A bit of both. It’s a mindset that keeps me from doing anything too stupid, and a good one to pass on to others. I can play around, so long as I don’t make her life harder.
It mostly stops me putting brittle, or janky setups into use. I need to actually streamline and ruggedise them. I benefit from that too, in the long run.
I’ve been playing with my smart home for years now. I’m well past the “oh wow” honeymoon phase and into the “just do your job” phase.
I forgot to mention WAF, Wife Acceptance Factor. Any smart system should fall back to a dumb one, if something goes wrong. E.g. You should never require WiFi to turn your lights on. There should always be a switch that will just work. Central control computer crashes? The wife is annoyed the house is now just dumb, not that the house is now dead.
I’ve considered that, for the same reasons. My machines are obnoxious enough to be heard through half the house on their own however.
The built in smart ones seem to be the worst of all worlds. They farm you for data, while not providing much of use. They try to tie you into ecosystems, that stop you using the data elsewhere.
My solution was going to be to monitor current draw, via a power monitoring plug, running Tasmota. Once it’s below a threshold for long enough, send an alert.
Smart home stuff can be done right.
You need to focus on the use case. Is what it is doing actually necessary? E.g. smart lights are amazingly useful, smart washing machine? Why?!?
The S in IoT stands for security. Smart devices need to be treated as security risks. Mine have their own WiFi to play on. They don’t get to play with my important devices. Also, internet access is a privilege, not a right. ZigBee is often superior to WiFi too. Control the bridge and you have absolute control of their internet access.
Open source for the win. A lot of IoT options can run open source firmware. This helps break open the black boxes and let you see if they are doing bad things. Home assistant, EspHome, and Tasmota are the big 3 to look into.
If you’re not the customer, you’re the product. Google etc sell smart speakers at a loss. If you must have them, treat them as actively hostile. I’m still trying to find a good alternative to some of their functions, but getting there.
Hydrocarbons are one of the best energy stores available. We also have large networks already set up to distribute and use them. Being able to dump large amounts of excess energy into hydrocarbons as energy storage and feedstock would be a big gain for saving the planet.
Fully agreed on that. There is also a balance of allowing them to explore an idea space, while keeping them clear of risks and negative problems.
E.g. my minion is currently obsessed with Minecraft. They are actually getting quite good at the design part too. They want to play online though. I’m not happy with that, so I am setting up a private server. It will be whitelist access only. They will be able to play online and talk with their friends through Minecraft, but not random players online. When they are older, I’ll allow it, but only when I am in the (physical) room, keeping an eye on things.
If you try and shoehorn your kids into only what you think is acceptable, then you will have problems. If you have shown you will help them explore their own interests, they will come to you with them. If you regularly shut them down, they will go behind your back, where you have no control.
I read it more as, if your kid is intent on something, rather than slap them down, try and work with them to turn it into a positive experience.
Most kids adore doing stuff with their parents. It lets them practice adult skills, with the safety net of a trusted adult behind them.
With something like streaming, it would be down to the parent to keep them safe and let them explore their creativity. It sounds like this dad screwed that up, but is trying to at least own his part of that.
There are nuances between feral parenting and helicopter parenting.
I have issues with face recognition. While I’m not face blind, I have issues with remembering faces. This also cascades into remembering information about people.
A local face matching system, that can flag pertinent facts to me would be life-changing.
I refuse to let the likes of meta data mine me however. I also don’t want to be in the same boat as the people currently abusing the glasses already.
I think the Minecraft modders got there first. That would push doom to 3rd at least.
I need to jump back into that story. 😁
Tbh, I would love an appropriate pair. I have issues with memory, particularly regarding faces. A set of smart glasses would be an almost perfect aid to me.
Unfortunately, I don’t trust any of the manufacturers not to abuse the hell out of all the data they generate. I’m also fully aware of the idiots abusing them, and ruining things for everyone else.
AI can be a force multiplier for doctors. The catch is it needs to be doctor led. It’s quite trivial for a doctor to dismiss the obvious hallucinations. If it also points them towards more subtle signs they would potentially miss, then that’s a net win.
Off the top of my head.
Adjusting from the sofa, or bed.
Auto off when you leave the house.
Auto off when the room is unused for a while (great with kids).
Colour temperature and brightness adjustment to match sunlight (great for conditioning children to go to bed easily).
Party Mode
Auto dim turn on at night(avoids waking you up to much on bathroom runs).