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[HA Dave]

So, instead of you training Alexa/Siri/Cortana, it's Alexa/Siri/Cortana that's training you?     

To a small extent. Sort of in the same way as when you train a dog.... you learn about the dog. 

[HA Dave]

I had forgotten. Back in the BVC hey day.... I added the TTS response to "sing me a song" to "yeah... right.... pull my finger".

So when showing off BVC I tell the "computer" to do things (turn lights/cameras On and OFF) and she would perform the actions and confirm with the Kate16 (16 bit audio) voice.

When I'd tell her (the computer) to sing me a song.... she would respond with "yeah... right.... pull my finger".
 

[solareclipse]

Here's a timely article today from Mark Zuckerberg on the AI he built for his house: https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-zuckerberg/building-jarvis/10103347273888091/

"One thing that surprised me about my communication with Jarvis is that when I have the choice of either speaking or texting, I text much more than I would have expected. This is for a number of reasons, but mostly it feels less disturbing to people around me. If I'm doing something that relates to them, like playing music for all of us, then speaking feels fine, but most of the time text feels more appropriate. Similarly, when Jarvis communicates with me, I'd much rather receive that over text message than voice. That's because voice can be disruptive and text gives you more control of when you want to look at it. Even when I speak to Jarvis, if I'm using my phone, I often prefer it to text or display its response."

[dhouston]

I think this quote captures the state of the art.

For assistants like Jarvis to be able to control everything in homes for more people, we need more devices to be connected and the industry needs to develop common APIs and standards for the devices to talk to each other.

[bkenobi]

Maybe it knew it was a fraud.  I used my phone to give the answer so it may have known not to pretend to be something it's not.

[HA Dave]

Here's a timely article today from Mark Zuckerberg on the AI he built for his house: https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-zuckerberg/building-jarvis/10103347273888091/

Having had a Voice controlled home for about a decade now..... I have to admit the my favorite part is the "voice alerts and warnings". But to be honest.... text alerts... or even just alert bars on my phone can be nice too.... (for things like my garage door). I think more text notice capabilities would be nice.

Although remote controlling the lights in my Home Theater without having to leave my recliner.... is what brought me to X10. The longer I use Home Automation... the more I want the products I use to be more intuitive and not depend on my input. Macros, sensors, and timers help a lot. A little AI would really be the holly grail of Home Automation.

[HA Dave]

For assistants like Jarvis to be able to control everything in homes for more people, we need more devices to be connected and the industry needs to develop common APIs and standards for the devices to talk to each other

I think this quote captures the state of the art.

Whereas free market forces will generally drive the market to 2-3 competing brands... it may take longer than I will ever see. Meanwhile... we have the longtime forum favored..... work-arounds.

[racerfern]

Perhaps the subject of this thread should have been "Home Automation has gone mainstream leaving X10 in the dust."

[bkenobi]

X10 is still viable.  "Leaving it in the dust" would only apply if the portion of the problem X10 addresses was fully replaced by a different/significantly better solution.  The part of this thread that's interesting is the controller side rather than the controlled side.  The automation hub that X10 provides isn't anything compared to what new solutions can deliver, but it can be used as a component that responds to a smarter hub.  IOW, the CM15A/AHP solution is ok at doing what it does (timers, macros, responding to basic sensors with basic actions) but that doesn't do what newer voice controlled systems can do.  But, that's OK!  I don't use voice control on my setup (HomeGenie via RPi), but that feature has been available from the beginning of that HA software (http://www.homegenie.it  Voice control is and has always been a feature).  I'm not promoting HG, but just to say that Echo/Alexa/etc are out of the box solutions that can do what other systems have been able to do for some time.  Alexa/Echo can communicate with HomeSeer right now and I think HG has a plugin too.

Basically, X10 and all other automation systems aren't in the dust...they are being dusted off by these new controllers as far as new users to HA see it.  But for people who have been doing this for some time, the new features are simply more accessible but nearly identical to what's been available to the more dedicated for ages.

EDIT:  Oh, and I forgot someone actually made a video of their HG Jarvis setup last year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeDQ-Wes-Mc

[dhouston]

EDIT:  Oh, and I forgot someone actually made a video of their HG Jarvis setup last year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeDQ-Wes-Mc

Both Jarvis incarnations need the cloud and Google Voice. For those who prefer sunny skies, Windows 10 IoT Core has speech recognition builtin and there have been similar DIY implementations using it on a Raspberry Pi. Here are numerous links...
https://www.bing.com/search?q=make+magic+mirror+iot+pi&pc=MOZI&form=MOZTSB
And, Cortana will come to W10 IoT Core in 2017...
https://www.bing.com/search?q=windows+10+iot+core+cortana&qs=n&form=QBRE&sp=-1&ghc=1&pq=windows+10+iot+core+cortana&sc=2-27&sk=&cvid=D58BF52F477C4B7098CD7EE5C2379B2E

[HA Dave]

X10 is still viable. ......
Basically, X10 and all other automation systems aren't in the dust...they are being dusted off by these new controllers as far as new users to HA see it.  But for people who have been doing this for some time, the new features are simply more accessible but nearly identical to what's been available to the more dedicated for ages.

I agree completely! I could ramble on endlessly about how, and why, some various home automation types and uses are popular or on the rise. But... I'd even bore myself. But X10 is good solid time-tested stuff. Everyone has their own wants/needs/desires from HA. And every new product/idea ultimately... adds more cumulative value to HA as a whole.

X10 may never tell me what todays high temperature will be (Siri just did). But X10 will turn on some lights for me tonight (and every night) at dusk. BOTH are good HA.

[HA Dave]

My DOT arrived today. I knew it would... not like the old days.... the trackers let you know when and where items are in the shipping process.

Interestingly... while doing a little searching in anticipation of the DOT's arrival I discovered several how-to books about the DOT (and echo family of products). I read a few samples. Selected one that mentioned it was for the 2nd gen DOT. And downloaded it to my phone. This looks like fun! 

Opened the box. Took only minutes to set it up (downloaded an app to my phone. Ran setup) OMG.... this little thing is just awesome.

[solareclipse]

Well, some family members figured it was about time for me to expand my horizons as well, and I got a Google Home and a Philips Hue starter kit (3 bulbs).  Set things up today and have been playing around all day with it.  I quickly found that with the limited amount of integrations built in to Google Home the quickest way to add some oomph to the system was to get started building IFTTT applets.  You can custom program any voice command that the Google Assistant hears and then use that to trigger changes to the Hue lights.  At the moment I have all three bulbs in the same room (in lights that wouldn't react consistently to X10 commands, so it has in effect made my overall system more useful.  Unfortunately, I don't have a way to connect Google Home to my X10 stuff yet, but it looks like HomeSeer has IFTTT integration that could do the trick.

[HA Dave]

Well, some family members figured it was about time for me to expand my horizons as well, and I got a Google Home and a Philips Hue starter kit (3 bulbs).  Set things up today and have been playing around all day with it................. I don't have a way to connect Google Home to my X10 stuff yet, but it looks like HomeSeer has IFTTT integration that could do the trick.

Tuicemen may have found a way to use X10 with the [amazon] DOT.. using HA-bridge.... you might want to check that out. But all that stuff is a bit over-my-head.

The Google device looks nice. The Philips Hue device is nice as well.... it is also compatible with Amazons echo (what I got) and my iPhone too I believe. IMHO we should keep up with the new stuff.... There is just so much great automation available.

I've been running a 3rd party voice control software (BVC) to control my X10 setup for about a decade. Whereas the new devices have a LOT to offer.... and GREAT voice recognition. The old SAPI5 windows XP stuff with BVC (Bill's Voice Commander) had a lot going for it too. These new voice recognition devices are just plain AWESOME! But... in some small ways the old stuff had a bit more as far as customization of voice responses.

My first thought was.... to somehow get X10 under the control of my new (Amazon echo DOT) device. I'd bet that's most people 1st thought too.

But I've been rethinking some of my original thoughts. The way things stand now.... if I could just switch-over and control my X10 via my new DOT device.... I'd lose a ton of stuff controlled now via my AHP. Not to mention the many text-to-speech voice notices and alerts I currently get with my X10/BVC/PC setup.

I am currently looking at the new automation as a stand-alone setup, running along with my other (X10) stuff.

[solareclipse]

When my previous computer died I decided all my HA stuff needs to run without being tethered to an always-on PC.  I didn't bother with trying to move my registered AHP from my old PC, I did copy over my save file and run AHP when I need to update something, but I store everything in the interface.

Not having used BVC or being accustomed to having any sort of voice interface, I'll push forward using Google Home/IFTTT.  With IFTTT you can program any command to GH with up to two alternates and program the response you want GH to say to acknowledge that it understood the command and is running the IFTTT applet.   For example, I set up "Good Night" with an alternate of "Night Time" to trigger Hue to turn off all the lights and respond with "Sweet dreams".  Not bad for 30 seconds of "programming".

I'm still researching the HomeSeer stuff to get a better understanding of how it works with the CM15a plugin, but I could be convinced to shell out $200 for something that's going to bridge the old and the new.  We will see after I've spent a couple weeks with GH.  I still don't see making a big investment in Hue bulbs, but some strategically placed ones tied to GH seems helpful.