Comment on Matter 1.2 is a big move for the smart home standard

• APassenger@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Need? No, of course not. But it simplified an assortment of things and once Matter is more broadly adapted, seeing things up fully locally will be essential.

  The big players are signaling that they are not making money on voice, so I’m expecting them to start charging or give up (typical Google answer).

  A few of my use cases:

  • Litter robot is in error or offline state for 30 minutes, toggle power
  • Easing of light intensity and color as sun sets daily
  • Vacuum when we’re gone and it’s between allowed hours.
  • Return vacuum to hub when we return home
  • Turn on lights so vacuum can "see"
  • Improved environmental control because I have better presence detection using HA than Nest.
  • Turn off power for cable box is conditions are net (otherwise it’s nightly updates and reboot illuminate the bedroom at 3 AM.

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  • OpenPassageways@lemmy.zip ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I thought litter robot was great, unfortunately the larger of my two cats does not. Unfortunately he decided that he does not like them only AFTER we bought a second one, and AFTER the 90 day trial period expired.

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• AA5B@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Personally I think notification is the potential life changer most people don’t realize. Imagine an easy way to tell when the laundry is done without that godawful buzzer. Did I leave the stove on? Is there water in the basement? Is my fridge out or otherwise not leaping cool? What about my garage door? Is the hose running?

  A house that can let you know when something is wrong would be huge. Today, a few techies can make that happen with sufficient time and effort. Matter can make that straightforward for everyone

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• brygphilomena@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I’ve gotten into it. There are a few automations I like, such as a single button to turn off all the lights when I go to bed. Or for the robot vacuum to clean when I leave the house.

  Even with that, I could totally live without any of the smart stuff.

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• cybersandwich@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Want vs need is always blurry, but home automation can fall on the latter side of that continuum for a lot of people. Some people get super fancy with it, but I think most people would like being able to put lights on timers/control them based on events, have their HVAC do specific things on a schedule or when xyz events happen, etc.

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• ipipip@iusearchlinux.fyi ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I guess people don’t need. But there are nice efficiency gains when automating certain parts of the home like heating or cooling.

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• abhibeckert@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Define “need”? Obviously humankind has survived just fine for millennia without home automation.

  Personally, I would like my lights to be brighter during the day and at night. I’d also like to be able to see if I need to pee at night but I don’t want so much light that I can’t sleep properly. I’d like to be able to adjust the temperature more easily, and potentially even when I’m not at home. And if the smoke alarms detect a fire in my home… I’d like to be alerted even if I’m not at home so I can check a camera and call emergency services to put the fire out before everything I own is destroyed. And I hate the fact that my fridge uses a huge amount of power at night when my solar panels aren’t powering my home… it sounds like this new Matter standard will allow me to adjust the settings on the fridge by time of day which could potentially save hundreds of dollars per year.

  Do I need all of that? No. But I’d like it.

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