Home Automation Systems

Your home is your sanctuary. These days nothing could be closer to the truth. It's not only a sanctuary but quickly transforming into a relaxed, minimum-security prison. The guys from "Good Fellas" did their time in a similar fashion. Meatballs and wine and preferential treatment from the guards while the rest of the joint was stuck with Sloppy Joes and cramped cell blocks.

Unlike "Good Fellas," we can leave the house now and again. And thanks to quarantine, we've come to know every nook and cranny in our homes quite well. We're also likely relying a lot more on our home automation systems if we've got one. Once an extreme luxury, Amazon Echo, Google Home Hub, or Wink Hub 2 are now affordable and ever-present. More on these in a bit. First, let's review how we got to having robots controlling our prison-cells, er, sanctuaries.

Way back in 1940, an engineer by the name of Jim Sutherland invented the ECHO IV. This novel device controlled appliances, the temperature and later stored recipes, family memos, and shopping lists. In 1975 a more advanced spin-off hit the market – the X10 Home Automation Project. This piece of machinery was able to control lighting fixtures, as well as small appliances. Finally, motion lights, programmable thermostats, garage door openers, and so on entered the mix.

The notion of the Internet of Things (IoT) came about in the 90s, and when Amazon released the Echo for Prime members in 2014, people went bonkers. Today the previously mentioned home automation systems are incredibly prevalent. People are ordering milk with them, adjusting the A/C, monitoring their home when they're away, and controlling the coffee maker. There are a host of providers out there, but these three are top of the line. Let's have at it!

First up is arguably the best of the bunch. Amazon Echo calls on the most popular robot on the planet, Alexa, to accompany millions of households every waking day. The Echo is a snap to set up, features excellent compatibility, and can operate either as a standalone device or connected to similar services to take on a host of chores. At $100, there is little not to like with the Echo.

Google Home Head has taken the Echo head-on, and it is now a legitimate argument as to which reigns supreme. If Google devices (Gmail, calendar etc) are a part of your everyday reality, then this home automation system makes a ton of sense. Calling on Google Assistant to perform all tasks, Home Hub plays music off YouTube, updates daily schedules, provides weather information and easily syncs with other smart devices. While not a full media service that can access digital subscriptions, for example, (something easy with Chromecast), it's a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things.

The Wink Hub 2, in a lot of ways, is quite similar to the Home Head. Commands are executed through a visual interface, and you can use other voice assistants such as Siri or Alexa, to operate it. The significant advantage of Wink Hub is coordinating and aligning your other smart devices. They're automatically controlled no matter what they are, which is a valued feature. Yet, at the same time, this is a downside of Wink, as the fine-tunning that an app might bring to the table might not be the same through Wink.

From here, there are some excellent options via Samsung and others. No excuses anymore for not having a home automation system in 2020. We all need someone to talk to while in lockdown these days.