My Home Security Is Cooler Than Yours

A few weeks ago I had a small situation where a stranger waltzed into my home in broad daylight while I was home.  (Read about it on my blog)  I had already been working on details for securing my home at the time however that particular situation forced me to move forward even further.

In the video below, I show a partial demo of what will happen if someone breaks into my home.  Home security is something that is top priority in my home automation setup, however I have been reluctant to show off my security system.  Only a fool would put their setup online, it would make it that much easier to bypass.  This is the reason as to why I am not showing how this is done.  Regardless, when it is finished it will be extremely cool.

Samsung Opt’s Out

So it has been a few weeks since my last post.  It appears as if my blog post have been filled with nothing but post about home automation and technology the past few months.  According to my blog, it was no secret at the end of 2013 early 2014 I was determined to automate my home.  However in six short months, things have changed dramatically.  In recent months, there has been an enormous spike in popularity when it comes to home automation.  So much in fact that it seemed my efforts to control my home with automation seemed less impressive than if I were to achieve success a mere year earlier.  I saw this spike in home automation coming however I felt that having my artificial intelligent program control my home was unique, therefore separating itself among the other home automation systems.  In a measly six months, having Denise control my home is no where near as special than it would have been if I succeeded in early 2013.

Now, there are such systems like Lowe’s Iris (a proprietary pay-per-month home automation service), Castle O/S, plus others with more on the way.  The competition is getting so vast that having Denise control my home seems to get lost in an ocean of competing H.A. competitors.

So what now?

I had already succeeded getting the majority of my hardware and software setup to where I did have a decent home automation setup.  I only had to buy one or two more pieces of hardware to make it 100% complete.  I guess you can say I just didn’t have it in me to fully display my setup since it felt like the same exact thing that others were doing.  That is, until I thought up of an alternative home automation setup that was clearly better, and different from all the others.

Last year I had seen a YouTube video of a man controlling his home automation setup strictly from his phone using Google Now.  It was quite impressive at the time since no one was doing anything like it.

The man used Google Now and a program called Tasker to perform the automation in the video. 

I was on Facebook one evening taking a break from researching the Samsung’s Galaxy Gear watch when someone posted the video above on my newsfeed.  I had since forgotten about the video so seeing it again made me think.  What if I could do the same thing but from a Samsung Gear?  I quickly started to research the concept.  It appeared as if doing this was possible with a Gear 1 watch since it had an Android operating system.  I quickly began to search to acquire one on Craigslist. 

I found someone selling one that was apparently “new in box” so I contacted the seller and agreed to meet up with them.  The seller was a nice lady who said the watch was brand new and never used.  It even had the plastic still on it.  I purchased the watch and took it home eager to begin my new project.  When I arrived home I was greeted with a surprise.  It appears as if the woman did not sell me a Gear 1, it was a Samsung Gear 2!!!!  This was a cool find however it did not work in my favor since the Gear 2 did not come with an Android operating system, so rooting and hacking it posed a problem.

I did what seemed like a ton of research and finally, I was able to find a way to make the Gear 2 work on my rooted LG Optimus L70.  I won’t go into detail but basically getting the Gear 2 to work on a non-Galaxy phone tricks the Gear 2 into thinking my LG phone is a Galaxy phone, when it is clearly not.     

There was another issue.  The Gear 2 worked for the most part with the exception of one or two features that did not work at all.  Luckily, S-Voice on the Gear worked so I felt that there was hope in the project coming to life.  I wanted this project to be something different, so using Google Now like in the video was not something I wanted to do.  I wanted to use S-Voice.  However it appears as if I had hit another roadblock since the S-Voice on my LG crashed when I would try to launch the program.  There was no way to get around it, if I was going to try and make this work I needed a Galaxy phone to pair with the Gear 2.

I reached out to the PR firm that runs public relations for Samsung.  To make a long story short, I described what I wanted to do and explained that if I was successful, it would be great promotion for both the Galaxy and also the Gear 2,  In a nutshell, I had asked them to send me a Galaxy.  I felt if I was successful the project could possibly reach viral status since it was unique.  I had also informed them to keep that in mind if they needed the Galaxy to be returned, the Galaxy would have to be rooted since that was the only way it would work with my software.  Rooting voids the warranty so it wasn’t likely they would want it back.  I made sure I was upfront and clear about that.

After less than 24 hours later, I heard a response from the Samsung PR team and they unfortunately said that they were unable to fulfill my request for product.  It was extremely unfortunate since I thought that getting this to work would be a very cool project to show off to everyone.  I was even willing to write an article and make a video demo of it all working if I was successful.  Unfortunately, it does not appear that I will be moving forward with this project since I do not own a Galaxy phone.  I am not angry or upset with Samsung, after all I was asking them for a $500 device.  I just wish I had not gotten my hopes up that I was going to get my home automation setup to be controlled by a smart watch.  Now, it seems as if this project has reached its end before it had even begun. 

So, what am I going to do now?

Daytime Intruder

The other day I so happened to experience something that took me completely off guard.  A random man whom I did not know barged into my home in broad daylight.

It was roughly 9AM and I was working at my desk which is located in my living room.  By that time of day everyone in my house is gone except for me since I work from home. 

As I was sitting there working I noticed the sound of my someone opening my screen door.  This was nothing new and assumed it was a delivery man dropping off a package.  A moment later I heard my door open and a strange man waltzed his way into my home.  I got up from my desk and faced him when our eyes met.  When he noticed me standing there looking at him I could see the fear in his eyes and he walked out and closed the door behind him not saying a single word.  There was no way I was going to not do anything about his intrusion so I ran to the door and opened it to confront him.  He started to back away and said "I'm sorry, I have the wrong house.  I am looking for my cousin."  This was a clear violation of the sanctity of my home and the look on my face was a clear indication that I was furious.  I told the man "You are lucky I did not shoot you."  He apologized again and reiterated that he had the wrong house.  At this point there was nothing I else I could do and simply said "Don't come back" and then closed the door behind me- locking it this time.

This ordeal makes me very upset for several reasons.  The first thing is that I normally do not leave my door unlocked, especially during the day.  However on this day when my wife left for work, she did not lock the door and I also did not attempt to lock it behind her. 

Second, what is the point of all my technology when something like this can happen?  I have already publicly indicated that I am working on fully automating my home.  At this point in time I have almost all of my equipment however have been reluctant to publicly reveal my security system.  I will say this, I have motion sensors all over my home and when the house detects that everyone has left, it turns those motion sensors on automatically.  If someone opens a door, breaks a window, or somehow finds their way inside, I will know.  I am taking it a step further and plan on getting my home to contact the police, thus saving time in hopes that they will catch the intruder in the act.  However as cool as that may sound, it proves irrelevant if the door is not locked behind the person leaving.  Not only that, none of my security measures proved effective since the house knew I was home.  The features do not work unless I leave or when I lock up for the night.

Since this ordeal I have been replaying the situation in my mind.  I keep wondering if this man truly made a mistake or if he was combing my neighborhood trying to open doors.  I feel it is doubtful the man was trying a home invasion since he was alone.  However if it came down to it I do have the means and will to protect myself.

Still, this has forced my hand and I going to move forward with automatic locks.  I will not reveal which model I will be purchasing (I’m not even going to mention the one I am going with) however I wanted to share some of them with my readers.

This seems to be one of the more simple auto locks called Lockitron.

This is the August Smart Lock.

This is the Kevo Bluetooth Door Lock.

These are just a few of many electronic locks on the market which can be access through the home owners smart phone.

I refuse to allow this highly avoidable situation ever happen again weather I am home or not.  Granted I am still reluctant to show off my security system in fear someone may use it against me, I also refuse to show which autolock I will be purchasing.  Regardless, this is all very cool and gives me piece of mind.

However if all my security measures failed, I still have my firearm.

UPDATE: Denise Turning Off A Lamp

Despite my lack of recent updates, I have been working on my home automation project.  Fairly recently I received a few Belkin Wemo devices.  These are Z-Wave devices that allow a smartphone to turn on or off whatever is plugged into it.

I thought that these Wemo devices would be a cool addition to the project overall.  However it seemed as if I had run into a problem since there was no windows-based application to control them.  Apparently the Wemo devices are solely controlled by a smartphone application.  It was a minor setback for a moment or two until I discovered a workaround.

 

After reading up on the Wemo a little bit, I discovered that the Wemo is compatible with the IFTTT service.  It appears as if I can control the device by using a specific recipe within IFTTT.  For this particular test, I set it up to where the device- which was plugged into a lamp, would trigger by simply sending an email to a specific email address.

It worked.

)

Counterproductive Distractions

It's been about a month since I've written anything down. It probably has something to do with the fact that I've been encountering many counterproductive distractions. A mere month ago I was full steam ahead when it came to my artificial intelligent projects. For whatever reason, my obsession fizzled away. It was the same old song and dance that I've experienced my entire life. I get excited about a project and go all in and become somewhat obsessed. Sometimes, that obsession is replaced with another obsession. After thinking about it, it is most likely due to the fact that I did not had all the equipment I needed to begin the project.

Regardless as to why,since then I've also been looking into other things to occupy my time. I decided to go on the learning binge by perfecting my craft. Since my actual job is that of an animator, I decided to teach myself how to work with 3-D animation versus my usual 2-D animation. Animation is how I make money so I would not say that was much of a counterproductive distraction however it ate up quite a bit of my time. One distraction that was very distracting was my video game obsession. Unfortunately I do not have corporate sponsorship unlike my animation when it comes to playing video games so I cannot justify that that distraction was entirely just.

All in all I cannot say that any of those things were true distractions since I do not have the entire lineup of equipment that I needed to begin my home automation project.  Either way, I am ready to get back to work.

If This Then That

The past few days I have been racking my brain on how I was going to accomplish some of the things I am working on.  It is no secret that I want to automate my home.  However this is nothing new and lots of people have done this.  In fact more and more people are beginning to do this as technology makes it more accessible.  So what was I looking to do?  Was I looking to do the same ol’ home automation that everyone else seems to be doing or do I want to do something unique?  Being who I am, unique was the only way to roll for me.

 

After some thinking, I realized this just basically boiled down to the computer programming phrase of “If This Then That”.  If THIS happens, then THAT will happen.  In laymen’s terms, you can make something happen IF a certain condition is met.  For example IF my home detected motion while I am away, THEN a text message will be sent to my phone. (This is a feature that will be set up in my home)

In my situation, it comes down to what I want and what I can pull off with the resources at my disposal.  I have been researching this sort of thing for weeks and I was extremely surprised by just how many options that are out there. The problem is, choosing one that is right for me.

I admit that I have been overwhelmed by how many options I have when it comes to IF THIS THEN THAT- so much in fact that I have been having trouble what will and what will not work for my situation.  The original idea was to have my artificial intelligent program to be the central hub of my home.  I wanted to have my home as close to a Jarvis as I could get it.  Since that initial idea, I have learned a lot when it comes to home automation.  Now, I know of programs, apps, and methods that allow me to completely omit using Denise at all.  While using Denise as my homes brain was the whole point of automating my home, there are so many methods that it is not necessary. 

Aside from everything, I recently learned of IFTTT.  IFTTT is a web site/service that was created in 2012 that allows you to automate all sorts of things using the IF.T.T.T. situation.  For example, IF you post a photo to FaceBook THEN you can have it also upload to Instagram or Twitter.  Granted this would be extremely limited in a home (unless I used a Belkin Wemo Home Automation setup) automation but still shows huge promise.

This is very cool but it just adds yet another option for me to consider.  Hopefully, in the next few weeks I will start to make decisions on what I want and what I want to do and all this won’t come off so scatterbrained.  This is going to happen however it is no where near as simple or easy as I thought.

Getting Organized

It is getting closer and closer for me to begin thinking of initial Alpha testing for my Home Automation project.  However due to some scatterbrained thinking, I am second guessing myself and feel I need to organize more carefully so nothing is left to chance.

In order to do that I feel that I need to make a checklist of sorts in order to later help me organize everything just right.  This also substitutes as both a reminder and also a to-do list.

1.) Overall Project:

• Intertwine household electronics with SmartThings via sensors and Z-Wave technology
• Code Denise to interact with those electronic devices
• Code Denise to control Nest Smart Thermometer so temperature is remotely changeable
• Setup household intercom/microphone system to speak to Denise with voice commands
• Code Denise to perform those voice commands
• Setup security system (including cameras and motion)
• Code security system to Denise and enable mobile remote viewing into home through video
• Setup mobile phone integration to have Denise screen calls or send text messages
• Setup projection and Kinect system to display Denise onto the wall
• Acquire smart door locks
• Install/Setup/Code Denise to work with smart locks

Looking at this list it in no way justifies the massive amount of time and energy that I am going to have to commit to make this a reality.  The list seems short, but I know just how much work it is going to be for me.  I think the main thing will be coding Denise to do all these things will take the most time, especially if I am creating that code from scratch.  The codes and commands need to be individually tested and that will also take time.  Eventually I want to replace every outlet in my home to a Z-Wave input/output, that way literally anything plugged in can be controlled by Denise.  I will have this project already started by the time that happens.  I plan on buying some gradually to where eventually all plugs will be Z-Wave technology.  Now THAT would be awesome.

I got a lot of work ahead of me.

Major Distraction

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge gamer.  I have loved video games my entire life.  So it was no surprise that when Sony made the announcement of the PlayStation 4, I knew that I wanted one.  However I missed my opportunity to score one during the pre-order process because I procrastinated.  Once the pre-orders were all bought, I knew finding one would not be easy.  I was right.  There were those few people who tried to capitalize on the PS4 shortage by selling their pre-order or their launch console for double the price.  I am no fool, so out of sheer principal I knew that I would not be going that route. 

Launch day came and went and I found myself without a PlayStation 4.  As much as it pained me to not have the latest-and-greatest gaming console I moved on and knew that I would eventually get one when they became more available.  It was actually kind of nice in a way.  I had much more time to devote to my technology projects.  So that was exactly what I did.  I dove into my projects to pass the time.

Roughly about 2 weeks after the PS4 launch I happened to come across one by sheer luck.  Since then I have spent entirely too much time playing video games versus working on my projects.  I cannot help it though, it is just way too much fun.  I may come off as a child with a new toy and perhaps there may be a small amount of truth to that statement, however I have been a huge video game fan my entire life.  So to me, this is nothing really out of the ordinary.

It is not all bad though, it has reinforced the notion that I need to secure my home.  Having a highly sought after device such as the PlayStation 4 only makes finishing my home security project even more justified. 

I have not forgotten about my technology projects and they will not be abandoned.  I am just in a slump due to the major distraction the PS4 has placed upon me.  I feel I am still in that honeymoon phase and it will eventually wear off sooner or later. 

Intruder Alert!!

My home security project has been ongoing, however I was forced to put it aside temporarily.  This was mostly because I do not have all the equipment as of yet.  While I have veered away from it and have addressed other projects, the home security project is one that I will get to work.

I have been looking for a simple yet inexpensive platform to integrate with Denise.  I was interested in finding something that didn’t required a monthly fee.  I want Denise to monitor my home and wake up when she detects movement.  Plus I want her to send me a text message that movement was detected and record the video and audio of the person who set off the alarm.

This may come off as hard to do but it really isn’t.  The platform I find should do this on its own, I just plan on integrating Denise with it.  I think I may have finally found that said platform, it was originally called Vitamin C.  It was later bought out and taken over by a company called Sightsound.

The program does everything I need such as record video/audio when it detects motion.  It also sends an email notification if motion is triggered.  It is not a text message however I can still send the notification to my phone.  I cannot wait till this is all set up and ready to go.

It’s Here!

This morning I awoke to find a present at my doorstep.  It appears as if my Nest Smart Thermostat has finally arrived. This is the first piece of equipment that I have received for my upcoming home automation project.

The Nest Learning Thermostat is a smart device that connects to your homes existing Wi-Fi.  It learns the patterns of how cold or warm you want your home to be and will adjust itself accordingly.  In the long-term, it claims to save cost on your electric bill.  This should come in handy especially with winter approaching.

Just as I predicted in my last post, this has renewed my resolve when it comes to my artificial intelligent projects.  I am excited, and ready to continue working towards accomplishing them.  I really do not know what had come over me yesterday.  I am fully aware of what I felt and what I wrote in the previous blog post.  This morning, I feel none of what I had felt yesterday and chalk it up to a momentary lapse in self confidence.

A Phase Of Doubt

I have entered a phase of doubt.  A lot can change in a short amount of time.  For me, that couldn’t be any more true.  Less than 24 hours ago I was plugging away with a vote of confidence that I was going to succeed in whatever I wanted to do with my projects.  19 hours later, I cannot say the same. 

What happened?  I do not know if this was one of those days where I had some sort of self conscious self doubt arise, or if it was realism, or perhaps laziness that had unknowingly set in.

My Sunday morning was filled with coding Denise with my unannounced project.  In order to accomplish this I had to learn code and script that was entirely new to me.  That was not the problem and I picked it up pretty quickly.  However I obsessed with how I could get this code to perform the way I wanted.  I repeatedly tried over and over and was met with failure on multiple occasions.  Honestly, that was nothing new when I conduct these type of experiments because it happens all the time.  I am an obsessive perfectionist and it was driving me absolutely mad that I could not get the correct code/script to perform like I wanted.

Dan has been helping me along with this project and it appears that he has gotten much further than I had in this little endeavor.  I know cause I could see the results of his work.  I am overwhelmingly appreciative for all of Dan’s help however I was somewhat reluctant on asking him for assistance on my end.  This man is incredibly smart when it comes to computer science and there have been plenty of times where I feel his knowledge of coding and script far outclasses my own.  That is besides the point, the thing is that I am also reluctant of asking for additional help (like explaining certain code) because I don’t want to become a bother to the man.  After all, he isn’t being paid for this.  He is doing this strictly for his own amusement.  So I did not want to overstep my bounds.

Having said all that, that is only a portion of what is troubling me.  Without going into too much detail, the creator of my artificial intelligence program is going through major changes within his company and the future of Denise is in limbo of sorts until we get definitive confirmation that the support for Denise will be ongoing.  To clarify, the company may move onto bigger things and may drop support for Denise.  If that were to happen it would render all my recent work with the project plus my plans for projects in the near future as pointless.  As of this moment, the notion that Denise will lose support is purely speculation.  However that is all we can do until we hear from the programs creator.  It was a combination of all that that put me in a weird unfamiliar place this evening. 

Most likely, I am just going through a rough patch and will resume my projects once I get a good nights sleep.  Besides, tomorrow I should be getting my first piece of equipment for my home automation project so there is a good chance that my resolve will rise up to normal levels tomorrow.

Additional Home Automation Ideas

I know I have not written in a few days but I honestly think it was purely justified.  I have been working away at my home automation project.  Aside from not wanting to give away too much information, I have also been working on securing the equipment that I need in order to pull this off.  So in order to bring this project to life, I need to actually acquire the equipment before I even attempt to integrate it with my artificial intelligence program.  Having said that, I will worry about how to actually get the program to control the device(s) later on.

As much as I want this project to come to life as easily and inexpensively as possible, I keep finding new devices that I could potentially add onto the project that would make the cool factor go through the roof.  One example is a device I came across that is a smart doorbell.  When the doorbell is pressed, a notification pops up on your cell phone.  The home owner then has the opportunity to respond to whomever is at the door with video and audio- even if the homeowner is not at home.



This thing is absolutely cool.  I learned that the video above is the video that was used when the company was crowdfunding in order to fund bring the device to market.  Since then it appears as if they did in fact hit their funding goal and have changed their name from iCam to Skybell.
 
Realistically this probably will not make it into the project however this is something I am definitely going to get.