Anyone started investing in Smart home devices?

Ot: mm..

 

I must confess, I don't have a green thumb and I've never grown a single plant in my life. It's just not in my nature. Despite that, I think I've found a technology that can help me grow them at home and remove the guesswork in taking care of them.

It's called Flower Care made by a company called HHCC. Xiaomi sells an identical device under their brand, but I'm not sure if they're 100% identical.

Anyway, it's a Bluetooth IoT device that monitors the moisture level and fertility of the soil where your plant is growing, as well as monitor the environmental temperature and sunlight level. You first choose the plant from the built-in database and the app provides you with suggestions when to add water or whether it needs more sunlight, etc. It also tells you if the soil is still fertile enough to sustain growth or if you need to add some fertilizer. Everything is based on the needs of the plant selected.

As a beginner, I started off with a Rubber Tree Plant, which many say is a low-maintenance indoor plant. We'll see how it goes.

So, now for the exciting part. Pictures!

 

That's nice. Is there a Jalapeño plant setting in the menu? "Oregano!"

 

These were the closest I could find:

 

@Juice , were those even in the ballpark?

 

Not really. I planted a Jalapeno seed and it died. I’m hoping this gadget would help.

 

Ok, so I tried to enter the specie name for Jalapeno; "Capsicum annuum", this time I got multiple hits. I have not made any effort to figure out which one specifically. Anyway. you can look up the plant database yourself by downloading the Flower Care app (iOS and Android). You don't need to own the monitoring device to check out the plant database.

 

Ah yes. Nothing beats simplicity. If you have adapted to the smart lifestyle, you would think everything needs to be in sync and on line. But simple tasks like opening the door (and closing it) and making coffee and playing music need not be smart-integral, just the same old one-click tasks.

 

Hi. I recently came from Japan (holy week break), and I bought 10 Sonos speakers (7 sonos one and 3 sonos beam) and ended up buying another Sonos Play 5 at Architectural Audio two weeks ago. I can tell you these speakers are awesome.

 

My Wyze Sense has arrived.



Just a summary of what it is, it is an add-on to my Wyze cameras that enables the capability to get a notification when something is opened/closed or if movement was detected within an area. You can also set up a Wyze camera to start recording when a sensor is tripped. It also has IFTTT integration so it can be used as a trigger to turn on/off lights and do tons of other stuff.

Here's the marketing video:


I haven't installed the sensors yet but I have paired them and started testing. They're really cool. Now I can get notifications whenever a door is open, or left open after x amount of time, or when the PIR sensor detects movement.

 

I'm using a Wyze Sense door sensor to check the status of the door lock. A smart lock like the August would've been ideal, but they are expensive. All I needed was a way to check remotely whether the deadbolt is latched or not. I used 3mm x 1mm magnets lodged inside the deadbolt center notch. The sensor is then placed on the other side of the door jamb and will detect the magnets' presence when the deadbolt is latched.

Two 3mm x 1mm magnets in the center notch of the deadbolt:


Just to give a scale of how tiny these magnets are:


The sensor is then placed on the other side of the door jamb. It will then detect the presence of the magnet when the deadbolt is latch (locked position):


And voila!

 

Will Echo Connect work in the Philippines?

 

Realized that I don’t actually need a new smart cam system at the condo; instead, the old reliable Dog Cam I got in 2009 is still working even on its clunky AI. It has 720p resolution, a 180 degree swivel and a voice-activated sensor plus high-sensitivity night vision. I’ve been using this to monitor our dogs at home when we were abroad and then I totally forgot about it and kept it. I recently got it out of the box and installed it at the condo rather than getting a new CCTV system. It may not be as smart as the new cam systems now but it still works, it connects thru WiFi and has options for download content only if you program it to.

Sometimes betting on the old clunky devices is better than new sophisticated ones that are oftentimes more difficult to use and muster.

 

It should. Though the issue I have with it is that it relies on the contact list of whoever's Amazon account is logged in.

Just take care that it's not too old to be vulnerable, security-wise.

 

I used one of the Wyze Sense magnetic sensor on a keyboard tray to automate the light and fan. Using IFTTT, depending on the state of the magnetic sensor, it turns on or off the area light (smart bulb) and the fan (Vornado 660 from an earlier hack).

It's the simple things.

 

How many engineers does it take to factory reset a smart bulb?

These GE smart bulbs are ridiculous....

 

I know. The Xiaomi Smart bulbs I have went on and off in strobe light conditions last night during the thunderstorm. I had to do a breaker reset because of it. Then two of them conked out. Will have to replace them.

 

That's too bad. If they're less than a year old and you bought it from a local store, you can try your luck at claiming for warranty.

The lightning storm last night, thankfully, didn't damage anything. None of my UPSes even registered a spike. I guess the lightning occurred well away from the power circuit my home is connected to.

 

Bought this 328 peso smart plug from Lazada based on good reviews, minus P200 from GCash, total payment is P230.

It works and can be controlled using voice command in Google Home app.