It depends what you mean by “smart”?

I have some lights I can turn of/off, dim, or change colour temp, with a remote control. They can be controlled by smartphone/tablet etc app, if you buy a wifi bridge but I haven't bought one and don't intend to. Similarly, I have some plug sockets I can remote-control.

But I don't class a simple manually operated remote control as “smart”, any more than being able to change TV channel with a remote makes the TV smart. If you're including remote devices, well, quite a few from CD player to AV amp, to some security devices, and so on.

I have a “smart” TV, but have deliberately not connected it to the net, so if that counts as smart, I've lobotomised it.

As for what's usually meant by “smart”, as in web-connected, or IoT-type gadgets, I don't have any, and don't currently plan on any. Things like IoT fridges, kettles, etc, hell, no.

I MIGHT consider smart devices IF :-

- I'm convinced about both privacy and security,
- They're value for money, and
- I'm convinced the “smart” features benefit ME.

Frankly, I'm going to need a lot of convincing on that last point alone, even without the first two.

WiFi light bulbs are the only ones i have atm. A simple dimming switch on the wall would have been a solution too, but the cost of the light bulb method was just so much lower.

And i have backed kickstarter projects for various fun “smart” stuff too. Am quite looking forward to the bluetooth/zigbee controlled window blinds :)

My wife. When she says we don't need this crap I listen to her. ;)

There is more smart in a goldfish than any IoT gadget. We should remove the word smart from technology. Also the further back in time you go the better the technology gets. 1920s for toasters.

My coffee pot. I press the button after I put the water and grounds in, and it gives me coffee. Aside from that, I would rather have full control over the things in my house, cause my luck would have it that it would wildly malfunction.

I've started a few IoT projects, some as long ago as a few years, I haven't finished any though.

I have a smartphone, but that's not always in the house.

Like Saracen, I've got a lobotomised smart TV that just does what the AV receiver tells it do.

Oh, I also have a home security system that's hooked up to the net for remote monitoring and management. But you're not supposed to know about that.

We have a smart cat. He controls us into feeding him.

The term ‘smart’ is really overused hype. I have looked at things like the NEST heating controller which is supposedly smart because it ‘learns’ your routine - if you remember to keep adjusting it, but I know what my schedule is, so I'd just program it accorfpdingly.

It can be controlled from a ‘smart’ phone (that word again) but while technology might be clever, it is essentially remote control using the Internet, which is no mor ‘smart’ than using wires, or radio.

It really emphasises the fact that the Internet is nothing more (or less) than a communication channel, and has nothing inherently ‘smart’ about it.

I have made off grid smart stairs, there is an led strip on the back of the banister which is activated by a PIR sensor at the top and bottom.

Past that, nothing much.

A smart AC switch to program and control my electric heater with my mobile phone. It is more flexible than a simple timer I used before.

I agree with Saracen and try to be cautious when adding any smart device in my living environment. Today, everything seem to be designed to collect data on the users and/or uses poor security.

I have a couple of great automation gadgets I've been fine tuning over the last little while. Using voice control, I can close / open the curtains, adjust the room's lighting and setup the TV for a perfect movie night. And even though they're 8years old, they automatically update and use their organic neural networks to gain new abilities - although sometimes you have to repeat yourself a few times before they actually do what you tell them.

I can also use the same system to make cups of tea, clear the table and bring dirty washing downstairs. I have to feed them and give them their own rooms, but they come in handy to make up a nice four player game of Catan so we'll keep them around for a while.

I don't own any home control gadgets because there is the need to program them and interconnect ,which is kind of difficult at the time.
I have only diy Audiophile set-up which i can call smart ,also smart dvb-t antenna and smart HTPC powered by Netflix and Flac,in additon i also have 4tb dual hard drive NAS with torrent client.
My next smart device to buy would be new dvb-s2 receiver with IPTV and all that free regional access.I would like some home control device with voice control programming,but i dont understand how those gel packs work.

abaxas
we have a smart cat. He controls us into feeding him.

lmao.

I think it is literally just the smart electric and gas meters which we had installed beginning of january. You can see how much you are using via the web or an app on your phone.

We have our TV hooked up to the router but it doesn't have smart capability, however when you select the input it has an icon at the bottom (Windows Media) that allows you to access media from the PC and stream it to the TV.

We are also getting Sky Q installed tommorow which does streaming round the house via mini boxes which is quite cool.

Nothing. Might think about smart heating controls when we get the boiler replaced as being able to adjust the heating from the phone sounds useful but can't really see much point in the rest of it.

Considering how few posts there is in this QOTW compared to normal I'd say it's safe to assume nobody gives a toss about smart home stuff

cheesemp
Nothing. Might think about smart heating controls when we get the boiler replaced as being able to adjust the heating from the phone sounds useful but can't really see much point in the rest of it.

But that is just remote control, nothing particularly ‘smart’ about it. :)

Plasmastorm
Considering how few posts there is in this QOTW compared to normal I'd say it's safe to assume nobody gives a toss about smart home stuff

Spot on, I'm one of them. I can't imagine any aspect of my life that would be improved by anything “smart”. My thermostat works well and in combination with the programmable timer on the boiler, I haven't ever gone out and left the heating on in my 10 years of home ownership. And if I did, it's not going to be running constantly and it'd be a nice treat for the dogs.

My lightbulbs are the boring old, switch them on and they light up type. I have a couple of dimmer switches, but it's easier to just twizzle the switch than mess about on my phone.

I have a “Smart” TV, which isn't smart at all. It can run a few apps on a wannabe Android OS but 99.9% of the time it's literally just a screen for the AV Receiver. the other 0.1% it's using screen mirroring to throw photos up from my phone.

Plug sockets that I can turn off with my phone? They might be useful if I was physically unable to reach the sockets due to disability, but even then I don't often need to turn my sockets off at the wall unless I'm unplugging something.

I did used to have one of these robot vacuum cleaners (ex bought it on Groupon). That wasn't smart either. I'd often find it wedged under the sofa, batteries drained, it'd spend most of its time banging repeatedly in to doors and I got sick of doing its job for it with a “dumb” hoover, so it got sold.

Thinking of it, I haven't experienced a smart device that is less stupid than the technology it's meant to replace. I think that the sooner the fad is over, the better.

virtuo
Thinking of it, I haven't experienced a smart device that is less stupid than the technology it's meant to replace. I think that the sooner the fad is over, the better.

Oh please, use your imagination! :)

I'm waiting for the integrated smart toaster. It would work with specially baked bread that has a bar code baked into each loaf so that each slice is bar codes during manufacture.

The toaster scans the slice and communicates with the bakery data base that has recorded the manufacture date and the humidity of the bread at the time it was packaged. It then uses that information, couple with information it has learned about my toast preference, to make a perfect slice of toast. Using the time of day, and the date, it would know if I was making toast to go with marmalade, or for cheese on toast and adjust the toasting accordingly.

A future refinement when edible electronics are developed would be to have temperature and humidity sensors built in, so it can tell the toaster the precise details, making toasting even better.

Now tell me that you life wouldn't be enhanced by such a system, Grommit!

My Central Heating System is a Honeywell Total Connect Comfort but apart from that not a lot.

peterb
Oh please, use your imagination! :)

I'm waiting for the integrated smart toaster. It would work with specially baked bread that has a bar code baked into each loaf so that each slice is bar codes during manufacture.

The toaster scans the slice and communicates with the bakery data base that has recorded the manufacture date and the humidity of the bread at the time it was packaged. It then uses that information, couple with information it has learned about my toast preference, to make a perfect slice of toast. Using the time of day, and the date, it would know if I was making toast to go with marmalade, or for cheese on toast and adjust the toasting accordingly.

A future refinement when edible electronics are developed would be to have temperature and humidity sensors built in, so it can tell the toaster the precise details, making toasting even better.

Now tell me that you life wouldn't be enhanced by such a system, Grommit!

I do try! I've just always looked at smart devices as overengineered wastes of effort and resources, ever since I saw that fridge that ordered your shopping for you when you were running low on something on Tomorrows World!

I think I'd enjoy the thrill of not knowing exactly how my toast is going to come out each time, how depressing would life be where everything becomes so perfectly consistent and predictable?

When will the ‘smart’ buzzword go away? lol :P

There's a lot of negative comments on this thread - Some smart devices are pushed on us by profit hungry corporations but aren't worth our money while other smart devices make our quality of life better. It's up to us to be tech savvy enough to decide which is which.

I have a Robot vacuum cleaner that hoovers while I'm out and I think that's brilliant.

Next on my list to get will be a robot lawnmower (when I can afford it)

peterb
Oh please, use your imagination! :)

I'm waiting for the integrated smart toaster. It would work with specially baked bread that has a bar code baked into each loaf so that each slice is bar codes during manufacture.

The toaster scans the slice and communicates with the bakery data base that has recorded the manufacture date and the humidity of the bread at the time it was packaged. It then uses that information, couple with information it has learned about my toast preference, to make a perfect slice of toast. Using the time of day, and the date, it would know if I was making toast to go with marmalade, or for cheese on toast and adjust the toasting accordingly.

A future refinement when edible electronics are developed would be to have temperature and humidity sensors built in, so it can tell the toaster the precise details, making toasting even better.

Now tell me that you life wouldn't be enhanced by such a system, Grommit!

Or, you could just grill it.

Note: I've yet to find an electric device I think makes toast as well as a gas grill.

Audiothor
Next on my list to get will be a robot lawnmower (when I can afford it)

A sheep is probably cheaper. It may not be smarter though, sheep are famously stupid.

LeetyMcLeet
When will the ‘smart’ buzzword go away? lol :P

A more accurate term would be ‘connected’.

I think my amp might be classed as Smart, it's got the internet plugged in. Apart from a few minutes of ‘oh look, it does this!’ I haven't used it other than as a device to make big sounds from little disks.