Honeywell Thermostat and Amazon Echo

I can adjust my thermostat from the app on my phone - which is nice, but the real advantage is being able to build the schedule without having to wade through the menus on the limited physical interface of the thermostat itself.

So, I'm not sure how much I would use the integration with the Amazon Echo, but it's cool to see it is an option:

"Amazon Echo can now control your Honeywell Total Connect Comfort Thermostat. Use Alexa, the voice service that powers Amazon Echo, to set the perfect temperature in your home by voice command. Simply say "Alexa, set my temperature to 72 degrees" and enjoy your home's comfort without having to lift a finger."

Also, you can get a cheap refurbished Amazon Echo today from Woot.

IoT: Honeywell Lyric Thermostat

Forget the NSA, your thermostat is watching you.

"The Lyric has a motion sensor, too–one which it uses to put itself into an interactive mode when it notices you’ve approached. But for monitoring whether you’re at home at all, Honeywell’s thermostat leverages its iOS and Android apps. Your phone tracks your location via GPS and reports it back to the thermostat, so the Lyric knows if you’re around the house or at a distant location. And if it notices that you’re headed home, it can begin to adjust itself so that the temperature is ideal by the time you arrive."

Nest Thermostat

I posted back in October about the Nest Thermostat. I thought it looked to be a cool device. Given that Honeywell is suing Nest, it must be good. Nest responds and says they will fight the good fight.

I don't know about that...

Hysterical... Amazon Echo Silver by SNL.

By the way, I got my Echo Dot to control my Honeywell thermostats. Pretty cool to ask her what the temperature is upstairs or down and get her to make the changes. I'm surprised how frequently I find the voice control to be handy. (I have CarPlay and really like using Siri to make calls and read or send messages.)

Via @Scott_WZ0W

Internet of Things: Doorbells

Honeywell sent me an e-mail announcing their new doorbells. You can make a custom "ring tone" or define a silent period (so the deliveryman doesn't wake the baby, for example).

It doesn't mention it, but surely the pressing the doorbell will eventually ring your phone. Of course, it needs to integrate with your IoT lock and camera system.

Home Assistant

Don't click if you don't have time to go down an awesome rabbit hole of home automation... Home Assistant. Doing cool things and saving myself time could be a full-time job.

Works with my Honeywell thermostats, Wemo lights and switches, and probably just about everything else via IFTTT.

Nest Thermostat

Interesting take on actually living with the Nest thermostat:

"When I first got my Nest I felt like I had super powers because it connected to Wi-Fi and enabled me to adjust my home’s temperature using the Nest website or tablet app. This was unheard of for a thermostat at that time. But this positive feature has been eclipsed by negative elements that commandeered control. (And control is what you really want when it comes to using a device.) 

A learning device implies that it will not only pick up on what you usually do, but it will also: 1) allow you to change, and 2) absorb those changes. My Nest learned quite well, but then stopped learning. It remembered but it didn’t look for variations or adapt. It was the equivalent of a printed textbook: Facts, correct or not, become law if written in there and thus will be taught that way until the school chooses a different textbook. 

When I turned the dial to increase the heat to 66 degrees, rather than responding by making the house warmer, or by informing me that it is now working toward this, it read, "in 1 hour and 20 minutes 66 degrees until 10:00PM.” The next day the house temperature plummeted to a punishing 50 degrees (I realize I may be spoiled) for no reason I was privy to. Here, by the way, is another usability heuristic not heeded: visibility of system status."

That article makes me happier with my Honeywell Wi-Fi thermostats. They are very easy to control. It's not flashy, but they just seem to work. I've had one for a long time now and the second one for about a month. Defining a schedule is fairly straightforward, but the temporary overrides are trivial to make. It has controls at the thermostat or you can make changes via the web or the app.

Tech Fatigue

People are getting tried of keeping up with all the changes or maybe most things are good enough.

In the last year, I went from an old 42 inch HDTV LCD to a new, thin Vizio 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart TV. I upgraded to an iPhone 6. I've had an old iPad Mini for years that I rarely use. I don't have a smart watch. I've had my Honeywell Wi-Fi thermostats for a while. I'm not really interested in a drone.
I might upgrade my Garmin GPS running watch or add a fitness band. I geek out over the data, so I'd like to have the heart rate and sleep information that something like the Garmin Vivosmart HR would provide.