Homeseer

Alexa, IFTTT and Homeseer

Just a quick and dirty demo of what I can do using the power of the Amazon Echo, IFTTT and Homeseer. There are several ways to control it. Alexa is limited to single statements and using IFTTT “triggers” and is also limited to whether IFTTT is being laggy or not. It’s usually pretty stable but…Read more

The Perfect Smart Home: What I’m Using…Part II

So in Part I  I touched on most of the hardware I’m using and some of my software. I keep coming across stuff I missed and I’ll mention some of that here. So on to how all this works together. Down among the creepy crawlies that inhabit my garage and basement along with my son’s…Read more

The Perfect Smart Home: What I’m Using…Part I

SO I’m a big gadget geek. As far as phones, while there is nothing wrong with Apple products my personal preference is for Android. The platform is much more extensible and I can do 1,000 more things with my Nexus than I ever would be able to with Apple. But…this isn’t about that. I came…Read more

New Gadget

So my thermostat crapped out yesterday after 16 years. Luckily it’s the time of year where it’s not a humongous deal. Picked up a Zwave thermostat on sale at Home Depot, which is awesome. Putting the damned thing in proved to be a trick. Only four wires in the thermostat but the one I got…Read more