Amazon Echo and X10

[toasterking]

The HCA software has an Amazon approved skill and voice control from Alexa to HCA just worked. Had it up and running in minutes.

Thanks for sharing.  This appears to be exactly the kind of information that the OP fegarex was looking for.

[HA Dave]

......... I also like not having to carry around something that I wouldn't already be carrying....... Of course, everyone wants to carry nothing and just be able to yell into thin air and have the house do their bidding, so I certainly see the appeal of using the Amazon Echo for this.  The Echo seems like a commercially-funded realization of the pipe dream of those who spent their time rigging up baby monitors and speakers to their PC and countless hours tweaking to get a fraction of the functionality not so long ago. .....

Absolutely. I myself have had great success with my BVC setup. But I honestly have always enjoyed the (computer generated) voice warnings and alerts that I get more than the use of the voice control. BVC was a decade ahead of it's time! I think Bill helped the industry realize how simple this complex technology really is.

And as far as functionality of the device recognizing the speech, I know that many have been successful in using something like BVC to control their automation and even run simple scripts that would do things like read the weather forecast.  But there's no way it could approach the resourcefulness of a service like Siri or Google Now or Alexa.  Whether it's Homekit or this web server hack, this is why I like having it all in one place.

Yes. Siri was impressive a couple or three years ago. But it keeps getting better. Now with the "hey Siri" feature... the phone rests just waiting for a Hey Siri command/request. And the questions Siri can answer... it is amazing. And even my Apple TV with take voice commands/requests as well. But there are times... when I don't want to announce everything. And my phone is always there... with an old fashioned app... with pretend buttons to touch. It's perfect.

I look forward to your progress!. 

[dhouston]

Unfortunately, Android phones have become the favorite target of malware creators.

And here's more bad news...
http://www.csoonline.com/article/3146094/security/android-malware-steals-access-to-more-than-1-million-google-accounts.html?google_editors_picks=true

[bkenobi]

We may soon know exactly how much Echo really knows.  The claim is that Echo only listens when the key word is heard, but this court order could either confirm that or show that the NSA isn't the only one watching our every move!

http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/27/14089836/amazon-echo-privacy-criminal-investigation-data