I use https://www.home-assistant.io/ to do a coupple of automations like switching everything which uses power off when I leave home to preserve energy and switching a CCTV cam on at the same time for safety reasons.
But one of the more usefull automations is a text2speach script which fires in the morning between 6 and 11, during workdays, when I'm not asleep but still at home, always 7 minutes before the next train to work leaves. This way I miss the train faar less often.
Seconding Home Assistant, it's really the glue that allows for the leveraging of other systems.
I was able to set up something I had wanted for a long time which was to turn off my TV/Stereo/Kodi after idling. I built the conditions which caused the the whole thing to shut off via Harmony hub after 10 minutes of idle after being played.
The one downside is the project moves really fast so you have to keep up with breaking changes sometimes.
I use home-assistant with LIRC to give my Chromecast a dedicated play/pause button on the universal remote. It also pauses the Chromecast when I power off my AV receiver.
Then there's a cron job that beeps on the hour (a 4-bit number from 1-12), so I can hear if my computer and watch are in sync.
But one of the more usefull automations is a text2speach script which fires in the morning between 6 and 11, during workdays, when I'm not asleep but still at home, always 7 minutes before the next train to work leaves. This way I miss the train faar less often.