Features that Don’t Have Parity with Classic [Feb 2021]

[JDRoberts]

There’ve been a couple of cool Work from Home project reports recently. @jody.albritton has a very cool one on Automations based on signing into zoom:

Endpoint SmartApps with File Store Contexts

For this tutorial we will be taking a closer look at endpoint smartapps by automating a light based on our Zoom presence status. We want to create an automation that will react to our presence status and activate a light when we go “On Air”. Prerequisites: Samsung Developer Workspace Account Android Device Glitch.com Account Preparation Remix the glitch app at this url Overview The work of creating a SmartApp using Javascript has been greatly simplified with the following packages const SmartApp = require('@smartthings/smartapp'); const FileContextStore = require('@smartthings/file-context-store') The two packages that will be used for this tutorial are the SmartApp SDK and the FileContextStore. The SmartApp SDK provides the boilerplate for creating SmartApps on the platform an…

And a much lower tech option for a similar use case is the Meross RGBW table lamp, which I am really happy with. It has a press button on top of it, so you don’t run into any of the issues of someone turning off the current. And It has a manufacturer provided smartthings integration, so no custom code is needed. This is now my favorite choice for colored light notifications. The price is back up to $38 after the discount code is applied, but I think that’s still a good price to very easily solve the “on air“ notification issue.

Meross WiFi RGB/RGBW Devices on sale (March 2021)

Meross are well engineered wi-Fi devices with good safety certifications and a decent smartthings integration so you won’t need any custom code. They have models which can work with both HomeKit and smartthings, which are the ones I usually get. They start out with very good prices and then frequently run discount or coupon codes in both the US and the UK. Right now they’ve got some deals on some of their colored light products which bring them down to the lowest prices they’ve ever had. One of my favorites is a small tower table lamp. This has built-in LEDs, which give you night light level brightness, although once they burn out you have to give up on the whole unit. But they should be good for about 10 years if they’re typical. 400 lm, which is about a 40 W equivalent. …

Actually, as I think about it, you could combine these two and have Jody‘s project turn on the Meross light.

So there are still some good forward-looking “this is cool“ home automation projects being posted, but definitely the percentage is down.