...and the mailing list has had activity this year. Some software just carries on quietly, I suppose :)
What is wrong with the simple light switch on the wall?
Home automation sounds cool and all, but every time I look into it I realize that the switch does everything I need perfectly fine and doesn't have bugs. I'm not saying there are no uses for home automation, but most of them are overstated.
In a larger household, with many occupants it starts becoming more useful.
Simple things like roll-backs on lights for spaces that haven't been occupied 'for a while'. Or sensing occupancy and adjusting lighting and other conditions (shades, HVAC, etc). Note "occupancy" not just "motion". The lack of motion does not necessarily translate to nobody being present (sedentary use of a computer, watching tv, sitting in a bath tub, etc). Simple schedules to 'clean up' unused lighting or devices. Like turning off car/bike/power tool chargers if they've been running 'long enough'. Or activating them with simple voice commands.
Do you 'need' any of this? No, of course not, but it does add a bit of convenience for not a lot of technical implementation/cost.
Ac follows same logic. I have a scene called good night that turns everything including the tv off
But I also noted that it says at the bottom that the same page was last updated in 2017 so still somewhat active I guess?
I never got into any of this, despite a friend at work describing what X10 was to me in 1997 and being totally fascinated at the time. I think the take away there is that there are literally thousands and thousands of interesting things to do with computers but never enough time to try them all.