I disagree. I bought a smart light bulb a few years ago and it has been a fantastic investment!
Uses way less power than a normal incandescent bulb, lasts waaayyyyyy longer, has lots of different colours and white colour temperatures, has schedules that it runs through every day based on sunrise and sunset... I never have to turn it on or off or adjust it!
It's fantastic, I bloody love it. LIFX.
One of the best investments I've made this decade, absolutely.
Oh and don't forget LIFX bulbs don't require any hubs, and there's a python library available to do local LAN API stuff, no need to speak to a remote server if that's not your jam.
I totally agree with this, Lifx is my favorite brand. Remote access to turn on lights and adjust, themes seasonally, hub less, buuuttt not the cheapest but fair pricing. Their app always tries to get me to buy new items.
Depends on how you use them, I think. Magic boxes that are tied into the cloud and just give you an app to control your lights, dumb. Setting up a system that automates your home electrical appliances in a thoughtful manner can actually deliver savings and maybe even improve your life. Even as someone getting into smart home stuff, though, mainly what I'm seeing is the ability to save power by having some kind of intelligent control over your devices. Everything else is flashing lights and surveillance.
Problem is, your average user isn't going to be setting up a LAN-only, zigbee-to-homeassistant automation. They need the magic box type of interface. So as a mass market thing it seems kind of doomed.
