Recently I discovered the route.io framework for home automation. It is composed of a minimal core that provides standard ways for interacting with endpoints and a few dozen modules that support various hardware such as Sonos, Nest, and Hue. I am normally dismissive of home automation because it feels like the ultimate in small gain for large effort, and incredibly geeky gains at that. But I’m more excited after listening to the route.io guys talk about using their framework to create a universal remote, and collecting voice & other data via old smartphones. There is some seriously cool stuff that can be done if your home understands presence and people. So I splurged with my housemates and bought a Philips Hue starter kit with 3 bulbs and a base station. Combined with route.io and a Raspberry Pi we should be well on our way to home automation nirvana.