People talk about “Smart Homes” – but I have created what I believe is the “World’s Smartest”. The (fun) videos below are a demonstration of my custom home automation, which features an innovative implementation of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency (FarleyCoin) to manage our kid’s chores and entertainment.
The videos also show integrated real-time vehicle tracking, alarm surveillance, DASH buttons, TV control, house-wide music, smart fitness coaching, mobile phone notifications, wifi colored lights, homework scoring, thermostats, sprinklers, power monitoring, motion and vibration sensors, and Echo dots in every room.
Video #10/11 in the playlist shows the hardware powering everything.
Each TV is powered by its own Linux machine (stashed up in the wiring closet with a 50’ HDMI cable routed through the attic and walls down to the TV).
So it’s fairly trivial to broadcast notifications to all devices in the house, because everything is running Linux (desktops, laptops, TVs, touchscreens).
We can watch Live and Recorded TV (Comcast) on the TV’s via Linux via HDHomeRun via Kodi. If that makes sense? The Linux machines, displayed on the TV, load Kodi, which can tune to Live TV with the HDHomeRunapp, or they can play recordings from the file server.
Great question… I posted here because I’ve gotten a lot of inspiration and ideas (and code snippets) from these forums. However, I have yet to come across a use case that required the implementation of an intermediary hub such as ST. I’ve always preferred to do my own integration directly – why insert the overhead / extra layer if you can do without it? But I see the value ST or other hubs provide for those who are not writing their own “Jarvis”. So no – I haven’t tried or even experimented with ST yet.