What Is Home Automation?

So what exactly does the term home automation mean? At its most basic level, it’s a product or service that brings some level of action or message to the home environment, an event that was generated without the homeowner’s direct intervention. An alarm clock is a home automation device. So is a smoke alarm. The problem is, these stand-alone devices don’t use a standard network communication protocol, so they can’t talk to one another the way that networked computers can.

One of my earliest memories of home automation was when the Mr. Coffee automatic drip coffee machine came out in the early 1970s. The joy this simple kitchen appliance brought my coffee-drinking parents was genuine. They were so pleased to know that ...

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