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Comment by fragmede | Hacker News Reader

Be however whelmed you want to be. The scale from 1-10 of home automation with an AI assistant goes from Luddite still using a simple dumb switch that cannot be hacked, to fully automated turn on the lights and heating when I get home, and user voice commands to run the house and boil water in the morning for coffee. However hyped you percieve it to be, the automated IoT future is already here for those that want it and can afford it.

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I find turning a simple dumb switch easier and faster than issuing a voice command. Especially if the switch is conveniently located next to where I enter/exit the room.

I think in the 80s they sold coffee machines with clocks in them which would start to brew at the time you set.

I really enjoy not stubbing my toes and banging my knees on stuff when I go to bed

Invest in a lamp?

I dunno,

I rather enjoy standing in the dark for 45 seconds while I toggle my phone’s wifi on and off and wait for my Hue app to try connect and then agree to a surprise 80 page EULA and a lecture about how Philips cares about my privacy so I can turn on my bathroom light to take a piss. If I could just flip a switch I might get used to the convenience and not really appreciate the whole procedure as much.

Sometimes it’s nice to have a million lines of code between you and your lightbulb.

Sorry, but the state police decided you are protesting against voice activated smart light bulb manufacturers and now deserve to get shot at like the Luddites.

I think this is peak silicon valley bubble right here.

Most people do not have home automation products at all. Not because they are ludites but because the technology is not evenly distributed and isn't doing as well in all markets.

Not to mention home automation hardware and software is 99% unreliable bespoke crap.

Can confirm. My house is full of unreliable bespoke crap. Looking forward to a non-smart home next.

I mean we can only speak for our own bubbles.

I live in Tokyo and most of my friends (20s) have some kind of automation in their apartments, mostly using Alexa or Google Home. Again, just another bubble, but its not all Silicon Valley.

i live in canada.

Smart thermostats and smart doorbells do seem on the rise, but i have never met anyone who actually has a home assistant. But all the americans i know seem to have one

Are you sure you're not just in a Luddite bubble? Philips Hue was released in 2012, 11 years ago, and the smart lighting category is estimated at $12.7 billion for 2022. For sure the future is unevenly distributed, but pretending it's solely a Silicon Valley phenomenon, when Philips Hue didn't even originate from there (though it integrates with Apple which certainly does) seems like a mistake that a Luddite or someone without access to Wikipedia and a map might make.

Last time I was at IKEA, the majority of bulbs on shelves were smart. I wonder what portion only ever get used on dumb switches.

It's here but not exactly a huge success:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/11/amazon-alexa-is-a-co...

Although making a profit is generally a foreign concept in Silicon Valley, at some point just pouring money into things without an actual path to revenue doesn't work as a business model in the long term.

>the automated IoT future is already here for those that want it and can afford it.

And that can (is able to) mantain and troubleshoot it ...

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