I'm only four months late with this1, The Google are on board and partnering with hardware companies like Lighting Science. The first lightbulbs and switches should be available by the end of this year. Come on!
Amazing the lack of imagination of some of the people on this thread2, things like:
The best usage situation you can come up with is "when I watch a movie". When I watch a movie, I am getting a drink and some snack before i start. I then on my way to the couch flip the switch for the light and pick up my remote.
Even if that was all I could do I'd think it was great, but the real beauty would be the monitoring of all these devices for optimum power usage. I'm a frugal device turner-offer but I know that I leave computers and stereos and things on standby when I don't need to, just because it's not convenient to power everything down.
This new standard will mean replacing my existing remote controlled light switches, ah well.
Speaking of power efficiency and so on, someone's been round to tell us the people who built our houses may have skimped on the insulation, so we're going to get wall insulation pumped in for free (because the houses are still covered by the NHBC guarantee), and maybe a new finish on the balcony. Wonder if I can new light switches too...
UPDATE: Doh might be US only3 because
the wireless mesh will use the 900Mhz band rather than the crowded Wi-Fi spectrum - that could mean delays in bringing this to Europe as it's used by GSM phones and will soon be a 3G frequency
Paul Clarke's blog - I live in Hythe near Folkestone. Wed + dad to two, I'm a full-stack web engineer, and I do js / Node, some ruby, other languages ect ect. I like pubbing, parkrun, eating, home automation and other diy jiggery-pokery, history, tree stuff, TV, squirrels, pirates, lego, and TIME TRAVEL.