So you say you want to measure the temperature and humidity in each room of your house to help you understand why your heating and cooling system is not making you as comfortable as you expected. Well. A mortgage payment later and a week fraught with frustrating Internet expeditions and we have Nirvana.
Temperature and humidity measurements coming from each room of your house, graphs showing you which piece of equipment (TV, stove, AC,refrigerator, stove, water heater) is using what amount of utility( electric, gas, solar) and what that is all costing you. In addition to that information the Dashboard also shows you minute-by-minute electricity usage, solar generation, water usage and whether or not I its going to rain today. Wouldn’t want to start the lawn sprinklers if thee e will be a downpour.
The last paragraph was real. The connected house is real and getting smarter and more prevalent everyday. From measuring temperature, humidity and voltage to showing us whats in our refrigerator and viewing it on our cellphone. The connection of everything is inevitable. Right now. For the consumer. Its all about:
- Is my Thing connectable
- Are there any Standards for my Thing. What technology should I buy
- What is the cost to connect my Thing
- How many Things do I need to buy
So If I got you this far its time to add some fuel to the fire. Where do I go to purchase the IOT for my home. Do I go to Loews, Home Depot, every-store that I purchased something with power, something electrical (TV,DVD, printer dare i say refrigerator}. Or do I visit one of these sites that say they can do it all or other sites that allow you to connect piece-by-piece. All of these stores/vendors have something to offer and they all have certain selection criteria.
Big Box stores usually have a very limited selection and don’t as a rule have consistency. Online stores are very varied and difficult to tell who you are buying from except for the bigger online names. Than we come to what I like to call the specialist. One type of specialist is the ‘We will do it all’ specialist. Hire me and I will design, purchase, wire, install, maintain, update………………………………ad infinitum. The other Specialist will give you all the parts, online-training, customer support and community support but it will be up to you and you will be responsible for the outcome.
Google searches for some products and services are a mixed bag. Sometimes your first search brings you to the promised land and sometimes after what seems likes ages of searches you come up empty handed and more confused than when you started. There is a lot of what i like to call “noise” on a search for product information on the Internet and you cannot let that distract you. It’s the Internet Of Thimgs……………Lots of Things.
IOT…….LOT