Google is bleeding cash trying to take on Amazon in the smart home

> computer did things that nothing else could do.

Humans can do anything a computer does because we made them. We just cannot do everything a computer does as fast.

> alexa is doing things that practically every other smart device can do as well

So did the first iphone but there is a lot more to it.

Those other methods involve you having your device at hand or getting it out of your pocket, unlocking it, etc.

The Echo isn't at its full potential, but the basics can be useful and you can see where it's going. Once they handle a broader variety of things, they will be a no-brainer for every household that isn't nervous about privacy issues. (i.e., almost everyone)

I use it to set cooking timers without stopping what I'm doing or needing a hand free. My kids use it to play music. e.g., my three year old can play a particular album without knowing how to spell it and without having to nag me to do it. They also love asking it questions like "how many teeth does a horse have?" or "how much does an elephant weigh?"

> A PC is an expensive general purpose computing device. Alexa is a cheap device which exists for the sole purpose of locking you into the Amazon-prime ecosystem.

PCs started out the same way but gradually expanding into solving more and more solutions. Oh, and I have never used my echo to do anything with prime.

> I have an Alexa which was gifted to me. My son loves it.

Marketers chase after young people because they tend to lead changes. You might want to look at why your son loves it.

Agreed, those things alone are worth it.

However, once I already had an Echo I started thinking of things that could be done with it beyond the trivial stuff.

For example I have been working on a tiny ESP8266 device that will sit behind or above the toaster oven in my moms kitchen. If the temperature is high for more than an hour or two, Alexa will say "I'm reminding you, the toaster oven is still on".

Total cost will end up being about $10-15, and requires no contact with or alteration of the oven, so it is a progressive enhancement rather than potentially making things worse or interfering with the basic function of the oven.

I could put a "smart switch" on the power supply and cut it automatically, but when things like toaster ovens are plugged in those switches are a potential hazard themselves.

It seems like automatic shutoff is something toaster ovens should all have, but clearly not all of them do. The same is true for ovens, stove tops, coffee pots, clothes irons, heating pads, tea kettles, electric woks, curling irons, etc.

Also seems like a better idea to follow the example of smoke alarms and use external monitoring rather than trust every single appliance to work properly.

I've considered putting something like an AMG8833[1] in a smoke alarm housing on the ceiling, so it can detect any appliance left on too long, but I'm not sure if it would work well in practice. Things like that are getting cheaper though, eventually it'll be possible.

[1] https://www.adafruit.com/product/3538

I've only "deployed" a Philips Hue setup at home, but no, just internal WiFi is enough.

Some do, some don't. But if you want to use Alexa or Google Home or Siri to control you do need an internet connection to do the voice translate to command bit.

Personally I've gone with SmartThings (Samsung) to control the home tech and use Amazon as the voice interface. This allows me to be reasonably agnostic of vendor and interfacing standards (ZWave/Zigbee/Wifi), allows me to use a scripting language to control some aspects of automation (using Webcore app) and still use Amazon to issue voice commands to the same devices.

Kids love it, I like it, but not got full wife acceptance yet, she gets frustrated turns stuff off at the wall and then all the automation needs debugging!

Was the clapper a good product? Think the clapper, but instead it's completely customizable to your hearts content.

Depends on the size of your house and the position of your light switches.

It's pretty nice to say, "Alexa, turn on away mode" as I leave the house. Instead of going through the whole place, turning off all the lights, locking the back door and adjusting down the thermostat.

This is undoubtedly cool, but seems like a red herring. Not knocking your experiences and all, it’s great that you like it. But it is reminiscent of every cartoon ever where the bed makes itself and brushes the protagonists’ teeth. Or the Earnest movies from the 80’s where he has a Rube Goldberg machine rigged up to make him breakfast. All of this ‘automation’ is feasible with simple wiring-50’s technology. And much more ‘smart’ with x10 tech from the 80’s/90’s. The premise then is that there is a huge, unknown, pent-up demand for this type of thing from non-technical people who wouldn’t have been able to rig up a home automation system in the past. Anecdotally I’m not sure I see it, and more analytically it seems like the less ‘techie’ you are, the less you crave this type of automation. In other words, there is a diminishing return by making this type of thing more accessible. I’m not sure if this level of automation is a game changer. However, put a generation or two more advanced tech in a robot and you have Judy from the Jetsons, and that I think may change the picture. But we’re not quite there yet

Thanks for mentioning this. This is one of the first use cases where it seems to be solving something more than insignificantly annoying to me. Especially for my non-tech friends who I am always having to adjust their TVs for.

Gonna set up my family's Alexas now. But it's a 1 time investment. :D

Im have the $200 one from amazon. it has no cameras or wifi, it just randomly roams around the rooms or you can set it to 'curb' mode and it will be sweeping along the walls. I don't use a lot of paperclips so I would not know but you can test it by feeding it a bunch of paperclips and if it does go on to scratch floors then just return it, I guess.

isnt map (blueprint) of your house already a public domain that was submitted for approval before construction/renovation?

Roombas are garbage, in my experience. Look into the Xiaomi Robot Vacuum, it's about $300 and quite fantastic. Yes it builds a map of your home, but if you dont need phone control then it doesn't need wifi. Unlike a Roomba, it knows where its been and a good idea on what its doing.

This thing is too convinient and I know some us data broker will have a tough time getting the data to do anything with it