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Thread: Smart Homes, yes or no?

  1. #16
    #DeSantis2024 Teh One Who Knocks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Muddy View Post
    I like a certain aspect of it, but I have no trust for Google or Alexa to not spy on me for marketing information.
    Quote Originally Posted by PorkChopSandwiches View Post
    I like the idea of it, but not allowing any company to listen in my house
    Quote Originally Posted by lost in melb. View Post
    This.
    Quote Originally Posted by Pony View Post
    I have an Echo Dot I got for Christmas a couple years ago. It's still in the box next to the box of smart plugs.

    At some point I will get a couple of Wifi cameras to keep tabs on the island spot when I'm not there but I really have no interest in any of the "listening" devices. I even have the wifi updates turned off on my TV.
    You know, unless you stop using smartphones and COMPLETELY de-Google yourself, you're already getting tracked every second of every day you are 'connected'. And although yes, the Alexa and Google devices are always listening, unless you're a criminal planning nefarious things, if you think that each home with an assistant device like Alexa has their own FBI agent assigned to listening to everything you say in front of it, then you should probably start hanging out with FBD more.

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    Hal killed Tormund! Pony's Avatar
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    I don't have a smartphone.




    I do have a tablet though, and use Google about half the time because honestly most of the other search engines suck. They are necessary evils I use for my convenience, I see the benefit of other smart devices (My Dad has many) I just don't feel the need for them.

    My concerns are more for hacking related issues than govt related.

  3. #18
    21-Jazz hands salute Muddy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Godfather View Post
    I've got a free Google Home but I haven't even set it up. I've been dragging my heels buying any smart home products. There was a flash sale on two smart lightbulbs that I can connect for super cheap but I haven't even got around to setting them up

    I'd really like a smart thermostat, but my townhouse is heated by baseboards on separate thermostats in each room, so it's not possible as far as I know (or maybe it is, but I'm not buying and installing 3-4 different thermostats)
    I have a free Google mini waiting for me from Spotify... They can keep it..!!

    Quote Originally Posted by Teh One Who Knocks View Post
    You know, unless you stop using smartphones and COMPLETELY de-Google yourself, you're already getting tracked every second of every day you are 'connected'. And although yes, the Alexa and Google devices are always listening, unless you're a criminal planning nefarious things, if you think that each home with an assistant device like Alexa has their own FBI agent assigned to listening to everything you say in front of it, then you should probably start hanging out with FBD more.
    I have the smart phone at this point and I know its just a huge tracking/marketing device for businesses... I'm not looking to go any deeper with any always listening devices. After that whats the next step? It gets harder and harder to unplug..

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    #DeSantis2024 Teh One Who Knocks's Avatar
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    Added my first smart light switch after adding 2 smart plugs last week to test those out. The smart plugs control the living room lamps and the smart switch now controls the outside front lights (porch light and the lights on either side of the garage door). And with the smart switch, it can either be controlled with Alexa, manually, or but the app. But in the app you can set a schedule so now the outside front lights will come on at sunset and turn off at sunrise.

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    Basement Dweller Godfather's Avatar
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    You gotta do this now




    Edit: Wait, that seems to be some sort of stupid meme complication, not what I was looking for but I'm going to leave it

  6. #21
    #DeSantis2024 Teh One Who Knocks's Avatar
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    Added another smart light switch. Those things are kind of a pain in the ass to install. Not that it's hard to do, just that the smart switches are HUGE compared to a standard light switch and getting them all wired up and then forced into the switch opening is a major pain. I have one installed in a bank of three switches and the other in a two switch box. I don't think you could fit another smart switch in either because of the fact that there just isn't enough room in those boxes that house the switches.

  7. #22
    21-Jazz hands salute Muddy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Teh One Who Knocks View Post
    Added another smart light switch. Those things are kind of a pain in the ass to install. Not that it's hard to do, just that the smart switches are HUGE compared to a standard light switch and getting them all wired up and then forced into the switch opening is a major pain. I have one installed in a bank of three switches and the other in a two switch box. I don't think you could fit another smart switch in either because of the fact that there just isn't enough room in those boxes that house the switches.
    What do they do? Controllable with a phone?

  8. #23
    #DeSantis2024 Teh One Who Knocks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Muddy View Post
    What do they do? Controllable with a phone?
    You can control them with your phone, you can voice control them with Alexa or Google Home (usually they are compatible with either one or the other, not both), you can program them to turn on and off at certain times (the one I have hooked to the lights out front is automatically programmed to come on at sunset and turn off at sunrise and it automatically adjusts itself every day to what sunrise and sunset is in your location).

    This is from the app on my phone:


  9. #24
    21-Jazz hands salute Muddy's Avatar
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    Wow.. thats pretty slick...

  10. #25
    #DeSantis2024 Teh One Who Knocks's Avatar
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    Yeah, the part about automatically adjusting sunrise and sunset every day is pretty neat. Don't ever have to remember to turn on or off the front lights.

  11. #26
    Take Box B DemonGeminiX's Avatar
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    If I could program interfaces (to replace Google's Alexa or another company's similar intrusive tech), I'd be all for making my home smart. But interfaces are kind of a pain in the ass, and it would take me a year to actually get it down. Plus I'd have to figure out how to reverse engineer the physical devices themselves, which would be an added learning experience.


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    #DeSantis2024 Teh One Who Knocks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DemonGeminiX View Post
    If I could program interfaces (to replace Google's Alexa or another company's similar intrusive tech), I'd be all for making my home smart. But interfaces are kind of a pain in the ass, and it would take me a year to actually get it down. Plus I'd have to figure out how to reverse engineer the physical devices themselves, which would be an added learning experience.
    You don't need Alexa or Google Home so long as you keep all your tech with one company (like the plugs and switches shown on the app screenshot above). I could completely control everything from the app. The only things Alexa lets me do is create voice control over everything. And you can set up routines with Alexa too (probably with Google Home as well), but you don't need the voice assistants to use a lot of the smart home tech. Alexa just helps pull everything together from several different manufacturers to be a 'hub' for you.

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    Take Box B DemonGeminiX's Avatar
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    Yeah, but the temptation would always be there for me. "I could reprogram this fucker if I wanted to". About a week later, lights would be flashing on and off randomly, and I'd be cackling in my garage like a mad scientist.


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  14. #29
    21-Jazz hands salute Muddy's Avatar
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    I'm interested in the product for when I am at the river.. It would be cool to run some lights on and off and make people winder if someone is home.. It would be a great deterrent to would be robbers.

  15. #30
    #DeSantis2024 Teh One Who Knocks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Muddy View Post
    I'm interested in the product for when I am at the river.. It would be cool to run some lights on and off and make people winder if someone is home.. It would be a great deterrent to would be robbers.
    https://www.kasasmart.com/us/products

    That's the brand of switches and smart plugs I'm using. I believe @RBP has some of their products as well.

  16. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Teh One Who Knocks For This Useful Post:

    Muddy (01-08-2020), RBP (01-09-2020)

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