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2021-10-26
Right now I'm listening to a podcast called SMLR (Sunday Morning Linux Review) and the latest episode the guys are talking about their home automation setups. Some of them are their heating and cooling setups, lights and other stuff.
I used to be into the idea of home automation and did a few things over the years. A couple of the things I was doing for a few years was using the Nest home thermostat. Then not long after I bought one, Google took over the company. Okay, well whatever I guess.
Then a month ago it started acting up. It would turn the A/C on, but wouldn't run the fan forcing the air through the apartment. Lucky me, it kept running and running, and running up my electric bill all the while not cooling the apartment down.
So I took the Nest down and put back the original, "dumb" thermostat back in place and things went back to normal. Looking at the Nest unit, I noticed a very small bubble toward the bottom of the face plate. I suspect perhaps a capacitor blew up causing the problem.
But as it stands, I have no plans to buy another smart thermostat.
This was probably the first smart home automation product I bought. I still have it and still use it. This is a very slick system and I quite enjoy it. The best part for me is the timers for the lights to come on and off or dim at certain times.
One thing I don't care for too much is the part where it has access to my location via my phone for the out-of-home features. While convienent, and I do use it, I still don't like the idea that certain parts of my life/activities are sent outside of my local network. It's a compromise, I know.
The other product I have is a single Wemo smart plug. I use this as a timer device to turn on my Expobar espresso machine in the mornings. It comes on before I wake up and by the time I get up and moving, the machine is warmed up and ready to go.
I think that someday when the Philips Hue hub fails, I may not replace it. As much as I enjoy it, I don't want to spend the money on it again, and moreover, I want to get back to standard light switches that have no links to a network or the Internet.
The same goes for the Wemo. I'm sure I can find a timer device that doesn't require an app, a network and the Internet to function as desired.
As technology advances and the fact that more and more IOT devices are targets of bad guys and malicious actors, the more I don't want them in my life. I do take all necessary precautions to segment, isolate and prevent problems, but nothing is 100%. The only way to be 100% is to not have IOT at all. The other aspect that gives me concern more than the bad guys, is the privacy aspect of them and big tech seeing a lot of what I do, or how I use the products. That bothers me more than the potential threat of malicious actors. While I'm not immune to them, I'm also not a high profile target worth being individually targeted.
I grew up in a time long before the Internet and we got by just fine without all the wizbang gadgets. I can still do just fine without them today.
I'm sure there are probably products out there that can do home automation tasks that do not require the Internet to function. However, I'm not interested in getting any of them. It's just more cost and time to setup the devices and maintain them and fix them if something goes wrong. I can still get by like in the old days by flipping a light switch or adjusting the temperature manually.
The YouTuber, Zeos Pantera, I mentioned in a previous post has his whole house automated using Alexa and it's a pretty sweet setup. But it took him weeks, if not months to get it fully configured after he moved in last year. That's a lot of overhead to maintain going forward and it's not something I care to do for myself.
I know a guy I used to work with a few years ago has his whole home automated and monitored, including alerts for when his washer and dryer are finshed! He really went the extra mile with his setup.
But I still long for the more simple solutions to everyday like. I love my Linux PC and all that I can do with it, but when it comes to my home, I prefer old-fashioned ways of doing things. I don't need technology invading every aspect of my life.
A lot of the home automation and monitoring systems are complex and require a bit of work to configure and maintain. It may require a lot of skill to get going, but as the old saying goes, "simplicity is the hallmark of genius".
Should I spend a lot of time and some money to automate a simple task such as setting the temperature, or should I just get up and adjust it myself when needed? Which is more simple and more genius, truly?
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