Home Automation

[Klaus]

Yeah already planning on picking one up from Target @ $30.

[Klaus]

I really wish Amazon and Google would come to an agreement. It's annoying not having Amazon video on my chromecast and no youtube on Amazon products...


"We've been trying to reach agreement with Amazon to give consumers access to each other's products and services," a Google spokesperson said in a statement. "But Amazon doesn't carry Google products like Chromecast and Google Home, doesn't make Prime Video available for Google Cast users, and last month stopped selling some of Nest's latest products. Given this lack of reciprocity, we are no longer supporting YouTube on Echo Show and FireTV. We hope we can reach an agreement to resolve these issues soon."

[Klaus]

Have you tried the "ok google broadcast" feature yet? After having two Google Home's in our house (one mini/one big) we have started to use it as an intercom. Michelle was sick and with the mini on her night table she could do "ok google broadcast bring me some ice water" - it then makes an attention noise and plays "bring me some ice water" out of the main Google Home. Very handy.

You can also do it from your phone that is linked with your home from anywhere. On my way home I can do ok google broadcast I am on my way home and it will broadcast it out of all the Google homes.

[Jomama]

lol my place is not big enough to need an intercom but thats a neat feature.

[Klaus]

I have some $15 LED strip lights behind my gaming monitor. A new power supply IR unit came out that will make them wifi enabled for $14. I ended up getting another set of light for $10 more (total of $24 last week). I didn't want to spend the $80 for Hue strips. Anyway - they work great. The App is decent but you can add them to rooms under Google Home or Alexa. So saying turn off loft for me turns off two hue blubs and the cheap light strip that I put behind my TV. Also - "change loft to green" for wild game works.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Klaus]

Tried the Hue Light Sync App that works outside of the Razor Application and it works much better. It doesn't have integration in games like Overwatch where it will do colors based on your health but it work on all games and apps. It used the colors on your screen to change the Hue colors. It's very fast with no lag. It does use some CPU power but overall it's cool even when browsing the web.


https://www2.meethue.com/en-us/entertainment/hue-sync

[Klaus]

Picked up a lightstrip and a couple more color bulbs on Prime Day. Really like the colors are all the same now (I had a $10 wifi light strip in my office that never matched the hue colors).