<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></head><body >Home automation, huh? I believe I have been down that road before.. My HeathKit / Tandy X10 experience was quite negative ;-) <br><br><br>-------- Original message --------<br>From: Tom Metro <tmetro+hhacking@gmail.com> <br>Date: <br>To: hardwarehacking@blu.org <br>Subject: [HH] Mobile's Next Major Integrated Layer: OS-Level Home Automation <br> <br><br>Mobile's Next Major Integrated Layer: OS-Level Home Automation<br>http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/21/mobiles-next-major-integrated-layer-os-level-home-automation/<br><br> [R2 Studios] first project is an Android app that allows users to<br> control their heating and lighting systems via their smartphone<br> devices. The company, founded by Blake Krikorian who previously<br> founded the Slingbox, also holds some patents related to control of<br> electronic devices and control interfaces. Apple, Google and Microsoft<br> are all very much interested in making connections between mobile tech<br> and the traditional household entertainment hub, the living room, and<br> have all introduced technology to prove it.<br> [...]<br> Why not have the phone use all of its contextual information to also<br> help with home automation, but in a way that makes those features tied<br> to the OS as a service layer, rather than something people need<br> dedicated apps to handle?<br><br> The paradigm here is the same as it was for streaming media: it makes<br> much more sense for Apple to build AirPlay and have it work across its<br> lineup of devices, independent of individual media app settings, than<br> to let each content source try to table their own solution. Likewise,<br> a home automation control system that you can then make available to<br> hardware makers (as Apple has done with AirPlay) to make sure they<br> work with iOS (or Android, or whoever ends up going forward with this<br> first) devices out of the box makes more sense, and will engender<br> greater general adoption, than relying on manufacturer-specific<br> solutions.<br><br>The app or smartphone side of automation is the easy part.<br><br>The hard part is getting a home automaton controller appliance into<br>homes, and the even harder part is getting it linked up with the things<br>you want to control.<br><br>In the example of AirPlay, that only became established because Apple<br>built it into the Apple TV. Only later did it branch out to 3rd party<br>manufacturers.<br><br>While we might see something like the consumer-friendly Mi Casa Verde<br>Vera[1] home automation controller add support for some smartphone<br>interface promoted by one of the 3 ecosystems mentioned above (I'm sure<br>Vera already has some proprietary smartphone interface), it seems more<br>likely that there won't be much consumer adoption until one of the big 3<br>players produces their own device and puts their marketing muscle behind it.<br><br>Even then, you're still left with the age old problem that assembling a<br>home automation system is still something that requires geeky skills.<br>Its gotten a lot easier: buy a Vera, and a few Zwave lamp modules, and<br>with a bit of fiddling with its web UI, you've got a home automation<br>system. But that's after a $200+ investment, and what about all the more<br>interesting stuff that you can't simply plug into a lamp module?<br><br>The places where we've seen inroads are in small niches, like the Nest<br>thermostat, which operates as an island, not as part of a larger system.<br><br>Someday, perhaps, appliances and electrical fixtures will come with<br>Zwave or some other smarts built-in, but that's been part of the vision<br>for decades (remember the Consumer Electronics Bus (CEBus)[2]?), and it<br>hasn't happened, though ever decreasing costs for those smarts makes it<br>more likely.<br><br>So far, I don't see evidence that we're poised to turn a corner on home<br>automation, and that there would be a market as big as the one for<br>consumers who want to send videos to their TVs from their mobile devices.<br><br>Although I have seen numerous phone and cable companies jumping on the<br>home security and automation bandwagon as a new service they can charge<br>monthly for. These offerings all have some smartphone integration.<br>Perhaps these low-capability automation systems, which are painlessly<br>installed by cable/telco techs, will introduce the idea to a much wider<br>audience, who will down the road crave a "Google Home Automation<br>Controller Appliance" that spares them the monthly fee.<br><br>We can only hope that if Google does get into this, they take a look at<br>some of the existing open standards and build on them. Not much chance<br>Apple or Microsoft will.<br><br>1. http://www.micasaverde.com/vera.php<br>2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CEBus<br><br><br>Ming kuo wrote:<br>> I recently got a raspberry Pi working with siriproxy and ISY plugin<br>> to do Siri home automation turning on lights etc and also turning on<br>> songs music using Siri. Replaces numerous remotes in the house.<br><br>Neat.<br><br>I'd personally be more interested in hearing about similar integration<br>with Google Now, but sounds like a worthy accomplishment none the less.<br><br> -Tom<br>_______________________________________________<br>Hardwarehacking mailing list<br>Hardwarehacking@blu.org<br>http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/hardwarehacking<br></body>