Smart home

SteveJW

Have you had a look at Sonoff products, they work fine wirh Alexa also have a TP Link LB130 bulb working with Alexa.

Various scenes and timers set up and working well

RumRat

I'll second TPLink bulbs and plugs. If you can wait until Black Friday (23 November), there should be some bargains about.

cherryblossomzel

The issue of security and how much info Amazon and Google have about me is certainly not something I ignore, but tbh, I've had a google account for 20 years, use an android phone, been on facebook for ages, been an Amazon Prime customer for years, have had more bank accounts with online banking than I care to remember, and have details on various other, legitimate, website. I do try pretty hard keep my own security settings at a level I feel comfortable with, which is tighter than the default settings, but I can't put the toothpaste back in the tube.

I have no plans for cameras inside, or indeed outside, the house.

It all does look complicated though. Is it worth going into a shop and talking to sales people?

Gers

cherryblossomzel wrote: »

It all does look complicated though. Is it worth going into a shop and talking to sales people?

There's a great FB forum for Amazon Alexa - loads of techie folk who know what they're talking about. I'd be reluctant to talk to a sales person cos that's exactly what they are.

Do some searching for reviews (again, a healthy dose of salts to be taken).

I love the lights on / lights off stuff. Plenty others have things such as curtains open / curtains closed etc - a boon for those with limited mobility. For speech impairment the Kasa app has touch controls and timer settings.

Good luck in your search!

cherryblossomzel

Gers wrote: »

There's a great FB forum for Amazon Alexa - loads of techie folk who know what they're talking about. I'd be reluctant to talk to a sales person cos that's exactly what they are.

That's also why I'm not so sure to talk to sales people, plus they often tend to be 12 years old (I'm getting old) and actually can't answer anything overly technical.

Thanks for advice re the FB groups. Just had a look and already seen some good stuff on there!

RumRat wrote: »

I'll second TPLink bulbs and plugs. If you can wait until Black Friday (23 November), there should be some bargains about.

Hadn't thought of Black Friday, good idea

Money_Grabber13579

I’ve kitted our my house with Philips Hue lights and I love them (tend to control them with the app more often than through Google Home).

One feature I especially love is that when i’m on holiday, I can set the lights to come on and off, simulating that i’m still around and hopefully providing some security.

Stoke

Most of my rooms have either smart bulbs or smart light switches which was something I did end of last year. The smart light switches are great but they need a neutral wire, so you have to get an electrician in. The bulbs you just screw in and you're good to go. I have smart plugs in most rooms as well. Living Room Light floor lamp is on a smart plug, TV sat box etc, DAB Radio upstairs. When I put up my Christmas tree, I'll also use a smart plug for that.... and I'm thinking of putting one in the garage for the decking lights. Not sure how clever that is though.

Echo in the kitchen, Echo Dot in my bedroom. Thinking of swapping them as I find myself using the one in my bedroom more often.

I am undecided on whether the smart stuff was truly worth it. It wasn't that expensive to do but obviously it costs a little to run them and then you have to wonder whether I'd have been better just sticking to old fashioned light switches. I didn't have any problem with them for the first 27 years of my life....

Browntoa

An interesting article about hacking "internet of things" (these sort of devices) connected devices

https://hackernoon.com/iot-hacks-and-vulnerabilities-347dbe2ef98c

arciere

tonyh66 wrote: »

CCTV cameras aren't hacked, they are just viewed because people put them onto open ip addresses. You are right that IOT hacking probably is a growth area so people need to be aware and secure their network properly.

IoT cameras are intrinsically insecure because they need to communicate with the external world in order for you to be able to access them from your phone.
Any camera that connects to 'the cloud' or to p2p servers is potentially a risk.
The only thing you can do to make them "safe" would be to set your firewall to block any internet activity to/from them. You can still access their videos with a VPN connection to your router and connect directly to their ONVIF address.

RumRat

I feel some spam coming on....Or were you just letting us all know of your ability to read?
In case you were genuine......Its not a future trend....it's been here a while now.