I use the SmartTube frontend on my TV and do not have it linked to my Google account for exactly this reason. I just leave it set as the default user.
Yes, it's a bit of a pain if I find a channel that I would like to subscribe to, that I need to do it twice (once on the TV, once in YT on my phone), but that's a very hurdle.
I haven't done much compared to some of the others in this thread, but I've done a few home automation things.
Using Phillips Hue light bulbs with the Hue API, I created a PHP script that automates a number of lights in the house to perform different actions at different times of day.
A light on my nightstand does a slow fade up for easy waking in the morning and then switches itself off about an hour later once my wife and I are long out of bed.
There are also a lights throughout the house that flip on at sunset and then switch off at different times later in the evening, signaling, hey, it's time for bed.
Yes, I could use a smartphone app (or apps) to do similar tasks, but having direct control in script form is so much easier. Changing times or adding a new bulb into the system is just a matter of editing an array in the script.
We also have a terrible time with water leaking in the basement. The sump pump we have does push out water fairly well when it runs, but it gets overwhelmed easily. Plus, the float doesn't always work correctly, so water can collect in the pit without the pump switching on like it's supposed to.
So, using a combination of a TP-Link smartplug, a Wireless Tag water sensor, IFTTT and another custom PHP script linking to the TP-Link API, I now have a system that keeps water out permanently.
This particular sump pump has a manual switch that allows it to run, bypassing the float. I leave the switch in the ON position and plug the pump into the TP-Link smartplug. Then I mounted the Wireless Tag water sensor in one of the basement drain pipes.
If the water rises high enough to trigger the sensor, IFTTT triggers the TP-Link plug and the sump pump runs. Once the sensor no longer detects water, IFTTT again sends a signal to trigger the plug so that the pump stops.
Along with this method, using PHP with the TP-Link API, I monitor weatherundergound.com every 20 minutes and if the current conditions show any form of rain, the script switches the pump on, lets it run for 10 minutes and then switches it off. Just long enough to keep the water level from rising too high.
I connected all these water prevention items up a few months ago and haven't had even close to a wet basement since.
(Oh and, why not just get a better, working correctly pump? The pump was apparently put in by the city years ago, long before I moved in, and is a cheap "torpedo cylinder" pump. Our plumber said it would take $thousands to tear up the basement floor to install a correct pump and the pump can't just be replaced because no one makes the type of pump any longer that would fit in the current pit. So going the automation route just set me back about $100.)
