Smart Home shenanigans

Is there a link for the UK beta programme?

I thought youā€™d be the one to spot the unlikelihood of getting Alexa on a Google gadget :yum:

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LOL, thatā€™s a pretty niche troll given the amount of interoperability that exists with these things.

Anyhow, fuck off :smiley: :smiley:

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Have taken delivery of a google home mini and a Sonus Play1.

The plus with Sonus is the ability to talk to both google home and Alexa. Google for research in teaching. and learning. Plus YT music, gaming etc.

Amazon for shopping. Prime members have a sale soon. Plus movies and marketing.

The Sonus is so good I thinking of the mid-July Sonus Boom hits the market. Iā€™ll be using it as a sound bar for a Philips Ambilight T.V

Iā€™ve just ordered a Hive, now under Ā£150 including installation and one or two Alexa echo dots. Iā€™m expecting Claire to be screaming ā€œAlexa, make it as hot as the surface of the sunā€ for the next four monthsā€¦

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get the app on your phone and turn it down when youā€™re not there. I have great fun with that, Miriam really appreciates it :slight_smile:

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I do that as well. You have to get your fun when you can !

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I just installed two Nest Protect smoke/CO alarms to go alongside the thermostat.

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Our new house had hive. Didnā€™t bother me till I tried to turn the heating on last week. A prompt call to a mate and we now have a programmable thermostat with sensible programming options. Hive and all the crap that comes with it went in the bin.

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Same. :+1:

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Iā€™m in the hive and buzzing

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well then honey, donā€™t get into a sticky mess

I like the idea of a hive system, but canā€™t be arsed with the inevitable problems at some point in the future.
Our wireless stat in the hall is good enough for us anyway as our routinen is very predictable.

I use Netatmo, Iā€™ve installed Hive and Nest and lived with Hive at the last house and prefer Natatmo. Worth a lookā€¦

This is it, most automated heating systems work well, a few functions make it worthwhile, heating up the house at 2 am just back from being away when for two weeks the house has been effectively switched off is great.
Lights around the houseā€¦

Itā€™s basically lazy arse shit, concerning the automation, but also safety. Dimmer switches are mostly a burnout hazard waiting to happen. Dimming lights without the need to bother with that stuff works for me.

Nest/ hive, both easy to install and work well from what I see daily

I have several wifi sockets for lights and a decent house alarm with app, so not a total luddit. Maybe when our boiler gives up Iā€™ll move over.
Right now the system ainā€™t broke so Iā€™m not going to fix it.

Exactly. Faff for the sake of it.

It was no criticism.
But for me the ability to control the heating,(to a lesser degree the lights) remotely works really well as the wife and I are rarely at home together some weeks and others we work from home together.
If your lifestyle is not the same routine day in day out, it saves money and more importantly wasted energy.

Forum strapline blah, blah, blah :smiley:

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Anyone tried a Google home hub? Currently down to Ā£100.

Thinking it might replace the kitchen Squeezebox, which is basically used for Radio 4, with the addition of being a recipe tablet.