Category: Smart Home

I’ve now replaced all of our smoke detectors, including this one in the kitchen that also detects carbon monoxide. They’re connected to the Internet and Google Home, but I can’t silence false alarms with a voice command like “Hey Google, STFU” because UL standards disallow that.

When we leave our home we tell Google to turn off all the lights. In recent times, Google has decided to play cool jazz once the lights are out. This morning I reviewed the settings and concluded this is a bug. We’ll now avoid Google’s attempts at romance by using a different voice command.

Sometimes we just go with the flow with YouTube Music’s recommendations for dinnertime music.

Satisfied my inner nerd, at least for today: modified wiring to make lights in the range hood smart, probably invalidating the warranty. The lights are now included in scenes with other kitchen lights, and can be adjusted by voice.

Today, after somehow managing without for 2 years, discovered the dishwasher has WiFi. We can now ask Google how much time it has left to run. It can automatically order supplies from Amazon, but I fear a truckload might arrive. Soon I’ll be able to get out again, a good thing.

Completed moving our Internet of Things over to a new hub. We can control all lights, temperature, etc., via our iPads, phones, voice (using smart speakers), wall switches, presence sensors (motion), or events (e.g., bright sunshine). It’s a geeky hobby.

Another at-home day: started moving 80+ Things managed by our Internet of Things hub to a different hub. Unlike the Samsung SmartThings hub I’m replacing, this Hubitat hub only needs to be connected to our home network, not the Internet. It’ll be more fast, secure and reliable.

Installed a smart lock. Now I need to dream up some use cases for it.

Installed smart lighting controls I’d bought on Cyber Monday.