- Joined
- Jul 16, 2020
- Messages
- 203
Another Smart Home goes Dark
- Thread starter kschauweker
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2020
- Messages
- 203
The cloud is just somebody else's computer...
On the bright side at least it will still work with Apple HomeKit. Nowadays I look for the Apple Homekit logo whenever I buy any smart home device. All it takes is the developer dropping support for a proprietary app or closed ecosystem to shut down.
Smart home is marketing buzz words. Nothing very smart in the products sold to the public. We are not in the age of AI
Wow, turn on a light build, change its colors, turn on my ac or heat when a programmable thermostat is much more affective except for people who dont live in their homes or travel a lot, maybe 8%?
Nothing very smart in these devices, my non connected are much more reliable and energy efficient.
I have a pretty state or the art home but I dont consider it smart. Its a home with automation and nothing runs on wifi except security.
Even that, what's so smart about it? I can control my security from my phone, guess what? I could do that for decades. No smart phone was even needed back then. Security cameras might be considered smart, I just consider them advanced.
Most people install "smart" devices and get bored with them in a few months at the most. Ive even seen it in my industry, they want everything, pay for what they can afford and a few months later they dont even use the stuff but keep paying a monthly fee!
Its all just sales and marketing for the same old stuff with an advanced modern-day twist. Its still dumb as heck because you have to input what you want. No different, lets say, then turning on or off a security system with an OLD touch tone home phone or touch tone cell phone.
Now you turn on your security system with an app on your smart phone, that makes it smart but for decades you could do it reliability with any touch tone push button phone. I guess back then if someone was smart they would have called a push button phone a smart phone, you didnt have to turn a dial! *LOL*
Yeah, sure, at the same time,you can lock your doors, adjust your lights and make sure the garage door is closed. I call that advanced, not really smart when the stuff stops working ... *LOL*
Smart will be when AI can trouble shoot, keep everything working as it is supposed to, even, then, what is smart in a home?
This is a great post by the OP.
I love this stuff, wife would get annoyed at me when in Best Buy and I am making fun of all the "smart stuff"... in a couple more decades young people will be making fun of the advertisements like we make fun of old advertisements,
Here is one right here, in this article, the writer refers to "a connected sprinkler controller won’t water your garden if it’s going to rain"
The WRITER thinks this is smart! This technology has been out for decades! Like, guessing, 40 years!
A rain sensor detects if it rained and will prevent the sprinkler from turning on. But ohhhhh ... now there is an app for the phone making it smart.
Think about it, all this smart stuff on your phone never lets you get away from your home. Think about that, vacation, dinner, movie, your always stuck with your smart phone reminding you of the home your try ing to escape for a little while *LOL*
Wow, turn on a light build, change its colors, turn on my ac or heat when a programmable thermostat is much more affective except for people who dont live in their homes or travel a lot, maybe 8%?
Nothing very smart in these devices, my non connected are much more reliable and energy efficient.
I have a pretty state or the art home but I dont consider it smart. Its a home with automation and nothing runs on wifi except security.
Even that, what's so smart about it? I can control my security from my phone, guess what? I could do that for decades. No smart phone was even needed back then. Security cameras might be considered smart, I just consider them advanced.
Most people install "smart" devices and get bored with them in a few months at the most. Ive even seen it in my industry, they want everything, pay for what they can afford and a few months later they dont even use the stuff but keep paying a monthly fee!
Its all just sales and marketing for the same old stuff with an advanced modern-day twist. Its still dumb as heck because you have to input what you want. No different, lets say, then turning on or off a security system with an OLD touch tone home phone or touch tone cell phone.
Now you turn on your security system with an app on your smart phone, that makes it smart but for decades you could do it reliability with any touch tone push button phone. I guess back then if someone was smart they would have called a push button phone a smart phone, you didnt have to turn a dial! *LOL*
Yeah, sure, at the same time,you can lock your doors, adjust your lights and make sure the garage door is closed. I call that advanced, not really smart when the stuff stops working ... *LOL*
Smart will be when AI can trouble shoot, keep everything working as it is supposed to, even, then, what is smart in a home?
This is a great post by the OP.
I love this stuff, wife would get annoyed at me when in Best Buy and I am making fun of all the "smart stuff"... in a couple more decades young people will be making fun of the advertisements like we make fun of old advertisements,
Here is one right here, in this article, the writer refers to "a connected sprinkler controller won’t water your garden if it’s going to rain"
The WRITER thinks this is smart! This technology has been out for decades! Like, guessing, 40 years!
A rain sensor detects if it rained and will prevent the sprinkler from turning on. But ohhhhh ... now there is an app for the phone making it smart.
Think about it, all this smart stuff on your phone never lets you get away from your home. Think about that, vacation, dinner, movie, your always stuck with your smart phone reminding you of the home your try ing to escape for a little while *LOL*
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I agree with much of your post, I think the issue is that people buy smart just to buy smart even if it isn't necessary or doesn't make sense. The level to which you are tethered to your smart gear is up to the user...I can access it when I want but other than a leak detection alarm or intrusion in the home I'm not getting constant notifications and I'm not interacting with the devices.
I will call out two smart devices of mine that I couldn't imagine going back to "dumb" devices with: irrigation controller and leak detector. For the irrigation system a rain sensor is not the same thing as predictive watering...all it can sense is if rain has recently occured or if it is currently raining. The smart controller downloads the forecast and if rain is forecasted later in the week it will adjust schedules preemptively. This eliminates the need for a rain sensor entirely as an old system can still overwater even with a sensor installed. I use a leak detector installed at a specific level in my sump pit to trigger an alert if the water reaches the point of just prior to pump activation. This gives me time to head outside and hook up the hose if the pump is going to start running soon. It also serves as an indirect alert in the event I have a pump failure.
You know, I was going to mention the irrigation thing but my posts almost ALL the time way to long.
The irrigation forecast would not work in the area that I live. It would have mostly worked when I lived on Long Island but not where I live now, in South Carolina. It is why a rain gauge is the only reliable way to automate the irrigation in my area. Agree that all this would do is cut down on some waste here, but I am really good with the rain delay feature until it does or doesnt rain.
A forecast system wouldnt work here, where I live they cant predict when it will rain.
I figured out when we moved here 15 years ago starting around May right through September we do not have warm and cold fronts that pass over our area. Warm and cold front states they can reliably predict rain.
Starting in May cold fronts do not make it down here, even more so, we live in a unique area though I am not sure how unique.
We have a 41 mile long lake near us, it doesnt matter how much rain, how many thunderstorms they predict many times on our side of the lake nothing happens, no rain. Example, for about 5 weeks last summer, no matter how many afternoon thunder storms they called for, you can actually watch them on the radar and they literally split in half and go around our area. The towns on one side of the lake can get slamming rain in the afternoons and all we can do is watch the lightning... I LOVE storms but they always miss us. Trust me, I know, very frustrating because I prefer not to water, water cost as much or more then my winter electric bills and comes close to my electric bills in the summer. We run our 2- 2+ Ton AC units all summer, haven't opened windows in over a decade.
So if this system relied on the weather forecast our lawn and garden would be toast, I cant tell you the endless severe and possible severe storms warnings that are forecast and nothing happens. I do agree with you, in other areas your forecast automated system would be great, if whether forecasting is reliable, its not here. BTW = we have one of the nicest lawns in the community, if not the nicest... *LOL* Compliments all the time !
My in-laws live on Lake Murray...haven't ever visited in the summer to see the unpredictable weather because it's too hot haha. I know they just pump lake water through their system for the grass so consumption/cost isn't a factor.
Wow! What a small world it is.
Yeah it’s an amazing lake, my wife and I are waxing the boat tomorrow/Saturday and I’m wondering if we will go out Sunday I don’t plan on it but it’s a thought.
It will be a first trip this year. There have been years where we’ve been out the first week of March but this year the spring was a little cooler.
One thing for sure by the end of July the water gets quite warm!
Yeah, it gets hot here, hotter than Florida in the summer but mostly a dry heat compared to Long Island. Anyway we like the heat and lake. The beaches and mountains all within around a two hour drive too.
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