"31ModelA" (car)
06/26/2014 at 07:35 • Filed to: Mercedes, Nest, Automation, My cat gets my mail for me.
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"31ModelA" (car)
06/26/2014 at 07:35 • Filed to: Mercedes, Nest, Automation, My cat gets my mail for me. | 3
| 22 |
...or bike, or stroller, or roller skate, or little tiny dog back pack. Basically anything that will hold a phone. Here's how.
You may have read about Mercedes' new feature that integrates your car with some home automation devices such as the Nest thermostat. (If not, read about it now!)
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The reason for this is that Nest recently opened up their architecture to hundreds of developers, letting them have a go at expanding the functionality of the device by pushing the boundaries of its particular form of automation. Mercedes, though, aren't the only ones getting in on the action.
Welcome to...
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (like "gift") stands for "IF This Then That". That phrase means that a condition is established ("if this") and when that condition is met, an action takes place ("then that"). The website facilitates all sorts of "if this then that" commands using so called " recipes" that you can customize to your particular application or else just activate and start using right away .
These recipes link all sorts of sites (twitter, facebook, dropbox, etc.), devices (iPhones, androids, Nest, WeMo, Hue, etc.) and device features (tracking, motion sensing, SMS, etc.) as well as information from the web (weather and RSS are big ones) to act as triggers and actions as illustrated above. Pretty simple stuff in theory, but still really cool. And hopefully you can see where this is going.
Or at least where it's already been, because with the app avaialable !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! or !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! allowing you to establish all sort of conditions that take advantage of your device's inherent features (think location), you may not need to shell out the dough for a Mercedes to have these features if, say, walking is more your style.
So while I did not purchase a brand spanking new Mercedes, my Nest still knows when I'm on the way home and to go ahead and chill things off a bit. And unlike the Mercedes that does the same thing, the app is, well, FREE.
While the Nest might be the big example discussed so far, IFTTT recipes can also be written or activated on the site or in the app to control Phillips Hue lights, WeMo power adapters, facebook and twitter post, and many many many other things. Like these...
...and these...
...and oh so many more.
So I ask: can your Mercedes text your honey and tell him or her that you've left the office? And when you pull in the driveway, can the Merc turn on the Hue lights in your garage? When you come in the door, does the Merc turn on that lamp right by your favorite reading chair? Does the Merc set your Hue lighting to a color that matches the tone of the music you're listening to? Does the Merc text you and your neighbors when it's on fire!? I didn't think so. (I mean, maybe it does. It costs like $100K - I don't really know).
Of course, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! than just location based recipes (as noted above), and it's not just limited to what you can do with your phone. IFTTT can also tell your connected devices and certain sites to all talk amongst each other.
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For instance, let's say you have a Nest Protect fire alarm and Phillips Hue lights. If the Protect detects an issue, IFTTT can trigger your house lights to flash (perhaps waking you or alerting a passerby that things are not right), and even send a text to alert you and your neighbors.
Say you have plants. Just plug a small water pump into a WeMo adapter and run a recipe in IFTTT that tells the WeMo to turn the pump on for a short period if the weather report doesn't predict any rain for that day.
IFTTT can even get you out of a meeting! Just send a text message to IFTTT with the tag #HELP, and an IFTTT computer will call your phone and play a message, scripted by you and read by an IFTTT computer, thus getting you out of that horrible meeting.
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! If you're not one of the many who already know about and love this, then go check it out. And save your money for the Hue lights.
Nibbles
> 31ModelA
06/25/2014 at 16:28 |
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OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOGMGOMGOMGOMG THEY HAVE A WINDOWS PHONE APP HOLY SHITBALLS SOMEBODY ACTUALLY LISTENED BRB DOWNLOADING RIGHT NOW wait can I have it turn my XBone on when I enter the front door?
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31ModelA
> Nibbles
06/25/2014 at 16:31 |
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You should suggest that.
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Nibbles
> 31ModelA
06/25/2014 at 16:35 |
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Or build it myself. I wonder if I can send a power command through the NIC - if it has WoL? That'd be simple, once the phone joins home network send power on command.
But that may not be good because if I go to the back yard I'll lose connection. Then when I regain it, it'll send another power command, hopefully turning the XBone off while the wife is watching My Little Pony
Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> Nibbles
06/25/2014 at 17:58 |
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Nah, just have another phone that has text-to-speech enabled and sitting in front of the xbox that screams "XBOX ON" when an IFTTT recipe activates it. Maybe integrate it with Cortana.
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Nibbles
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
06/25/2014 at 18:00 |
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Oh god I have spare tablets laying around. It's a shoddy workaround, but a workaround nonetheless until I dev-unlock my xbone
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> Nibbles
06/25/2014 at 18:02 |
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What tablets are they? Go overkill and buy a Surface Pro 3 just for this one purpose.
Because if you're not living in excess, you're not living.
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Nibbles
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
06/25/2014 at 18:12 |
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Got an ipad something (won at christmas party a couple years back), a Nook Color (traded an old projection TV for it two weeks ago) and a Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 (got for free by getting the wife a new Lumia and dropping our monthly charge by 20 bucks)
I'd trade all three of 'em for a Surface Pro3. No, gotta keep the Nook for the wife, but I'll trade the ijunk and androthing for a Surface Pro3
Bricks
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
06/25/2014 at 19:06 |
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Are you guys talking about the halo character cortana, or the armitage scripting language cortana, or something else entirely? I'm curious
Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura
> 31ModelA
06/25/2014 at 19:27 |
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If Manual Shifter then Manual Benzes?
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> Nibbles
06/25/2014 at 22:25 |
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At this point I'm honestly thinking I'd rather a Pro2.
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> Bricks
06/25/2014 at 22:26 |
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Cortana is the Windows Phone version of Siri. Push and hold the search button and you can talk to it, and it's voiced by the voice of Cortana from the games, as well.
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Nibbles
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
06/25/2014 at 22:43 |
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Pro2 is nice for sure, but the Pro3 doesn't get as hot - even with an i7. That's big for me
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Nibbles
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
06/25/2014 at 22:45 |
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I ain't even have to hold. Just tap search and she pops up. She even reads my texts and tells me when I should leave work in order to get home on time
She'd make a great replacement wife if it wasn't for the whole sex part which would be awkward and not socially acceptable
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> Nibbles
06/25/2014 at 22:54 |
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Nah, I'd totally go out on dates with a fleshlight duct-taped to my 925.
Nismogtr600
> 31ModelA
06/26/2014 at 03:27 |
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I came home today, and the house was warm, because I don't have cool stuff that cools things before I get home. I had to walk all the way to the air conditioner and turn it on. I almost died, it took forever, like 5 whole fucking minutes, to cool things down.
I also had to turn on the damn lights.
Get off my damn lawn, and stop driving so fast, this is a neighborhood!
Oh, and this thing can even water your plants! I say this in jest, of course..but if you have plants, and you need a fucking app to water them...just..just...uggh.
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31ModelA
> Nismogtr600
06/26/2014 at 07:32 |
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My dogs nearly expired while I looked for an app to feed them. Then I found a solo cup inside of a container filled with brown pellets. I believe this is what they eat?
thebigbossyboss
> Nismogtr600
06/26/2014 at 07:44 |
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Don't have air conditioning. Problem solved! House is always hot!
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thebigbossyboss
> 31ModelA
06/26/2014 at 07:50 |
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I get the same effect by driving a really loud fart can. People usually hear me approaching from 30-45 seconds away so if I am picking them up or coming to visit they hear me then come to the door. hahaha.
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31ModelA
> thebigbossyboss
06/26/2014 at 09:10 |
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Merc should put really loud fart cans on their AMGs - imagine that hulking V8 through a fart can. Seriously, though - I would love to hear what that might sound like.
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Nismogtr600
> 31ModelA
06/26/2014 at 17:58 |
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No dude, that's the manure for the self manuring app for the plants that get self watered by the watering app.
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Nismogtr600
> thebigbossyboss
06/26/2014 at 18:02 |
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Brilliant!
BrianRad
> 31ModelA
06/27/2014 at 17:02 |
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A free steering wheel with every model? What will those Germans think of next?