My Smart Home Project

So why would anyone want a "smart" home?  Well, I can only answer that from my perspective.  What I am looking for is (a) something to make my life easier (saving time, reducing chores, that sort of thing), (b) something that actually makes me feel like this is the 21st Century (come on now, where's the increased leisure time and flying cars I was promised?).

In technology terms I am actually coming to this relatively late as smart home tech has been around for many years.  But it's only that it is beginning (note I said beginning!) to be accessible and require a sensible level of time invested to make it work.

So each time I look for a "smart" gadget to add to my life I try to ask myself three basic questions:
(1) How is it going to make my life easier or better?
(2) How much is it and is it worth that much to me?
(3) Is it "cool" (yes, I used cool, which makes me old!)

A whole number of gadgets fall at the first hurdle as they are solutions looking for a problem.  Some just appeal to my "ooohhh shiny" but are actually worse in many respects than doing things old school (simple is usually better than complex - the less there is, the less there is to go wrong!).

So my next few posts will take you through my smart home journey and allow me to share my thoughts and what I have learned so far.