Digital Home Thoughts: Android and Home Automation: The First Steps

"This morning was day one of Google I/O 2011. Lots of great new technologies and platform advancements were revealed today, but the three our readers will be interested in is Android Accessories, Android @Home, and Project Tungsten. Oh, and I guess Android Market: Movies (compatible across phones and tablets), which provides the ability to stream with a connection or "pin" a movie for instant download to watch later. By the way... everything is "Android" now and apps will - as we've said before - work across various platforms and displays. In other words, one app can support the phone, tablet, and TV via auto-detection and device specific rendering."

Home automation is, frankly, something that I've never bothered with - I like the idea of a smart home, doing things automatically and being able to optimize energy use, but it seems like so much work trying to figure out which technologies to use. Until the industry settles on a single standard, and cost-effective in-home implementations are commonplace, I'm going to stay away from this part of the technology world. And Google wants to step into this mess? Good luck to them!