Chapter 11
Uncovering Some Smarter Smart-Home Techniques
IN THIS CHAPTER
Clumping devices together into groups
Combining Echo devices into a speaker set
Convincing Alexa to play music in multiple rooms
Automating smart-home chores with routines and applets
When I first starting playing around with home automation in the early 2000s, the state of the art was woeful. Few standards existed, companies used proprietary technologies, the connections were spotty, and the control interfaces (Windows only, of course) were mind-numbingly complicated. So you can’t imagine my glee these days when I insert a Wi-Fi Simple Setup plug or a Zigbee light bulb and it’s connected, configured, and ready to command within a few seconds.
Today’s smart-home stuff still has its complications, as I describe in Chapter 10, but the trend is toward faster and easier discovery and connection. So, if your smart home Jones is satisfied with plugging in a few gadgets and controlling them through your Alexa device, I for one will not judge. However, there are still quite a few techniques you can learn to improve ...
Get Alexa For Dummies now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
