The Dark Side of WeMo

Belkin's WeMo products are really popular ways of getting into home automation, but they do have a downside.

Almond Routers

Most home automation systems follow a certain formula: You have smaller devices that do things, and they are all controlled via a hub that plugs into your router. The hub is your gateway to your devices through your phone, tablet, what have you. That formula is starting to change, however. A company called Almond has released two wireless routers that are home automation hubs.

On the router side, these are fairly standard, top of the line wireless access points. They broadcast the latest spec of Wi-Fi, 802.11ac, which is blazingly fast if your devices support it.
On the home automation side, they're a bit more interesting. The lower end model supports the ZigBee home automation protocol, which quite a few devices are starting to support. The higher end model adds support for Z-Wave, an older, but much more common way to communicate with smart devices.
To program the automation, you can either use the Almond app for your phone or tablet, or use the built in touch screens on the routers themselves. They can control sprinklers, lights, climate systems, even security cameras.
Considering that most home automation hubs are at least $100, the pricing for these routers is actually fairly competitive: $100 for the low end model, $200 for the high end model with Z-Wave. Remember that if you get these hubs, you also get a router, so you're effectively getting two devices for the price of one.

The Ottobox

I talk about Kickstarter a lot on here. But the reality is that Kickstarter is a great place for home automation devices to start, because most larger companies aren't willing to take a risk on the kinds of devices that can change the way we live our lives. One of those devices that's taking a risk right now is the Ottobox, which was unique enough to catch my eye when I scrolled past it on my Kickstarter feed.

The Ottobox at first glance is very similar to other home automation products, like the WeMo switch. It's a small box that plugs into an electrical outlet in your home, while an appliance plugs into the Ottobox itself. You can then control the Ottobox from your phone, turning it on and off remotely. So, what makes it different from every other smart switch device out there? It's smart. Really smart. So smart in fact, that it will learn your schedule within the first two weeks of being plugged in, and start to predict what you want it to do.
Here's an example. Say you hook it up to your coffee pot. In the first two weeks, you use your phone to turn your coffee pot on in the mornings, and off when you go to work. That's a pattern the Ottobox will start to learn. So before you know it, the coffee pot is turning itself on in the mornings on weekdays, and off when you leave the house.
Now, there are some limitations here. It's only going to work for something that plugs into an outlet, though they say a light switch version is in the works. Also, if your schedule changes, it will eventually relearn it, but that could take some time. So it's not quite the fully automatic system of our dreams, but it's definitely a step in the right direction.
Oh, and did I mention the inventor came up with the idea when he was 16? Suddenly, I feel old.

The Updated Echo

You may recall a few weeks ago I talked about the Amazon Echo, Amazon's eerie attempt to listen to your every word. Just kidding, it's actually their voice controlled Siri clone that sits in the middle of a room and answers questions, like "What's the weather like?" and "Do I have any appointments tomorrow?" At the time, I said the main disadvantage of the Echo as a home automation device was that it couldn't be used to control actual devices around your home, like lights and appliances. Well, that all just changed.

Amazon has pushed out a software update for the Echo that allows it to be used as a voice activated remote control for various home automation devices. When I say various, unfortunately, I mean very few. It only works with the WeMo switches that Belkin makes, and the Philips Hue lightbulbs. I like those devices, but it is a bit limiting as far as choice goes. The good news is that it seems like Amazon wants to support more devices in the future. The voice command to pair your Echo with these other devices is "Discover my appliances," which is a pretty vague command. If Amazon wanted their selection to be so limited, they could have gone with a command like "Discover my lights."
The Amazon Echo is $199 from Amazon, though you need to request an invitation to buy it.

Controlling Your Home With Your Voice

Part of the pipe dream of home automation is the ability to talk to your home and have it obey your commands. I talked a little while ago about the Amazon Echo, which offered a sort of watered down version of that. It responded to voice commands, but only in the way something like Siri would. No real home control there. Now, there's a new home automation hub making its way through Kickstarter called Zenno, which offers something a lot closer to the dream of true voice control.

On the surface, Zenno is just another hub that connects your smart devices to the internet. The difference is that instead of just allowing you to press buttons on your phone or tablet to control your home, the Zenno app will actually respond to voice commands. This is different from the Amazon Echo, which had microphones built into the device. The advantage of using the microphones inside of your phone is that the mic is always with you, so you don't need a device in every room of your house to listen to you. The downside is that you'll still need to take out your phone and launch the app before you can say a command.

The other problem that I see with Zenno is that it doesn't use any of the standard protocols for communicating with smart devices. Instead, each unit is actually an IR blaster like you would have in your media center. That means that Zenno can only control devices that respond to an IR remote, like your TV or your stereo. There are very few smart devices out there that respond to IR signals. It also means that you need one of these Zenno hubs in every room of your house, at least every room you want to be able to control. So the fairly attractive price of $70 per hub is actually deceiving, because you're going to need more than one hub. And so we keep reaching for the pipe dream...

Upgrading Switches With Switchmate

Another day, another light switch. That's what it starts to feel like after writing about home automation for a while. There are so many "smart" switches out there that a company has to do something fairly unusual to catch my attention. As it so happens, a company called Switchmate has done just that. Their idea is to create a device that can be added to existing light switches to make them smart, rather than buying a completely new switch and installing it yourself.

What they've come up with is the Switchmate, a small block with a button on the front, and essentially a mechanical finger on the back. The whole thing attaches to your light switch plate with magnets, so you don't even have to break out the screw driver. Once it's in place, pushing the button on the front will move a piece in the back that flips the actual switch up or down. Then, of course, you can connect to the Switchmate from your phone and control your lights remotely, or set up timers and triggers to automate things.

So what's the downside here? It's easy, it's simple, and it's relatively cheap at $50 per switch. Well, honestly, it's not the prettiest of solutions. Yes it's fairly small and sleek looking, but it's still a strange looking block hanging off of your wall. And because it's not connected to your home's wiring at all, it has to run off of batteries, which will need to be replaced from time to time. So it's not quite as "set it and forget it" as most home automation systems could be. But if you're a renter, it's one of the only smart light switches out there that don't require breaking out the tools and going against your lease, so it could be a nice starter for someone wanting to break into home automation. If this isn't your thing? Well, another day, another switch.

Make Your Smoke Detectors Less Dumb

If there's one thing that's absolutely necessary in every home, yet is always annoying, it's a smoke detector. Sure, they can be life saving, and usually you don't even know they're there. But whenever they need their battery replaced, they start making that annoying chirp sound. And if they go off and no one's home, who's going to call the fire department? The smoke detector is in dire need of a smart upgrade.

There's actually already a solution to this, and it's the Nest Protect, a smoke detector made by the same people that make the Nest thermostat we talked about last week. Unfortunately, it's really, really expensive. I mean, I'm all for peace of mind when it comes to fire safety, but $100 for a smoke detector? No, thank you.

But there's a new device up for pre-order right now that offers most of the benefits of the Nest smoke detector, but only costs a fraction of the cash, and uses your existing smoke detectors. It's a smart battery called The Roost. Essentially, it's a standard 9 volt battery that connects to your home's Wi-Fi network. From there, it connects to an app on your smartphone that will alert you when the battery gets too low, or when the alarm goes off. The batteries cost between $30-$40 depending on what package you get, and the convenience could be well worth it.

IKEA's Electrifying New Furniture

Ah, IKEA. A modern day miracle from Sweden, where little more than the loose change from in between your couch cushions can buy you yet another couch. But IKEA isn't known for their technology, or their home automation abilities. But that might be changing soon.

IKEA has announced that this Spring, they will start selling a new line of furniture with wireless charging built in. That means that you'll be able to buy a nightstand from IKEA with a special pad on it, and if you rest your phone on that pad, it will charge. No wires, no connectors. It's not just nightstands either, you'll be able to get full on tables and lamps with chargers built in, or just the pad itself to rest on other, non-charging furniture.

This is a pretty big move for IKEA, and a big win for the wireless charging industry. But there are a few things to consider before you run out to your local blue and yellow behemoth and pick one of these things up. First of all, the furniture uses the Qi wireless charging standard, one of the most popular standards out there. That's all well and good, but not every phone supports it. There are a handful of android devices that do, but some of them have their own proprietary charging standards. And Apple devices don't support wireless charging at all, unless you buy a bulky case with the receivers built in.

So while this is absolutely a cool idea, it's really only cool for the handful of people with compatible devices. But just wait, wireless charging will undoubtably catch on faster, now that IKEA is behind it.

Your Suggestions: Nest Thermostat

I was curious to see what all of you out there thought of home automation, specifically, why you want it. So I took to the Smart Porch Facebook page (if you haven't like it yet, there's an easy way to fix that) and asked you. One response I got stood out at me, specifically a message that popped up in my inbox from RJ. Apparently he had so much to say, he didn't want to limit it to a comment, and he didn't disappoint:

"I'm saying money's the big reason I want all this stuff. I've seen that new thermostat with the touchscreen at home depot, the big round one? And they were saying if you install it, it saves you a couple hundred bucks on your heating every year. It just sucks because the thing costs like three hundred by itself. Spend money to save money, and all that."

All good points made, RJ. The Nest Thermostat is a beautiful piece of hardware, actually designed by the same man that designed the iPod. Nothing but a round touchscreen and a big dial that's oddly satisfying to spin. And RJ's right, they do claim to be able to save quite a bit on your heating and cooling bill. But how exactly does it do it?

Well, to start with, Nest is dead simple to use. You spin the dial to the temperature you want. If it gets too hot, turn it down. Too cold, turn it up. After a few days of playing with it, it starts to learn what settings you like at specific times of day. Like it colder at night? It will notice, and start automatically cooling the house when it gets dark.

Not only that, but Nest also has motion sensors that can tell when you've left the house. So if you're usually gone for work from 9-5 each weekday, it won't worry about keeping the house comfortable while you're gone. But it will make sure to have it comfy for you when you get back.

Nest is one of the first home automation products I've seen that is genuinely cool looking from every angle, and I would love to have one for myself. But with a price tag of $249, it's tricky to invest in one, even if it claims to pay for itself in savings on your electrical bill. And that's the problem, RJ is absolutely right: You have to spend money to save money, and that's never been truer than it is in home automation.

Is There an Amazon Echo In Here?

Home automation is usually thought of as a complete system, wired throughout the home. Multiple pieces all working together in perfect harmony. That's often the case, but it doesn't always have to be. The Amazon Echo is an example of a type of home automation that, while basic, only requires one device.

At its core, Echo is a bluetooth speaker. It's a tall cylinder that sits in the middle of your home, on a table or shelf. The trick is that it connects to your home's Wi-Fi network, as well as your smartphone, and listens to you. Sounds creepy, doesn't it? Well, it kind of is, but it's kind of cool too. All it's listening for is a trigger word, either "Amazon" or "Alexa." When it hears its name called, it wakes up and starts taking voice commands, very much like Siri or Google Now on your iPhone or Android.

So what can it do? Pretty much everything you'd expect from something like Siri. Set alarms, play music, create to-dos, tell you the weather, etc. Nothing all that fancy. In fact, I would personally wonder what the big difference is between something like this and your smartphone, apart from the fact that you have to press a button on your phone to trigger the voice commands. Even that's a stretch, as the iPhone will listen for the phrase "Hey Siri" if it's plugged in.

The bottom line is, the Echo is just a glorified smartphone with a bluetooth speaker attached to it. There's every been some speculation that the Echo is just reusing parts from the unsold Amazon Fire Phones, which haven't exactly been flying off the shelves. Still, it's an interesting idea, especially if it were to be integrated into other home automation systems in the future.

Linq Smart Vents on Kickstarter

The results of home automation are glamorous. They make our homes seem like something out of a sci-fi novel, adapting to our every whim and anticipating our every move. The actual pieces that create that effect however, are often anything but glamorous. Strange sensors embedded in walls, wires running every which way. Light switches, door hardware, it's all very boring stuff we tend to try not to think about. And there's a new home automation product on Kickstarter that's going one step further: The Linq Smart Vents.

These devices aim to replace the vents attached to your AC and heating system. A very un-glamorous part that we never think about. But, like many of the stranger home automation devices out there, what they do is really interesting.

All AC vents have switches that allow you to open and close them, giving each room of your house more or less air. In my house, we typically use that vent once or twice a year, maximum. It's kind of a pain to adjust, and I usually never think about it. The Linq system can also open and close, allowing more or less air into a room. But it can do it via a battery powered motor, controlled by a hub. And it can do it automatically.

Why would you want this? It may not be obvious at first, but think about it. You're only ever using one or two rooms of your home at once. Yet your AC system is heating or cooling the entire house. Why should it? That's wasted money. Linq has built in motion and temperature sensors that can detect which rooms you're actively using at any given moment, directing airflow to those rooms while cutting off the others. It focuses your AC's efforts, and based on their studies, saves you a boatload of cash.

It had better save you cash, because it's going to cost quite a bit to get into this system. A package on Kickstarter with just four cents is $350, with each extra vent after that costing another $50. But you have to admit, for such a weird part of your home, it's pretty darn cool, no?

WeMo Setup

When it comes to home automation, there's one big barrier to entry: It's complicated. Even the most basic of smart devices can make a huge impact on someone's day to day life, but if it's too difficult to set up, forget it. It's never going to happen. That's why I'm very pleased to see companies like Belkin start to lean towards simplicity in their product design, especially the WeMo line. WeMo may not be the most powerful home automation tool out there, but when it comes to easy setup, it can't be beat.

The WeMo outlet switch is Belkin's most basic offering. It looks almost like an old timer you would plug into a wall to turn a light on and off at specific times. And in essence, that's exactly what it is, except you trigger the lights with your phone, not tiny plastic clips. To hook it up, you just plug the switch into the wall, and then plug your light you want to control into the switch.






The next, and final step, is to hook the WeMo switch up to your WiFi. To do this, you first install the WeMo app on your phone, and launch it. It walks you through the process of connecting to the switch, linking it to your home network, and setting up any rules you want to use to control the switch.

After that, you're done. The only thing that makes WeMo slightly annoying is that you have to start
the setup process completely over for each switch you set up. That can be quite tedious if you have a lot of switches in your house. Still, it's one of the simplest solutions out there for home automation, even if it's not the most powerful.

If This, Then... What?

If you were to ask me what I think the whole point of home automation is, I would say it's "To make things around your house do what you want, without asking." The way you typically do this is by creating rules in your home automation system, just like you do in an email client. For example, just like you might say anything from a particular email address is automatically filed in a certain folder, you could say that a particular light in your house goes on whenever a room gets too dark.

The issue is that a lot of home automation systems won't talk to each other. So if you have one brand of sensor, and another brand of smart power outlet, the two devices probably won't talk to each other, because the two brands aren't friendly with each other. So you're left with two choices: Stick with one brand of smart devices, which is fairly limiting, or find a middle man technology to bridge the gap between the two brands.

That's where a delightful service called IFTTT comes in. IFTTT stands for If This Then That, which is basically the rule system we just talked about: If This room is dark, Then That outlet turns on. IFTTT works by adding "Channels," which are different ways of triggering actions, or the actions themselves. The great thing about IFTTT is that it's completely independent from any hardware company, like Belkin or Philips. And many of these companies are including native support for IFTTT in their products. So you can have a WeMo switch control a Philibs Hue bulb.


There are endless possibilities with a system like this. You can have your lights blink every time you get an email, or have your coffee pot turn on when it gets cold. Even if you don't have any smart devices yet, IFTTT is a fantastic service, and you can browse the various recipes people have already made to get some inspiration.

A Truly Universal Remote

Even if you're not all that familiar with home automation, you're almost definitely familiar with home theater. We all have at least a handful of set top boxes, TVs and speaker systems that we've collected to make movie night as spectacular as possible. And for every new device, there's a new remote to control it. If you're a home theater power user, you've probably invested in a universal remote, a special type of remote that can be programmed to control all of your devices at once.

In this day and age, I think it's wrong to call a remote "Universal" if all it controls is your home entertainment system. In the age of the smart home, we have dozens of other devices that a truly universal remote should be able to connect to and control. Enter the new Harmony remote from Logitech.

The Harmony remotes have been around for a while, but only as home theater remotes. These new "Home" remotes have the potential to really revolutionize the way your entire house runs.

The hub itself is nothing all that special compared to other home automation hubs. It's the bridge between all of your smart devices and your phone, tablet, or computer. The only thing unique about the Harmony hub is that it can send intra red signals that can be interpreted by your TV.

The remotes are what I find really interesting. They solve an important problem with home automation on your phone: The touchscreen. Home automation isn't something you should have to think about. When we walk into a room we're familiar with, we can reach for the light switch, feel it, and flick it on, all without turning our head. But if our phone becomes the control panel for our home, we're forced to look at the screen and manually find the virtual button we want to tap.

A physical remote has buttons we can feel without looking, like a physical light switch, except one we can carry with us anywhere. If you ask me, this is a huge step forward for home automation, and an even bigger step forward for the universal remote.

Connected Bulbs, or Switches?

If you're just getting started in making your home a smart home, there's an important choice you have in front of you, even if you don't realize it yet: Bulbs, or Switches?

At home improvement stores all across the world, you can buy what they call "Connected Lightbulbs." It's their way of breaking you into home automation. What are connected lightbulbs? Essentially, they're standard LED lightbulbs that have wireless chips in them. These chips typically communicate with a "hub" that's connected to your home network, and through that, all of your phones, tablets and computers. You can now send commands to any lightbulbs in your house, telling them to turn on and off, dim, and in some cases change colors. One of the most famous (and expensive) options for connected lightbulbs is the Philips Hue, but there are much cheaper alternatives now. While a Hue bulb can cost $60 each, Cree has connected lightbulbs that are much simpler, and cheaper, only costing $15 per bulb.

The advantage of connected lightbulbs is that they're easy to setup, and require no changes to anything in your home. The light fixture and power outlets stay exactly the same. The disadvantage that most people don't think about, is that you can no longer use your home's built in light switches. Connected lightbulbs need a constant supply of power to stay connected to your home's network, so if you turn them off manually, you can no longer connect to them via your devices, defeating the whole point of home automation. To take full advantage of connected bulbs, you need to always turn them on and off via your phone, tablet, or computer. But it's very easy to accidentally turn off the light switch, and therefore turn off part of your home automation network.

So what's a good alternative? Connected light switches require more work, but can be much more Belkin WeMo Switch. While this does require breaking out the screwdriver to replace an old light switch, it gives you all of the benefits of the connected bulbs without the inconvenience of being unable to use your switches. Unfortunately, switches are more expensive, ranging from $30-$50 each. But bulbs aren't necessarily cheaper. An overhead light fixture might require three or more bulbs to be fully lit, which would require almost $50 worth of lightbulbs. But a whole room can be controlled via a single switch.
elegant. Many companies offer connected light switches, like the

So remember that while connected lightbulbs are temping because of their easy setup and cheap price, the better investment might be connected switches, and the extra work they require.

Apple TV in Home Automation?

The way your home works is changing, and the source might already be next to your TV. Anyone interested in home automation, especially when it comes to making it accessible, seems to be excited about Apple's new HomeKit technology. Originally shown off in 2014 along with a preview of iOS 8, it promises to integrate any "smart" device that uses the HomeKit technology into your iPhone and iPad.

In theory, this could be a real game changer. Apple has a way of making things very simple and easy to use, but we haven't seen any real world examples of HomeKit in action. At this year's CES, we started to see some devices that use HomeKit being teased TechHive has a great roundup of some of these. But most HomeKit gadgets aren't even shipping yet. However, we do know one tiny, yet important detail about HomeKit: The Apple TV will play a big part in it.

That's right, the set top box that Apple has constantly referred to as a "hobby" will play a key role in its home automation strategy. If you're at home, you'll be able to control any HomeKit devices you have with your iPhone or iPad, even using Siri to give voice commands. The Apple TV doesn't play a part in that. But if you want to control your devices from outside your home network,  the Apple TV will act as a bridge between you and your devices back home.

So if you're planning on investing in HomeKit devices for your home, the Apple TV looks like it could be a very worthwhile investment. And as of right now, it's one of the only HomeKit devices you can buy.