The OpenSprinkler controller
The more one pays attention to the Internet of Things (IoT), the more one learns to appreciate simple, unconnected devices. Your editor long ago acquired an aversion to products that advertise themselves as "smart" or "WiFi-enabled". There can be advantages, though, to devices that contain microprocessors, are Internet connected, and are remotely accessible, if they are implemented well. The OpenSprinkler sprinkler timer would appear to be a case in point.
This article is being written in a part of the world with limited rainfall — a near-desert environment. That notwithstanding, the local humans have reached the conclusion that it would be a good idea to surround their homes with lush, green vegetation that evolved to thrive in a rather more humid environment, and which requires fairly intensive life support — and water pumped from the other side of the continental divide — to survive here. Western civilization, it seems, depends on us continuing to do this; otherwise we would surely not continue to put so many resources into it.
Providing life support to vegetation by dragging a hose around quickly loses any charm it may have once had, so the installation of automated sprinkler systems is common in these parts. The control system takes the form of a timer that, traditionally, has been programmed through a painful combination of dial turns and button pushes; anybody who has tried to figure out how to configure a bicycle computer (speedometer) will understand. More recently, of course, we have seen the advent of smart controllers that are said to make this process easier and to enable control of the system while vacationing in a distant location. The allure of being able to soak a Colorado front yard while lounging on a South-Pacific beach is, seemingly, irresistible.