I was on the original kickstarter for Homey. Sounded a great idea, but as you say, from day one and onwards it was just full of bugs that made it unworkable. Also by the time it came out, Alexa (and possibly Siri...) took its 'major' feature.
What is good about it, is that it's JavaScript-based; therefore the community has more mass potential, rather than many other hubs.
It's a shame some of these smaller teams don't join forces to create the almighty all-in-one solution, local processing hub, all protocols, app stores and the rest. HA standards...? we can all dream.
I would love to start working on something like that. Someone give me a place to put it and I'll work on it on my spare time. I'm stalled with HA for a while, so I might as well find something to do.
My list is definitely not full. As you know, I just smartened up my cell phone docks, but my imagination is not bringing anything more to the table for me. Mainly my lights, doors, and tv's/entertainment are all automated. I have some smart home monitoring. My cameras are not integrated. They're cheap and incompatible, it seems. So, I'm left with what to do next? I want something fun. I don't want to do christmas lights. It's like writer's block or something. It sucks.
Writers block I can definitely understand. Inspiration comes when you least expect it though. Typically in the form of a need like your cell phone dock. Eventually when I upgrade my phone to one that has contactless charging, I'll be doing a similar project. I love what you've done with that. Looking at integrating into a countertop in the kitchen maybe since that's our place for charging phones.
How about a side project to get creativity flowing? Google Assistant Relay is one of my favorites because it opens up a ton of devices that aren't directly compatible with HE at the moment.
I'll have to check into that. Alexa has been in my home for a while, and I've often thought of adding Google home, because Bing is not my thing. For that reason Alexa will never know anything I'd be remotely interested in asking about. She tells me to put the coffee on when my parents come over and announces when my door has been unlocked. (whistle) Impressive. (->insert sarcastic eye roll here <-) I've saved that link for some recreational reading for this evening. I do need to look at some things that aren't just practical. I think that's my problem. Add a little fun into the mix. .
pretty amazing, but OMG it takes forever to do.. an hour at least. I have no idea what I did or what tar pits I signed myself up for... but at the end, it just worked. The guide is soooooooo very long because it is quite complete.
I tried that and it worked, but then stopped working and then I had a bill from Amazon. Seems it hit my limit very quickly. Didn't bother to look into why, just removed it since I have a Google Home mini now, sitting right next to my main Echo near the kitchen.
@april.brandt One of the cool things about Google Assistant Relay is you just need to setup a node.js server on an old computer or a RPi. You don't actually have to have a Google Home, although that does give you full TTS and cast capabiliies, but the really cool thing is what happens in the cloud.
Once you have Google Assistant Relay setup, you just add [CC] to the beginning of a TTS phrase and it does the command silently. So for example, if I had a device the was unsupported by HE, I would just create a rule using Google Assistant Relay as the TTS device, then in the "Message to Send" field, I just enter [CC] hey google, turn on device whatever and it does it. Faster than IFTTT, more reliable and covers the devices that IFTTT doesn't support either.
Here's how I'm now controlling my August lock. Works better than any other method I've used to date for that lock.
I personally love being in this state. It is soo nice that everything just works reliably. Saves me lots of time pulling hair chasing problems that are likely not on my end.
WAF is through the roof as there is now way more time with everything working and way less time with me tinkering on the next great idea as I am running out.
Everything is not perfect but I am loving the fact that my home automation is actually becoming automatic.
I've said it many times cheers to all the hubitat team. They may not be perfect and all knowing. They do seem to know what I want most of the time...
Try a hot water recirculation automation so you do not have to wait for hot water to the shower/sink.
Sounds boring but after I installed it I turned it off to see if I would miss it and I put it right back immediately .
Even the wife approves.
