So... A problem here - there's a lot of startup in the home automation space right now. I've been using MiCasaVerde for over a year now and it's awesome. Fully controllable and configurable via the MiOS GUI, or hack it to your heart's content via Lua scripts. The awesome thing is there's plenty of devices you can buy OTS right now whether Z-Wave (built-in) or Insteon (add-on USB adapter). What confuses me about what NinjaBlocks is trying to do is - they don't cater to anyone who already HAS home automation... Meaning: I'd buy it for $200, but they don't say what I can integrate with. I'm not going to spend another grand on switches, dimmers, motion detectors, locks, etc. if I don't know I can reuse my investment. That's a big part of why Spark is not a good option IMHO (http://www.sparkdevices.com/) - because they're using 802.11 WiFi (I don't want my home automation components on Wifi for a variety of reasons, but the first two are: 1) WiFi doesn't have a low-power advantage like ZigBee, Z-Wave, Insteon, etc. and 2) WiFi doesn't automagically create a mesh network for auto-routing and network extension).

Then you have a startup like SmartThings (http://smartthings.com/) that's just reinventing the wheel, creating a pretty iOS interface, and then trying to charge an outrageous amount for a monthly service - something MiCasaVerde doesn't do. So, at the end of the day would I use SmartThings? I'd like to - but I won't because I don't want to pay $120 a year for something I can run better in my own infrastructure. I don't want you selling my energy usage data or knowing if I'm home, with something like MiCasaVerde - I can choose not to use their cloud proxy to control my home.

If anyone is listening who's designing home automation and wants to cater to people who are looking at building a service to deploy these types of automation to the masses you need to do it right. Baby Boomers, at least the majority of them, will think all of the above are too complicated, so they're going to want someone to install and maintain this for them. There's a huge middleground that needs to be solved here and unless SmartThings and others are going to provide a service, that $10/month is not going to be justified.

Back to NinjaBlocks, please answer the following:
1) Monthly fee if I use your cloud proxy to hit the controller? If so - how much?
2) If #1 is true - is the API directly accessible on the controller - or are you locking me in?
3) Low power integration (i.e. ZigBee, Z-Wave, Insteon, etc.)? Answered my own Q: No... From (http://help.ninjablocks.com/customer/portal/articles/692139-...): "The original Ninja Block comes with a RF 433.92 Mhz (433) dongle and future Ninja Blocks will have this baked in. 433 is awesome because you will find it in all sorts of low-cost battery powered devices, its range is pretty good too. That said, its not all sunshine and lollipops - there are good reasons its considered "low-tech" - only one device can "talk" at a time, labelling is appalling, all protocols are proprietary. So not everything will work out of the box, but a lot of stuff will. " <<<<<----- Sorry, but this sucks, I'm out. You need to have a real and baked solution besides this 433Mhz junk that's not mesh, and has zero security baked in. There's no way I'll pay $200 for this with zero long term scalability or security in mind.

Again, another pretty solution that's just a toy. For my money I'd go with SmartThings - but for the long term I'm sticking with my MiCasaVerde (http://micasaverde.com) setup - cost feasible and fully in my control and no monthly costs. Until someone can come to the table with that I'm better off building my own interface.