Does anyone use any "smart" devices - appliances or lights - in their home?
I finally got tired of the nightly routine I have of turning on lights in a couple of rooms so that I could get to my bedroom without bumping into walls, then turning on my bedside light, then going back to turn off the other lights before going to bed and turning off THAT light once I get into bed.
I have two Amazon Echos - one in my living room that I've had for years and use to listen to music or check the weather or listen to the daily news or whatever, and an Echo Dot I just got for my bedroom. The Dot has a lighted clock on its face; I use it primarily as my alarm clock, but sometimes it's nice to know the weather before you get out of bed.
I realized I could use Echo's Alexa technology to solve my lighting problem, so I bought a Smart Socket (cost about $8) that works with Alexa. It was relatively quick to set up - plug the Smart Socket into an electrical outlet, plug the light into the Smart Socket, use their app to connect the Socket to my Wi-Fi network, and then use the Alexa app to enable the Smart Life skill and search my network for smart devices. All of that took maybe 15 minutes. It took Alexa about 45 seconds to scan for and identify the socket, which I assigned to my "Bedroom Group". The only potential problem I saw was that the Alexa app identified it only as the smart socket in my bedroom. No worries; Alexa is smarter than I thought she was...
The moment of truth - I'm sitting in the bedroom near the Dot:
Me: Alexa, turn on the bedroom light.
Alexa (after a slight delay): Do you have a light plugged into the socket in the bedroom?
Me: Yes
Alexa: OK. (Light comes on) You can now call this socket the bedroom light.
Me: Alexa, turn off the bedroom light.
Alexa: OK. (light goes off)
I then go out to my living room, close to the Echo I have there.
Me: Alexa, turn on the bedroom light.
Alexa: OK.
I go back to the bedroom to check - the light is now on again. Bedroom lighting problem solved. This is like the 21st century version of The Clapper (some of you should remember that)...
I wish I still lived in a house - this could be a lot of fun. I'm looking at other things in my apartment that this could be useful for.
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