The article discusses expectations for smart home announcements at the upcoming IFA tech show in Berlin. While companies may unveil new smart speakers, cameras and robot vacuums, the smart home remains fragmented as the Matter interoperability standard has yet to fully deliver on integrating devices. The author argues the industry needs to provide more utility than novelty by allowing different smart devices to work together seamlessly. Examples mentioned include lights notifying users of doorbell activity or a robot vacuum taking on multiple household chores autonomously. Overall, the smart home needs solutions that are essential rather than just novel if consumers are to see the value beyond the initial cool factor.

  • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Yes, you can, but it can be a lot of effort and a lot of time spent researching and tinkering.

    It’s fine if you want that to be your hobby, but it can be a heavy lift for the average person.

    • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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      1 year ago

      It’s surprisingly easy with Home Assistant. You really don’t need much tinkering, if any, to get the basics working quite reliably.

      • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        It’s surprisingly easy with Home Assistant.

        Maybe for a more software focused person. I found it very cryptic the couple of times I tried (and failed) to get it up and running.

        I’m much more comfortable with a soldering iron than a config file.