Apparently HN takes a very dim view on people talking about rolling their own home automation - but as someone who's done it, I say: go for it! It's fun and as a hacker you'll have an easy time making something not achievable with consumer solutions.

Within the context of the article, I think false positive in smoke detectors are always inevitable, and by law they can't be silenced. But what a smart home system could do is allow you to intercede and prevent the defective one from cascade-infecting every other device.