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Smart Home WiFi Plug (socket)
🕑 Added 2017-06-13 12:40:05 +0000 UTC In this video I set-up a voice controlled smart plug...and while this is something that has been possible for a while now, I wanted to show that it's become simple enough for anyone to do it.Home automation has been around for decades with the X10 systems first appearing in the late 1970s, but it’s really only been in the last year or so that I've become interested because of the ability to control devices with voice commands through an Amazon Echo. I’ve no desire to use a smartphone app to turn on a light…I’d rather get up and press a light switch, but voice control gives me that feeling of living in a 1980s science fiction movie.
The thing that attracts me to the TP Link plug I feature in this video is that it’s a sensible price and doesn’t require the additional expense of a ‘smart hub’. It’s the kind of thing you can buy on its own without committing to a specific ‘smart home ecosystem’ and if it does turn out to be useful, it's easy to expand the system at a later date as funds allow.
I hope you like this rather simple video and as always thanks for your continued support.
End Credits & Name Shuffling
I'd better mention that if your name appears in the end credits and someone next to you decides to drop out, your name might be centred on the line for a couple of videos and then move further down when another gap opens up nearby. I really never expected more than perhaps a dozen people to opt for this option, so I need to to keep it as concise as possible to fit over the outro video , I trust you understand.
UPDATE: The previously uploaded version of this video generated a lot of animosity on youtube regarding the use of an Amazon Echo so I took it down, did a minor edit and re-uploaded it. I left this one unlisted so as not to agitate the subscribers who had already received a notification for the earlier upload. It's now only visible here on Patreon & Techmoan.com
UPDATE 2: I can't really afford to lose a full week's work, so I've made a more comprehensive edit by adding a disclaimer at the beginning and I'm going to give it one more shot as a public video. Apologies if it turns up in your feeds again, youtube won't let me set a video as public without simultaneously announcing it to the world. This should happen later today (Friday 16th June).
I'll have a brand new video for you in a few days. It's another forgotten format.
Comments
David Roberts
Great video - enjoyed the Muppets at the end of the revised version (and the incidental music over the Amazon warning). Don't understand the anti-Amazon brigade.
No need for apologies. I watched it again as I figured there'd be some entertainment value in the warning for those of us who "get it". I might go buy an Echo now... Amazon is allegedly launching in Australia soon. How else could they possibly discover my every desire?
Techmoan
I apologise if this video turns up in your youtube feeds again - there's no way to turn off all the subscriber notifications entirely. After a re-edit I'm trying once more to release this one as a public video. I've added a section at the beginning to warn the people who have an aversion to the Amazon Echo to stop playing the video before it starts. I really hope that this time any anti-Echo sentiment doesn't overshadow what was supposed to be a simple video about how a voice-control smart plug has proved useful to me in accessing hard to reach plug sockets.
