The internet of things (IoT) is with out a doubt the buzzword of the year. I'm not sure what the definition of IoT but to me it's about making devices (such as dishwashers, smoke alarms, doorlocks) connected. Connected appliances open up for all sorts of fun stuff such as inspecting states (how long until the dishwasher is done), notification (hey, the dishwasher is done) and remote control (start the dishwasher now).
For home automation there two competing standards when it comes to connectivity. There's zigbee alliance and z-wave where the former is an open standard and latter is not. Both these use low-power wireless mesh networks which enable battery powered devices to last for several years (some can even harvest enough energy from flipping a switch). There are of course other stuff that communicate directly over wifi (Belink's WeMo?) but these typically need to be wired.
The popularity have certainly made companies invest heavily in making the technology available to consumers. While connected laundry machines are around the corner it's mostly devices for home automation that are available to buy. I'm talking about motions sensors, switches and so on. Most companies are building controllers for these devices. By controller I'm mean so piece of software that enable you to turn the lights on when you enter the door. To bridge the home to the internet so you can use your phone anywhere to control the home. All these companies require some piece of hardward to bridge the home with their service (and the internet). A few examples:
There are probably plenty more of companies like these so I want to explore other angels but using the same tech. It seemed natural to me to order some stuff to play around with and see what came out of it. So I ordered a bunch of Z-wave stuff
Let's get hackin'