Ok, you guys want some off the wall stuff that I am using HS for, you got it!
I do most of the stuff mentioned throughout this thread, Lighting control, motion, announcements blah...blah...blah....
That said:
Auto Lighting
I have a magazine rack next to the couch where the TV circular is kept. This rack is between the couch, and an end table with a lamp on it. This lamp is seldom used, as normally the overhead lighting is kept on dim in the evenings. I have placed a motion sensor strategically aimed on the side of the magazine rack. It will ONLY detect motion in this area. The only reason to reach down there would be to grab the TV guide, or a magazine ect. When you reach in there, the lamp right next to you turns on. With a nifty event trigger (if device is on), when the magazine is placed back, the lights goes back off. This seems trivial, but the usefullness and the effect are quite impressive, ESPECIALLY when company is over
Doggy Monitor
I have 2 roomates, and all 3 of us are on completely varying schedules. We have 2 small dogs. It used to be a cellphone frenzy when someone got home, and dosent know when the dogs were taken out last time. Me calling roomate one, and he tells me he didnt walk them to call roomate 2... you get the idea.
We may have just missed one another, and they could have been taken out just minutes earlier, or no one has been home and they havent been out in a few hours. Thus, Home Seer to the rescue! We have a hook by the door that we keep the leashes on. With another strategically aimed motion sensor (only will pick up motion if the leashes are moved, not just when someone walks by). HS now keeps track of when the dogs were walked last. If it has been more than 6 hours, it will announce the dogs have not been walked recently in rooms where motion has been detected. If no rooms have had motion recently, it will catch the first poor soul that comes in the door next and tell them to walk the dogs hehehe. This cant just be based on when someone was home, as they may not have walked the dogs at all. This announcement also has scheduled times. This keeps HomeSeer from waking us up at 4 in the morning to tell us to go walk the dogs!
If the dogs have not been walked for a really extended period of time, HomeSeer will text message each of us to let us know. This way the stop after work at the store, or to grab a beer, will have to wait, and go home and take the dogs out first.
So, there's a couple things I know I have not seen before in the Automation forums!