Hacker News with Generative AI: Smart Home

$30 Homebrew Automated Blinds Opener (2024) (sifter.org)
In the spirit of my thermostat and dishwasher controller, I managed to cobble together a decent blinds opener in a short weekend almost entirely from spare parts on hand.

Home Automation, DIY, Engineering, Smart Home

328 points by busymom0 5 days ago | 149 comments

An In-Room Mosquito Tracking Device That Lets You Easily Kill Them (core77.com)
This hilarious and useful device is for tracking mosquitoes within a space.

Smart Home, Insects, Technology, Design

19 points by surprisetalk 7 days ago | 5 comments

First and 2nd gen Nest Thermostats will lose support in Oct 2025 (arstechnica.com)
Google's oldest smart thermostats have an expiration date. The company has announced that the first and second generation Nest Learning Thermostats will lose support in October 2025, disabling most of the connected features.

Smart Home, Google, Hardware, Deprecation

82 points by xattt 27 days ago | 72 comments

First and 2nd gen Nest Thermostats will lose support in October 2025 (arstechnica.com)
Google's oldest smart thermostats have an expiration date. The company has announced that the first and second generation Nest Learning Thermostats will lose support in October 2025, disabling most of the connected features.

Smart Home, Google, Obsolescence, Technology, Hardware

9 points by morkalork 28 days ago | 0 comments

Upcoming end of support for Nest Learning Thermostats (first and 2nd gen) (support.google.com)
Nest has announced the end of support for Nest Learning Thermostats (1st and 2nd gen). Your thermostat will no longer connect to or work in the Google Nest app or Google Home app starting on October 25, 2025.

Smart Home, Technology, Google Nest, Deprecation

7 points by ShadowRegent 28 days ago | 3 comments

Show HN: Domika – A Native Mobile App for Home Assistant (domika.app)

Home Assistant, Mobile Apps, Open Source, Smart Home

20 points by bealex 43 days ago | 12 comments

Busy Bar (busy.bar)
BUSY Bar is a productivity multi-tool device with an LED pixel display. Focus timer with distraction blocking feature on your phone and PC. Fully customizable, open-source, and smart home ready.

Productivity, Hardware, Open Source, Smart Home

299 points by jbernardo95 43 days ago | 156 comments

Z-Wave is remaking itself into an open source protocol (theverge.com)
Now an open-source protocol and with a new long-range technology, the path forward for Z-Wave looks clearer, with a little help from Matter.

Open Source, Home Automation, Smart Home, Technology, Standards

64 points by elsewhen 47 days ago | 12 comments

My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened? (vizio.com)

Troubleshooting, Television, Technology, Smart Home

374 points by decimalenough 55 days ago | 252 comments

Google discontinues Nest Protect smoke alarm and Nest x Yale lock (arstechnica.com)
Google continues backing away from smart home hardware.

Google, Smart Home, Hardware, Discontinued Products

11 points by pseudolus 56 days ago | 4 comments

Amazon to kill off local Alexa processing, all voice requests shipped to cloud (theregister.com)
Come March 28, those who opted to have their voice commands for Amazon's AI assistant Alexa processed locally on their Echo devices will lose that option, with all spoken requests pushed to the cloud for analysis.

Amazon, Cloud Computing, Privacy, Artificial Intelligence, Smart Home

457 points by johnshades 66 days ago | 132 comments

IKEA registered a Matter-over-Thread temperature sensor with the FCC (theverge.com)
Ikea has registered its first Thread device, a new Matter-supporting temperature and humidity sensor called the “Timmerflotte,” with the FCC, reports HomeKit News.

Smart Home, Hardware, FCC, Ikea

12 points by thunderbong 83 days ago | 1 comments

Amazon announces AI-powered Alexa Plus (theverge.com)
Amazon is finally launching the long-awaited generative AI version of Alexa — Alexa Plus — that, if all goes well, will take away much of the friction that comes with talking to a speaker to control your smart home or getting info on the fly.

Amazon, Artificial Intelligence, Smart Home, Voice Assistants

4 points by meetpateltech 86 days ago | 3 comments

Show HN: GateOMatic – Ring 10 phones at once from your gate/buzzer instead of 1 (thegateomatic.com)
With the same system, Gate-O-Matic allows you to ring up to 10 phones at once.

Home Automation, Security, Hardware, Smart Home, Gadgets

3 points by bilalasd 109 days ago | 4 comments

OpenTherm: Universal protocol for smart home heating systems (opentherm.eu)

Smart Home, Home Automation, Heating Systems, Technology, Standards

12 points by singingwolfboy 118 days ago | 3 comments

How I Use Home Assistant in 2025 (vpetersson.com)
I’ve been using Home Assistant for about seven years now, starting back when I was living in a small apartment.

Home Automation, Smart Home, Technology, Future Technology

268 points by ingve 119 days ago | 306 comments

Ask HN: What are the best programmable holiday lights? (ycombinator.com)
I am replacing some old outdoor lights and I want to get LED lights that I can program? Any suggestions on the best ones? Ideally replaceable/extendable light strings with some kind of programmable controller that has usb/wifi. If it has an app my family can use that’s a plus.

Home Improvement, Smart Home, Technology, Christmas Lights

251 points by sh1mmer 168 days ago | 115 comments

Apple's Next Device Is an AI Wall Tablet for Home Control, Siri and Video Calls (bloomberg.com)
Apple Inc., aiming to catch up with rivals in the smart home market, is nearing the launch of a new product category: a wall-mounted display that can control appliances, handle videoconferencing and use AI to navigate apps.

Smart Home, Apple, Artificial Intelligence, Video Conferencing

5 points by mgh2 191 days ago | 4 comments

Show HN: I built an app to use a QR code as my doorbell (dingdongdoorbell.com)
Ding Dong Doorbell offers a versatile digital doorbell for every entrance.

DIY, Hardware, Smart Home, Web Development, QR Codes

140 points by dirkc 206 days ago | 231 comments

Robot vacuum cleaners hacked to spy on, insult owners (malwarebytes.com)
Multiple robot vacuum cleaners in the US were hacked to yell obscenities and insults through the onboard speakers.

Cybersecurity, Robotics, Privacy, Hacking, Smart Home

42 points by hampelm 214 days ago | 31 comments

Building an e-ink weather display for our home (kimmo.blog)
We almost always want to know today's weather before leaving the apartment. Often the whole event is quite a hassle: getting our daughter dressed, finding all our personal outwear, plus trying to find your phone to check the weather. To make the experience 1% better, the solution obviously needs engineering.

Home Automation, DIY Projects, Weather, Smart Home

6 points by srid 243 days ago | 0 comments

IKEA Introduces Matter Support for the Dirigera Hub (ikea.com)
IKEA is taking the next step in creating a better and simpler smart home experience with the introduction of Matter support for the DIRIGERA hub.

Smart Home, IKEA, Matter

12 points by tanepiper 254 days ago | 0 comments

I just finished testing over 150 smart lights... here's all the data! (reddit.com)

Smart Home, Technology, Data, Reviews, Consumer Electronics

15 points by itchaboyagain 266 days ago | 2 comments

Google TV Streamer: Our new entertainment and smart home hub (google)

Google TV, Streaming, Smart Home, Entertainment

25 points by hbcondo714 290 days ago | 19 comments

Philips Hue bulbs are randomly turning brightness to 100% (appleinsider.com)

Smart Home, Philips Hue, Technology, Software Bugs

20 points by xmddmx 318 days ago | 26 comments

How to get root access to your Sleep Number bed (dillan.org)