Do You Use Any "Smart Home" Devices in Your House?

SeaBreeze

SeaBreeze

Endlessly Groovin'
Location
USA
I don't use any of these, and doubt if I ever will. Do you use any Smart Home devices like Alexa in your house?

 

I suppose such devices would be handy for those who are handicapped, etc....I hope I never get too lazy, or disabled, to flip a light switch.
 

We have Alexa connected to our old home stereo and mostly use her for playing music from our Pandora account. Easy peasy to use when changing or finding some new music.
 
No. The more you have, the more you have to go wrong. If I was disabled, a slave to technology , lazy or just plain liked my toys, then I might get some of these things. In the meantime, remote locking of my car door is about as far as I'll go.
 
Capt Lightning said:
No. The more you have, the more you have to go wrong. If I was disabled, a slave to technology , lazy or just plain liked my toys, then I might get some of these things. In the meantime, remote locking of my car door is about as far as I'll go.
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That is a fact. A friend of mine went all "techy" and turned his house into a "smart house". Oh what fun it was until there was a power failure that lasted for 2 days. The gyrations he had to go through just to be able to lock his doors was insane. It took him over a week to get everything back to where it was before .. yet he still loves it all and says he won't give it up. To each their own !
 
Not yet!

At this point I see them as a novelty with great promise.

I believe that within a few years they will be developed into useful tools that may allow me to live independently for a few more years.
 
Absolutely will not have any of these 'smart devices' (I don't have a smart phone either, just a table for travel and desktop pc ) for the simple reason that these devices can be hacked. Bluetooth technology just enables hackers. It's enough work to watch my credit cards (I've had other people charge things by somehow getting the card number) and investments.
I do online transactions, and my cc info is out there. But if someone hacks into a 'smart house', they can get access to everything.
 
My new lady friend brought her Alexa with her as well as 2 smart devices, so I can turn on/off some lamps via my smartphone. I can also adjust my thermostat from anywhere. My solar panels transmit data every 15 minutes via the internet. I think I can also start my car via cell/internet.

Some of the comments remind me of my oldest brother who didn't approve of TVs with remote controls - he said "any man who is too damn lazy to tell his wife to get up and change channels shouldn't be watching TV in the first place." Just sayin :):cool:
 
Yes I have loads...smart plugs...remote control lights and table lamps ... smart phone... Smart Thermostat ( which means I can turn my heating , lights, and hot water on from anywhere, miles from the house using my phone, ipad or laptop). In fact when I go overseas, I turn the lights here in this house in the uk every night from abroad, so burglars don't think the house is empty) ... (but I had all of those things before I had Alexa)...I don't use Alexa for anything much..and of course that Video is a little misleading.. you have to download loads of Apps for Alexa to do all that stuff in the video.. and we don't need it to do anything for us yet.. she's just a bit of fun at the moment, we ask her quizzes, and ...I think my o/h might use her as an alarm clock as well..but other than that we have everything else covered ..
 
hollydolly said:
Yes I have loads... Smart Thermostat ( which means I can turn my heating... on from anywhere. ..
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Why or when do you ever need to adjust your thermostat when not at home?!? I seriously don't get this. My $20 programmable thermostat has a 'vacation' temp that I can select whenever I'm leaving for a while.
 
Why or when do you ever need to adjust your thermostat when not at home?!? I seriously don't get this. My $20 programmable thermostat has a 'vacation' temp that I can select whenever I'm leaving for a while.
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The 'smart' devices, to me, are the poster children for 'needs versus wants'. You don't need any of these devices. We grew up without them, and I doubt there are more than a handful of tales of woe where a smart device would have made some big difference in preventing some tragedy.
I would use these 'toys' (for the fun of it) if they weren't so easy to hack into. Since they're not secure, it's sounds absolutely silly, but someone can start by hacking your fridge and getting into your financial interests via blue tooth technology.
 
We have an Echo Dot that has Alexa, and all we have used it for so far is to play music through the stereo. My daughter has one of the Nest thermostats and she loves it !
We went to visit her on Christmas Day, and she was showing us how it works. When she walks past, it “recognizes” her and lights up, so if she is gone and comes back, the thermostat will turn the heat up if it has been lowered while she was gone. It also changes according to her schedule, so lower temps when she is gone to work, and when she is sleeping at night, and then warms the house up when she comes home.
I really like the idea of programmable home equipment like this, and we will probably add some of the smart plug-in receptacles so that we can turn some lights on and off of we need to do that.
I can see that an extended power outage might cause problems; but that kind of thing is going to cause some kinds of problems regardless, and it would be really nice to have a warm house and lights on if we happened to go somewhere and get home later than we expected to.
 
We have a couple of smart plugs and some Blink security cameras that can be accessed by an iPhone app. I can look around the house and turn lights on and off while we are traveling in the RV. It's kind of cool. :D
 
WIFI Thermostat and I love it now. I never used the programable options through the years, but reaching over and hitting the phone or changing the heat before I get home I like.
 

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