Android and Home Automation: The First Steps

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/2011/05/10/android-dips-its-toes-in-home-automation-with-home-will-have-app-market-support-for-google-tv-by-summer/' target='_blank'>http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/2011/05...e-tv-by-summer/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"This morning was day one of Google I/O 2011. Lots of great new technologies and platform advancements were revealed today, but the three our readers will be interested in is Android Accessories, Android @Home, and Project Tungsten. Oh, and I guess Android Market: Movies (compatible across phones and tablets), which provides the ability to stream with a connection or "pin" a movie for instant download to watch later. By the way... everything is "Android" now and apps will - as we've said before - work across various platforms and displays. In other words, one app can support the phone, tablet, and TV via auto-detection and device specific rendering."</em></p><p><object width="600" height="360" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/OxzucwjFEEs&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;ap=%26fmt=18" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OxzucwjFEEs&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;ap=%26fmt=18" /></object></p><p>Home automation is, frankly, something that I've never bothered with - I like the idea of a smart home, doing things automatically and being able to optimize energy use, but it seems like so much work trying to figure out which technologies to use. Until the industry settles on a single standard, and cost-effective in-home implementations are commonplace, I'm going to stay away from this part of the technology world. And Google wants to step into this mess? Good luck to them!</p>

[ptyork]

Yeah, instead of picking one of the 4 main "standards" (X-10, Insteon, Zigbee or Z-Wave), they come up with their own. It may be that there is some driving reason for this, but IMHO, they should have bought Zensys (Z-Wave's patent holding, sole-source chip maker) and open-licensed that technology. Certainly home automation needs a big boy to put it's weight behind a standard, but I don't think it needed a whole dadgum NEW standard. Especially not another new 2.4 GHz one. Very Apple-like and very unnecessary.

And what was with that ridunkulous disco-Borg?? A "reference" design for something like this should be no bigger than a small power brick (think airport express, but smaller) and most certainly shouldn't be making it's own laser light show.

'Course, the real pressing question is whether that guy has two or three rats living in that hair of his. :)