I've apparently gone full-circle (maybe even more than once) with the HA control aspects in my home. I went down the screens-everywhere road, with the Audreys, and while it was a valiant effort that yielded great results, the fact is I just don't need to have a screen everywhere. They aren't portable, and if they were, I wouldn't be carrying them with me everywhere around the house. I'm home - and when I get home I UNLOAD all the crap I take with me when I leave the house - wallet, cellphone/PDA, keys, sunglasses, hat, laptop, sometimes even clothes! I wear no jewelry, not even a watch, so other than maybe embedding that Star Trek communicator into my chest that connects specifically to HS for voice commands, I'm not going to change that habit.
I don't want to know the status of things unless I specifically ask or look. I don't want to have it staring me in the face at 2:20am, glowing like the brightest nightlight I never needed (did you know it's very easy to walk around in a house in the dark?). I do want to know when something isn't working right, has gone down, or otherwise isn't within normal specs that I dictate. I do want to be able to see if someone called when I was away or there is a new message waiting, maybe the weather. And no thanks to the automated forwarding of those voicemails and messages - it's just not that important to me. A simple LED or LCD can tell me that, and then I can follow it up. Maybe even just the BetaBrite sign.
Like Rupp, I spend a lot of time in front of a PC (too much, really). I'm finding that all these nice bells and whistles aren't really meaningful to me at home. No one here cares about a flashy now-playing CD cover screen, so why buy, program, or use it? We hear the music, and can pick it and control it, that's enough. One remote that controls the AV gear with a couple button presses, automated and watch-dogged systems, and I'm all set.
Things I do care about: announce/show phone callers and their messages, announce/show guests at the door, turning on all the pool/patio lights at the same time but still having individual control, event calendar announcements, etc. Oh, I should put an announcement on the stove timer so I hear it when the food is done - that'd be great to keep my teenage son from burning his pizzas! Maybe a high temp sensor inthe range hood to detect when the stove somehow begins to burn up for when he graduates to stove-top cooking...
And of course all the background scheduled events and things like lights on at dusk/off at midnight, sprinklers, etc. But those are all handled quietly by HS now. Ah well, maybe I'll find the ultimate interface for me in a few decades yet.
