7 Things (Which Are My HomeKit Tips) This Week [#133]
A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet, posted on Sundays. Sometimes themed, often not.
1️⃣ It’s probably the hub’s fault that your devices aren’t responding. Try to purchase hubless lights and outlets instead.
2️⃣ You probably need more remotes/switches than you thought to replace/add physical controllers for the non-nerds in your household. This Wemo one works quite well and offers six different commands in a tiny footprint.
3️⃣ Setting up automations for when the first person arrives home (turn on lights, raise thermostat), and when the last person leaves (turn off lights, lower thermostat) are some of the most useful things you can set up and that everyone will appreciate.
4️⃣ Don’t overlook the Home widget. You can turn off the automatic feature where it guesses which devices you want to control in a given moment and instead set the eight-ish accessories/scenes that you want quick access to. Mine is full of the things I’d want to control first thing in the morning or last at night in bed.
5️⃣ I can’t stress enough how much it helps to ask your partner/housemates what they’d expect to happen when you say a phrase like “Hey dingus, good morning”, or when you long press the bottom button on a remote/switch. They should have some say in how the devices react, and you’ll get more buy-in if things do what they expect.
6️⃣ I’ve been using indoor Nanoleaf lights in outdoor sconces throughout the very chilly winter weather here in upstate New York, and it’s been totally fine. Worth a shot rather than looking for outdoor-specific devices.
7️⃣ It’s expensive, but the physically wired HomeKit switches from Lutron have been so worthwhile and rock solid (even with the hub) for us. I wish I had a little more control over what happens when you press a button (maybe let me run a scene?), but having more lights, fans, and things be HomeKit addressable while still using the existing wiring for physical switches has been great.
52 Albums Project
Tarzan (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Phil Collins & Mark Mancina (1999) — #8/52
My inner Disney child is showing, but the Tarzan (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) still rocks. I remember dancing around my room to these songs, pretending I was swinging from trees. In college, “Trashin’ the Camp” (with *NSYNC?!) was a very common song to be heard being skat from my roommate’s and my dorm. “Son of Man” still gets the blood pumping, and “You’ll Be in My Heart” still brings out the tenderness.
Phil Collins, man, he made a great soundtrack.
Follow along on the 52 Albums Project page where I’m making some playlists for you.
Thanks for reading 7 Things. If you enjoyed these links or have something neat to share, please let me know. And remember that you can get more links to internet nuggets that I’m finding every day by following me @jarrod on the social web.