Home Automation and IoT: Fad or a reality?

August 24, 2017 1:22 PM

So, my 29 year old son rolled this cylindrical piece of speaker(Alexa) in front of me and tells me how this new revolutionary tech thing would change the lives. He speaks about voice based home automation, talks about things talking to each other (IoT), and talks about radio communication enabled with complex things in it. I actually took up this challenge to learn more about home automation using IoT. Frankly, I don't get why I should use Alexa? Why should I use Nest? What's wrong with my thermostat that I have been using from last 15 years and it still works well with the timer settings I have. I tried reading more into this topic, I didn't get a clear understanding, as everywhere people are talking about divided bits and pieces, but nothing that I can see which can use as a customer to automate my home. Best I have read so far is the article from Lifehacker "How to get started with home automation", and the next this guide on "developing home automation using IoT". I still am not sure how and why I should automate my entire home?

I further explored, there's this talk about Blockchains, which is completely out of my league to understand. But, still if someone somewhere could better explain this, it would be nice. So many broken pieces, so less information out there. I understand a bit about security and communication related stuff, but the whole ecosystem seems to be highly overrated.

posted by iamagile to Computers & Internet (1 answer total)

I'll be watching this thread with interest. For me so far I can't think of a single reason to do any of it, and plenty of reasons not to. And, I hate my friend's Nest thermostat and always wind up having to open a window in her house when it's 40 degrees out.
posted by fingersandtoes at 1:25 PM on August 24, 2017