{"id":9429,"date":"2013-01-28T07:04:05","date_gmt":"2013-01-28T14:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=9429"},"modified":"2013-04-09T14:34:20","modified_gmt":"2013-04-09T21:34:20","slug":"belkin-wemo-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/belkin-wemo-switch\/","title":{"rendered":"Belkin WeMo Switch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Home automation is finally plug-and-play. Setting up this wifi-connected box takes\u00a0<em>minutes<\/em>:<\/p>\n<p>1) Plug the\u00a0WeMo\u00a0into a three-prong outlet<\/p>\n<p>2) Download an\u00a0iPhone\u00a0app (Android is rumored to be on the way)<\/p>\n<p>3) Type your wireless password into the app to connect the switch to your home network<\/p>\n<p>4) Plug a device into the\u00a0WeMo\u00a0(lamp, TV, fan, etc.)<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s it.<\/p>\n<p>You can toggle the switch on\/off by pressing a button in the app. You can also quickly set an automated timer that automatically turns the switch on\/off at different times on different days.<\/p>\n<p>My\u00a0WeMo\u00a0Switch controls a huge floor lamp in the corner of our living room.\u00a0It&#8217;s programmed to shut off\u00a0every night at 9pm. No more playing footsie with the floor dimmer!\u00a0Also, a nice reminder to stop watching TV and go read in bed. Typically,\u00a0we\u00a0turn on the lamp via an iPad in our kitchen. Dinner guests love it.<\/p>\n<p>$50 isn&#8217;t cheap.\u00a0The company sent me a complimentary switch to test, because I write about technology. That said, I&#8217;m buying another switch at the full price for my office. I don&#8217;t mind paying for the convenience.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re handy with a soldering iron, go ahead and hack your own Arduino-powered switch. Or, assuming you don&#8217;t mind playing with wires, you might find a cheaper alternative in\u00a0the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/smarthome\/\">Smarthome<\/a>\u00a0catalog.\u00a0Up until now, most of the previously-available gear I&#8217;ve seen has been a combination of too complicated,\u00a0cost-prohibitive,\u00a0and\/or aesthetically blah.<\/p>\n<p>This thing works. It looks cool. And whenever my lamp automatically turns on, it feels magical.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No-fuss home automation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9429"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9429"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11377,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9429\/revisions\/11377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}