wow. today, I learned that a new feature was added to Alexa's. voice command variables.
This is huge for me! you can issue voicecmdastext 'Alexa, turn on the lights in 2 minutes'. - or you can speak it verbally!
Recently, I was disabling the ding sound - If you set all your echo's to volume 0, you can still issue a command which is soundless. then set a volume for when your playing music etc. worked great - but this is really making me think about the future of hubs...
It's really cool and useful. I do use Alexa for some things that you can't do in Hubitat. But it is AMZ Cloud dependent and sometimes stuff happens. With Hubitat I get the "reliable as dial tone" experience that makes everyone (meaning the wife) happy.
New Echo and Alexa features are always welcome, but this seems like quite a leap to me.
You have to remember they only add new features if they can make money from it. Will it help them sell more hardware? Then really they don't even make much from the hardware. The big question is will it get them more of your data to sell, or more metrics to sell?
Then when there are bugs, they don't really care so much, as long as people keep using it and they have data to sell.
When I can write code in it, then I'll consider it...
I have a house full of Alexa devices, mostly Alexa Shows. They are wonderful devices adding voice activation to many devices in the home. However, the only devices that are connected directly to Alexa are my Hunter ceiling fans that use WiFi and do not have Hubitat integrations. Everything else connects to and through Hubitat and the Alexa Hubitat skill allows Alexa to trigger devices within Hubitat. I set up rules within Hubitat rather than using Alexa routines.
Alexa works with many Zigbee and some WiFi devices and may eventually work with Matter. However, is does not have Z-wave capability and it does not have an elegant integration with Lutron Caseta. Thus, there is no way I am giving up my Hubitat anytime soon.
For someone who only wants a simple home automations, Alexa might work, but as has been said, it requires the Amazon Cloud and an operational Internet connection. I have my router and Hubitat hub on a UPS backup so that even if the power goes out, critical parts of my home automation system will still function. I use Ecolink Z-wave chime/sirens that have a battery backup, so I can still receive alerts even if the power is out and the Internet is offline.
Amazon is:
And those are just the ones off the top of my head.
will hubs become obsolete someday?
A: I hope not, there is way to much utility in using a hub to tie everything together.
B: No.
Every Alexa device you put in your home is technically a cloud based hub. You’re not getting around anything. They are probably going to kill this product in the next 5 to 10 years because it’s not making them money.
I could see them maybe charging extra for the "hub" like features eventually. I think the data they collect is too valuable to kill the project outright.
We had kids playing a "Headbands" 20 questions type guessing game the other day, never said anything about to to Alexa directly. Next thing I know within an hour my show in the Kitchen is giving my prompts for the popular App of the Week "Heads Up" which looked like the same game but on an app. Its a targeted ad, there is no way that was a coincidence.
New Adjustable Wrench - will my combination wrenches become obsolete someday?
Sticking in entire Internet infrastructure between bulb and switch is the a nonsense
and the most idiotic idea I have ever seen.
Download the Hubitat app
