[dnr]

Hah, I ended up with a very similar system: raspberry pi plus a razberry z-wave controller[1], IR receiver and cheap universal remote, and a node app that exposes a simple API as well as a simple UI. stunnel plus port forwarding on my router so I can access it securely from anywhere. Trigger on my phone for geo-fencing to turn off lights when I leave and turn them on when I get home (only if it's dark out). (Cheap PIR sensors are the next project.)

Overall I've found that z-wave is quite reliable. It never loses commands and latency is good enough. The protocol supports just about any kind of device or signaling you might want, in theory, though it can't really do high-bandwidth things. The problem is that devices are relatively expensive (compared to the cost of the components) because the protocol is quasi-proprietary. Zigbee is "open" and extremely flexible, but as a result, zigbee devices from different vendors often can't talk to each other. I'll take the more limited but working thing, thanks.

(The Trigger app's geofencing is pretty unreliable, though. Has anyone found an android app that can reliably do http requests when crossing a geofence?)

[1] http://razberry.z-wave.me/