Amazon Web Services outage

That actually explains why I was up at 1:30am, unsuccessfully trying to get my Echo back online.
I dabbled with home automation briefly and decided to go with an internal-only option rather than something relying on a public service, partly for this reason. I didn't do much though, partly cuz I've seen systems flake out and make simple things like house lighting become a mess while troubleshooting.
 
I can't imagine trying to deal with whole home automation. I am increasingly annoyed simply by a smart thermostat.
I've decided the ROI is more about feeling of accomplishment rather than feeling of relief or life-altering efficiency from using words to turn on lights instead of fingers.
 
I dabbled with home automation briefly and decided to go with an internal-only option rather than something relying on a public service, partly for this reason. I didn't do much though, partly cuz I've seen systems flake out and make simple things like house lighting become a mess while troubleshooting.
Automation, in as much as I use it with Amazon, really comes down to lighting. Outside lights come on automatically each night based on sunset and turn off each morning based on sunrise. Some rooms have "automation" based on verbal commands to an Echo. "Alexa turn on the lights."

The rest requires an internet connection and is more useful tools than required automation, like lighting.
 
Automation, in as much as I use it with Amazon, really comes down to lighting. Outside lights come on automatically each night based on sunset and turn off each morning based on sunrise. Some rooms have "automation" based on verbal commands to an Echo. "Alexa turn on the lights."

The rest requires an internet connection and is more useful tools than required automation, like lighting.
I got a pi and a few sensors, got home-assistant running. Obviously i had enough momentary geeking-out to go a route that could be air-gapped but hobby-wise i just lost interest/time.

Of course air-gapped doesn't mean trouble-free. My buddy's system (mostly lights) flaked out due to ethernet cable becoming faulty, dropping packets. It took forever to troubleshoot of course since bad cable is about the last thing you suspect.
 
Remember when our main concern was as simple as a tree limb taking out a phone or electoral cable? An ice storm could wreak havoc on an area but not the entire world. Now imagine that future day when we awake to a major AI glitch.
 
A friend of mine was delayed leaving Edinburgh from vacation because of the AWS outage because United couldn't process tickets/boarding passes to get her and others on the plane.
 
Remember when our main concern was as simple as a tree limb taking out a phone or electoral cable? An ice storm could wreak havoc on an area but not the entire world. Now imagine that future day when we awake to a major AI glitch.
And this is is just ONE of AWS's regional centers. It's the Northern Virginia center which is having trouble.

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That actually explains why I was up at 1:30am, unsuccessfully trying to get my Echo back online.
My younger child sleeps with white noise playing from her Echo. It went off in the middle of the night and she was NOT happy about it when she woke up at 3:30 AM.
 
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