Home Automation Post 10

The 10th part of my home automation series. We’ve talked about fixing your home network and some great tools to do that. We’ve talked about the initial projects that you can consider, from home security (door locks and cameras) to automating the lights and garage door of your home. We talked about the Hue lights, and we talked about using Fingbox for network security. We also wandered around some other potential automation projects that you could and can consider.

The critical part of a home automation project is planning. But, just to clarify and of course, repeat me, the critical piece for you as a person is to make life a little easier. To simplify tasks that take time away from other things you wish or want to do. In that process and concept, we move forward on additional components of what we are going to automate. One of the interesting things with the release of IoS 10 was the addition of apple of the home button for iPad/iPhones.

Home lets you seek IoT devices installed in your home (that have Apple gateways today). Microsoft also includes an IoT device tracker in Windows 10. LIke the APple toolset on the Ipad or iPhone. I have connected my Hue lights to both my iPhone and my iPad via Apple’s home and via the Phillips Hue application. The interesting question to ask of course is what is your end game for automation platforms. If you consider your phone or tablet the end state, then you can use the apple home component. If you want to go beyond the Apple connected devices, then consider going forward what your end state looks like.

My end state is two-fold, iPhone/android/iPad control and integrated wall mounted control panels.