The newest version of LANnouncer is up, now including the ability to be triggered by IFTTT recipes without SmartThings in the middle. Of course the primary features of providing Android Text-to-Speech and sound effects to SmartThings and using the camera (and receiving shots from IP cameras) are still there.
Installation with SmartThings requires an ST Device Handler and the Android app. Optionally, for SMS notifications, you can add this SmartApp to your SmartThings installation also.
Important: The IFTTT integration uses GCM - Google Cloud Messaging - which can be much slower than LAN or SMS broadcasts. Sometimes it will be instant, sometimes it may take 20 minutes - if, for example, your tablet is sleeping. I am working on a way around that.
@NWTony thats a shame, i tried to look at this as it sounds good, but i failed at getting LANnoucer installed from the play store, it says my Galaxy Tab 4 7.0 with latest updates are incompatible and i cannot sideload via the apk file it says cannot parse the file?
any ideas about this (if i have missed something i apologise as i am not an android user at all)
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 comes with Android KitKat. From the LANnouncer web page…
"LANnouncer Android Requirements
LANnouncer requires SDK 21, which means Lollipop, Android 5.0, or above. This isn’t capricious; because I’ve updated all of my devices and because I initially wasn’t even considering publishing this (it was just to solve an annoyance), I used Android methods supported by my devices. Specifically, the AudioAttributes.Builder class, added in SDK 21."
If you would like to leverage this tablet for LANnouncer and perhaps spread your tech-wings a bit, you might try installing a Lollipop ROM on it; check out this XDA thread: Knox Free. Just ensure it’s the correct model before you dive in; Samsung devices may have different model numbers for different screen sizes and sellers.
BTW, I did essentially this for my Samsung SM-T320 Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4"; it came with KitKat also, but I updated it multiple times. It’s at Lollipop now. I had put Marshmallow on it in January, but don’t like the SD-Card support in Marshmallow so I went back to Lollipop.
thanks for the info, i am a complete android noob…i’m not even sure of the versions, i have had limited exposure to them thus far, just getting tasker and motion sensor for the proximity sensor on them and getting them mounted on the wall and thats pretty much it.
cheers for the pointer. i will look at getting them updated in the near future.
Since you’re not on a supported Android version for LANnouncer (5.0+) and you’re already using Tasker, you could use Tasker with SharpTools as an announcer. Subscribe to whatever attribute you want to use as a trigger in SharpTools by long pressing on the device. Then in Tasker, create a new profile with Event → Plugins → SharpTools → Thing State. Then in the action, you can speak a command with Alert → Say.
Is there a method of playing a file, using this system? I have a few instances where I would like to play an audio clip, instead of speak some text. Sorry if I have missed a key piece of obvious info here detailing this, I did read through the KeyBounce link and didnt see anything specifically for playing files…
Not new to smarthings, but quite new to the additional features/apps/etc.
I just noticed that in the ‘What’s New?’ section on the LANnouncer website, it says that playing a file has been added… http://www.keybounce.com/LANdroidHowTo/LANdroid.html
Version 2.03.12 brings:
Audio Files - select files to play
my original post below
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Joshua just posted exactly this (OK, not using this system, but using Tasker & SharpTools) just two posts before yours above…
Tasker is an automation app that you can use on Android.
SharpTools is a system (including an app for Android and a SmartApp in SmartThings) that allows us to integrate Android devices with our SmartThings systems.
I have these working in conjunction with other tools and tricks to get my wall-mounted control panels (running SmartTiles) to turn their screens on when I walk up to them.
Now though, after seeing this comment from Joshua, I’m going to revisit this concept, and see how well it works compared with using LANnouncer.
I can imagine there may be situations in which I may want to use one and other situations where I may want to use the other. Having options like this is HUGE!
One big difference between SharpTools and LANNouncer is that SharpTools requires explicit permissions and configuration with Tasker and web access, while LANNouncer can be used on your LAN… completely private, much easier set-up.
SharpTools also provides a lot more functionality, providing widgets on the Android device, while LANNouncer expects the Android device to basically be an extension of the home automation hub rather than an interactive device. They’re very different tools.
NWTony, thanks for your hard work! You made it so easy that it took under a minute to set it up. I had quite a lot of fun playing around with LANNouncer for the past couple of days.
I’ve combined it with a Netatmo Welcome camera with face recognition, an Amazon Echo, an Android phone and some custom scripts to create push notifications which are spoken by LANNouncer > Android Phone > Amazon Echo (via Bluetooth) if I am seen by the Netatmo Welcome camera.
@NWTony
I had your app running for a few months with no problem, then all of a suden it stopped working
I uninstalled the device and the device handler, uninstalled the Lannouncer app and redid everything from scratch with no luck. please advise
My Lannouncer is on my network. The devicetype works and I can get speech synthesis working. However, I can’t seem to make it show up in my smartapp options. I have two VLCThings on my network using BigTalker. I wanted to add this device and it doesn’t give me the option. Any suggestions?
Quick question. I’m just getting started with possibly using this to replace my Ubi for IFTTT voice notifications. Since I can’t explain what I’m looking for, I’ll just give an example and go from there.
Currently, I have an applet that notifies me via my Ubi when my hockey team starts a new game using ESPN. What I really want to know is whether you can pass variables from, say, the ESPN “IF” to the MAKER “THAT” so that the applet is adaptable based on what the “IF” is saying. This way, rather than my LANnouncer saying “Buffalo Sabres game has started” (which I can program in using the speak envelope), it would say “Buffalo Sabres at Washington Capitals has started”.
Sorry if that was the long way around, but I couldn’t describe it up front without giving an example. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! Thank you all!
