[jyl]

I am interested in your experiences with home automation.

Idea would be to turn some room and outdoor lights on and off per schedule, turn other outdoor lights on if motion is detected, view and record from some security cameras, get text alerts if motion is detected, control my thermostat, etc. I don't think I need to know if my refrigerator door was left open, but being alerted to a water heater leak might be nice.

Some reading turns up a variety of communications standards. ZigBee, X10, Insteon, Z-wave, WiFi, etc. And a confusing number of companies, some with proprietary systems, others with open standards, some of which seem to be acquiring others every month. Samsung, Belkin, Nest, Crestron, Insteon, Control4, Lorex, Foscam, and dozens of others.

Google is apparently making another run at this market via Nest, and Apple apparently plans to enter via HomeKit.

What would you do? How to make sense of it all?