Home automation, huh? I believe I have been down that road before.. My HeathKit / Tandy X10 experience was quite negative ;-)
-------- Original message -------- From: Tom Metro <[email protected]> Date: To: [email protected] Subject: [HH] Mobile's Next Major Integrated Layer: OS-Level Home Automation Mobile's Next Major Integrated Layer: OS-Level Home Automation http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/21/mobiles-next-major-integrated-layer-os-level-home-automation/ [R2 Studios] first project is an Android app that allows users to control their heating and lighting systems via their smartphone devices. The company, founded by Blake Krikorian who previously founded the Slingbox, also holds some patents related to control of electronic devices and control interfaces. Apple, Google and Microsoft are all very much interested in making connections between mobile tech and the traditional household entertainment hub, the living room, and have all introduced technology to prove it. [...] Why not have the phone use all of its contextual information to also help with home automation, but in a way that makes those features tied to the OS as a service layer, rather than something people need dedicated apps to handle? The paradigm here is the same as it was for streaming media: it makes much more sense for Apple to build AirPlay and have it work across its lineup of devices, independent of individual media app settings, than to let each content source try to table their own solution. Likewise, a home automation control system that you can then make available to hardware makers (as Apple has done with AirPlay) to make sure they work with iOS (or Android, or whoever ends up going forward with this first) devices out of the box makes more sense, and will engender greater general adoption, than relying on manufacturer-specific solutions. The app or smartphone side of automation is the easy part. The hard part is getting a home automaton controller appliance into homes, and the even harder part is getting it linked up with the things you want to control. In the example of AirPlay, that only became established because Apple built it into the Apple TV. Only later did it branch out to 3rd party manufacturers. While we might see something like the consumer-friendly Mi Casa Verde Vera[1] home automation controller add support for some smartphone interface promoted by one of the 3 ecosystems mentioned above (I'm sure Vera already has some proprietary smartphone interface), it seems more likely that there won't be much consumer adoption until one of the big 3 players produces their own device and puts their marketing muscle behind it. Even then, you're still left with the age old problem that assembling a home automation system is still something that requires geeky skills. Its gotten a lot easier: buy a Vera, and a few Zwave lamp modules, and with a bit of fiddling with its web UI, you've got a home automation system. But that's after a $200+ investment, and what about all the more interesting stuff that you can't simply plug into a lamp module? The places where we've seen inroads are in small niches, like the Nest thermostat, which operates as an island, not as part of a larger system. Someday, perhaps, appliances and electrical fixtures will come with Zwave or some other smarts built-in, but that's been part of the vision for decades (remember the Consumer Electronics Bus (CEBus)[2]?), and it hasn't happened, though ever decreasing costs for those smarts makes it more likely. So far, I don't see evidence that we're poised to turn a corner on home automation, and that there would be a market as big as the one for consumers who want to send videos to their TVs from their mobile devices. Although I have seen numerous phone and cable companies jumping on the home security and automation bandwagon as a new service they can charge monthly for. These offerings all have some smartphone integration. Perhaps these low-capability automation systems, which are painlessly installed by cable/telco techs, will introduce the idea to a much wider audience, who will down the road crave a "Google Home Automation Controller Appliance" that spares them the monthly fee. We can only hope that if Google does get into this, they take a look at some of the existing open standards and build on them. Not much chance Apple or Microsoft will. 1. http://www.micasaverde.com/vera.php 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CEBus Ming kuo wrote: > I recently got a raspberry Pi working with siriproxy and ISY plugin > to do Siri home automation turning on lights etc and also turning on > songs music using Siri. Replaces numerous remotes in the house. Neat. I'd personally be more interested in hearing about similar integration with Google Now, but sounds like a worthy accomplishment none the less. -Tom _______________________________________________ Hardwarehacking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/hardwarehacking
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