[mrweasel]

My feelings about these kinds of projects are a bit mixed. I certainly understand why, writing code that controls something in the real world is so much fun. However I actively avoid any kind of smart device in my home, beyond my vacuum cleaner. Having a computer control lighting, heating or access to my home is out of the question, I simply don't want to deal with it. I trust keys, switches and knobs.

[iansowinski]

Dumb solution: hiding place for a key. Paradoxically it may be safer than smart solutions :)

[waste_monk]

Less dumb solution: Getting a key custody safe [1] and mounting it to the exterior of your house so you can lock up the key while you're out running. Ideally it would be mounted somewhere discreet (perhaps inside a fake utility enclosure, which would also help protect it from the weather) but in plain view of the street so if someone does attempt to break in they're forced to draw attention to themselves.

You also have to be careful to get one that suits your threat model, a key custody safe designed to be installed in a semi-secure part of a building may not be resistant enough when mounted on the exterior with street access - many are only designed to resist covert tampering and are not that strong against a determined attacker with an angle grinder or similar overt attack.

[1] something like this: https://www.safeguardsafes.com.au/product/cmi-class-b-key-cu... - includes a very nice Kaba X-10 lock that is kinetically powered so you don't have to worry about wiring it to mains power or changing batteries.

[mrweasel]

I have a beehive in the garden, I just put the spare key in there.

[faeriechangling]

Smart home stuff can't overcome the fundamental issue of complexity creep and the brittleness and unreliability inherent to it.

I've had a network connected soundbar bring down my home internet. My lights were set to re-enter the state they were in when they were last on, no way to turn those on without factory resetting them all and pairing all my devices again. My smart assistants were on a hair trigger, if anything tripped their wake word they would start a cacophony of complaints about not being able to connect to wifi and demands to be reset.

I'll give my smarthome crap one thing though, it's genuinely educational,

[Oblitio]

You might deprive yourself from an interesting experience i had:

My IoT light switches made the mental model of 'lightswitch on the door' to 'lightswitch were i need it'.

It also allows you to actually have a light atmosphere which enhances how you use light. This is a stark contrast to a friend of mine who sits in a very bright and uncomfortable room.

Using Alexa or Google for lights, timer and reminder also gave me insight on how much different/more natural a voice interface is and were we might be with this technology in a few years.

[mrweasel]

> 'lightswitch were i need it'.

That would certainly be a plus. I have at least one missing lightswitch in my kitchen, and adding it would be rather complicated. Still it seems like overkill to invest in IoT to solve the issue of my lightswitch being 1,5m from where I'd want it to be.

The whole "light atmosphere" is something I already have, I just have to go around and turn on the lamps manually. As for the Alexa, Google Assistent or even Siri integration... I trust none of the company behind those technologies enough that I'd allow them to have a microphone in my home, constantly listening. It is beyond creepy.

[Oblitio]

I'm a software engineer. Who else to play around with those type of things than us?

I 'setup' my lights and don't go around to switch them on. I just stop doing that. With hue i have always a specific scene active. For watching projector, eating, learning etc. I constantly play around with the lights. Its actually quite fun.

And yes of course i would love to have a local ML chip and some open language model. But i'm also running around with my smartphone. Friends work at mobile provider, they know were you are. The android os is 'trustworthy' but i still have a microphone in it and having it around me all day.

Knowing that those activation words can't just be deactivated, makes it, in my opinion, similiar if not more secure than my smartphone. So that wasn't a big deal for me either.

[qwertox]

Regarding the lighting, you're definitely missing out on a lot of comfort by not using something like Hue or zigbee2mqtt. You could add a second layer of lighting which runs in parallel, like with floor lamps. Once it's set up you can completely forget about it and have movement sensors and dimmer switches make them useful to you.