 5 years or so, and I eventually get fed up and just replace them with a conventional switch. I've had programmable thermostats, but the user interfaces on them are so terrible I eventually replace them with one with a simple dial and thermostat.

icoder 4y ago
If I wake up early with my 3m old son and hit the livingroom switch, various christmas lights turn on. Before that I will have turned on a dim salt lamp in our bedroom with a small butten I have near the bed, as to not wake my gf. I turn it off with the wall switch while leaving the room. The light in the hallway is dim because it is still early. Since he didn't poop I only need a dim light in the changing area operated by my foot. Various lights in the house turn on automatically by movement or door opening. Lights near the front door go on dinly just before subset and get brighter with movement. The wall switch in the kitchen turns on multiple lights including cabinet downlighting. These things and more, and the fact I can change them relatively easily and wihtout rewiring, I find convenient and that brings me value. You don't have to understand though, we both can like different things.
deepspace 4y ago
That is true for some switches made by fly-by-night Silicon Valley companies. Especially the ones that need a Wifi connection to work. The ones I use are made by Lutron, who has a long history of making conventional light switches. They act just like normal switches, and I could sell my house without the home automation system, and it would be perfectly functional for the new owner. Having carefully designs home automation brings lots of little conveniences. When I walk into a room when it is dark, the light automatically turns on. When it becomes cloudy during the day, lights in the darker living areas turn on. When I go to bed, I press one button, and all the lights in the house turn off, and the motion sensors are disabled. Another button press in the morning re-enables the sensors and turns on the lights in all the "morning activity" areas of the house. Bottom line is that I seldom have to press a light switch. I always automagically have light when and where I need it.
- WalterBright 4y ago
  > Bottom line is that I seldom have to press a light switch I just don't think of it as a burden. I don't think about it at all. My hand goes up to the switch. I know I don't think about it, because when the power goes out my hand still automatically turns the switch on, even when I'm carrying a lamp. There's a second where I blink wonderering why the light didn't go on. I have some 1-watt LED lights plugged in and on all the time, so I don't fall down the stairs. I figure the 1 watt is less than the power draw of motion detectors, etc.
- nostromo123 4y ago
  Yeah, pressing a light switch is a huge strain on the body and mind ;-) Lolz aside, as an engineer, the main turnoff for me is not the privacy, though that is a concern, but the introduction of complexity. I like my house like I like my software: clean and minimalistic :)
mihaaly 4y ago
And then we graciously disregarded the trouble of 'obsolete' hardware that is not supported anymore by the 'brand new improved and with most super revolutionary functionality in the universe' version of the software. I am fed up with phone apps already because of that, nearly no month or several week goes by without one warning me: UPDATE! NOW! And then when you update its behaviour is altered, many times functionalities you liked are gone. The whole thing is more like a nuisance than genuine help. Exposing myself potentially to the same kind of problems concerning my whole home?! No thank you! (recently, after long deliberation and consultation with my keen wife, I gave up the idea of robotic vacums. some are excluded due to shameless price or physical configuration, but many due to the inability to operate without a phone app. i will do my vacuuming without connecting to home wifi, thanks)
- WalterBright 4y ago
  The twitter app on my iphone tried to upgrade itself, and failed because the upgrade won't work on an older iphone. Trying to download the previous version does not work. Do I want to spend a grand upgrading the phone just to use twitter? Nah.
- Brybry 4y ago
  I have similar fundamental issues with a robotic vacuum but a robotic vacuum has been a game changer for my dysfunctional household where no one actually vacuumed regularly. It doesn't matter if it's the best vacuum or the most secure vacuum or even the cheapest, for us it matters if it actually gets used and thus the floors are cleaner. Same reason I've come to like our stick vacuum: we're far more likely to use it than other vacuums that are technically better but are heavier/louder/more difficult to store/etc.
  - mihaaly 4y ago
    Yeah, that option is on my mind too!
- ghgr 4y ago
  Regarding the robot vacuum you can have the best of both worlds if you get a compatible device and flash an open-source firmware, like Valetudo [1]. You can operate the device by pressing a button, and you can configure it from a locally-hosted webapp (it doesn't need internet access). [1] https://github.com/rand256/valetudo https://github.com/rand256/valetudo
flask_manager 4y ago
I prefer waking up to a light turning on than a noisy alarm; but also like having a normal switch the rest of the day. I have also used them to relocate a switch to a more useful place for much cheaper/in a rental. (Automatic switch in the out of reach or inconvenient location, battery switch in reach of where I want it).
katbyte 4y ago
Motion on, auto off, turn on at dusk, turn off at midnight, turn off when I’m not home. Turn on when I come home. battery-less switches that can go anywhere and trigger anything. Smart lights and outlets are the only smart thing in my home and they really are great imho It was sorta a pain to set up, over half a decade ago, now it’s small tweaks now and then but otherwise just works.
eternityforest 4y ago
Light switches are just not currently one of the better use cases(Although RGB bulbs are fantastic for special effects and decorations). Smarthomes are currently better at monitoring than they are at control, there's just not that much that needs real automation
shapefrog 4y ago
> I still have no idea why anyone would want automated light switches. Security.
- mbg721 4y ago
  The security part is a solved problem, unless you think a burglar is obsessed with your house in particular; they've made outlet timers for decades.
  - shapefrog 4y ago
    automated light switches == outlet timers for decades > unless you think a burglar is obsessed with your house in particular IMO burglars are obsessed with an easy score - "Lights on looks like someone is home - fuck it I will rob the empty looking house up the street"
    - mbg721 4y ago
      Well yes, but my point was that you don't need a Smart House in order to do the job of a $10 hardware store device.
      - shapefrog 4y ago
        My lights coming on and going off at set times of day or the porch light coming on in response to motion then going off again when nobody is there is "Smart".
        mbg721 4y ago
        That's actually smart, without my mocking scare-quotes. I think we very much agree, but I'm responding in the context of one parent higher comment than you are.
  - shard 4y ago
    I looked into that... Outlet timers are now more expensive than a smart power plug ($10 vs $5). I went the smart route.