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There are a bunch of specific devices that I would really like to connect to the internet: Irrigation system: I shouldn't need to punch buttons on a controller
by kens 13y ago
There are a bunch of specific devices that I would really like to connect to the internet:
Irrigation system: I shouldn't need to punch buttons on a controller box outside in the rain.
Anything with a clock, e.g. microwave, thermostat: It should get the right time itself.
Pool heater: I should be able to control it from the house and check the temperature.
Barbecue: It should let me know if it was left on (like happened yesterday).
Freezer: It should let me know if the door is ajar, before everything thaws.
Alarm system: monitoring and control.
Stereo: should be able to control from my phone.
Washing machine: notification if I left wet clothes in it, or if it goes off balance and stops.
These are mostly available now, but not in an easy-to-use way. Home automation seems to be like the home computer industry in the 1970s: you have to really want to do it, you need to be a bit of a hacker, it costs a fair bit, and what you end up with is pretty primitive. I think there's a huge market for someone to solve home automation. What I want is when I buy an irrigation controller from Home Depot (for example), it "just works" as part of a home system.
Edit: A couple people asked why connect to the internet? I should be able to do these things remotely, e.g. from the office or my phone.
a_c_s mentions that the time tinkering could outweigh the benefit. That's kind of what I'm getting at with my 1970s home computer analogy - you could do e.g. word processing back then, but it wasn't worth the difficulty for most people. Now non-technical people can buy a computer at Best Buy and easily do word processing. Likewise, home automation needs to become something that is built in to products and "just works" by default, rather than something for hackers.
- arethuza 13y ago"It should let me know if it was left on" That is my #1 use case for me - I would love to have some view of our home to tell me that I haven't left anything on when we go away for a few days.
- aestra 13y agoI once left the burner on for a few hours, it was so scary when I realized it.
- Glyptodon 13y agoI left an oven on overnight once. Not really dangerous, but felt really stupid. Though to be fair there wasn't any visual notification of its state - the light is only on when it's preheating.
- arethuza 13y agoI eventually found a solution to being neurotic about turning things off - when we go away I go round and take pictures on my phone of all the things I would worry about. The interesting thing is that I never need to look at the pictures - the mere fact they exist is enough to keep my happy.... [My family do indeed think I am crazy]
- SourPatch 13y agoMost of those are reasons to be connected to a home network, not "The Internet."
- jlgaddis 13y agoWith the exception of perhaps your security system (which is already possible), why would any of these need Internet connectivity? I can see them being WiFi-enabled and able to talk to each other and some type of centralized control system in the home, but why would that need to connect to the Internet?
- mcguire 13y agoIP is a universally supported networking protocol. The alternatives seem to be industry-specific or worse.
- a_c_s 13y agoThanks for enumerating this. However, for me, the amount of time 'saved' for tasks like this seems like it could easily be outweighed by having to spend even a minimal amount of time tinkering/debugging the setup of these devices. Given that my phone sometimes forgets which wifi network to use, I can only imagine having to reconfigure my microwave, washing machine, stove/oven, dishwasher, stereo, etc. occasionally. If each device forgets the wifi network infrequently, like once every six months, that means 12 times a year I have to configure wifi one of my six smart devices. This amount of reconfiguration is more time/frustration/effort than would be saved by the kinds of notifications listed.
- evacuationdrill 13y agoI agree, but ideally they'd be wired in. Perhaps new homes at one point will have Ethernet ports behind your stove, microwave, etc. It's interesting that you chose 6 months, because that's how often you have to change the time. :D
- Pxtl 13y agoFunny how the actual API we want on 90% of these devices is actually all pretty similar: Read/write the on/off mode, and get text notifications with severity (Info/Warning/Emergency). This is not some nightmarishly complicated interface. I'm sure we can all visualize what a good cellphone app would look like. It seems like the big hurdle with home automation is the lack of a standard server for all the client devices to connect to. The challenge will be getting these disparate appliance companies to sit down and agree to anything... that won't happen until a big player gets enough of them onboard to make it a "must-have" feature.