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AWS IoT Button

aws.amazon.com

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Re: AWS IoT Button

#81

Post by comboy »

icebraining wrote: post #78
comboy wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> so 1000 presses would last you over 19 years I've been wondering about that. They say you can use it to control lights/netflix. If you don't want 10s delay it has to do wakeups every 30s or so depending on the wifi setup to stay connected to the network. And wifi transmission is quite power expensive. If it does that, I wouldn't give it more than a year (maybe more like a few months). If it doesn't, the latency mus…

An ESP8266 can go from deep sleep to publishing a request in less than three seconds. The expensive operations are the DHCP request and the DNS query, but that can be cached for hours, often even days.

Well maybe not 10s, but 3s is still a terrible latency if you want to control something like lights for example. And it's not all that uncommon for dhcp lease to last only a few hours (and we are talking about a case here when you use the button once every few days).

I used to be irritated with cheap led bulbs that took almost a second to light up. And with a wall switch you are pretty sure whether you flipped it or not. With such button during those 3s you'd be wondering whether you should press it again or not (unless it beeps or something like that).

Re: AWS IoT Button

#83

Post by shubb »

bschwindHN wrote: post #52
ecaron wrote: post #24

I hacked one of these to power the nightlight in my kid's bedroom ( https://github.com/ecaron/hue-website-nightlights ). The downside is that the button barely lasts for 1000 presses = 90 days (all kids like pushing buttons). And it is heart breaking because its just a AAA battery that they decided to solder in place... I'm excited that this button launched. But $20 is too much for something without a swappable batte…

From the Amazon official page ( https://aws.amazon.com/iot/button/ ): How long will the battery last? The battery should last for approximately 1,000 presses. When the device battery runs out of charge, there is no way to recharge or replace the battery. How can you sell a button that has only 1000 presses in it for $20 with a straight face? Looks like overcomplicated, overpriced garbage to me.

It's being presented as testing hardware, so you can get to know their stack. At $19, it's probably being subsidized substantially.

In the same way free AWS instances are not adequate for hosting a production website, this is a toy for devs to get to know their stack...

The real question for this device is, is it hackable, i.e. can you change the software running on it, or open it up and solder different hardware to spare pins?

It looks like people have done this, but it's surprising amazon would sell a devboard without catering to it: https://github.com/dekuNukem/Amazon_Dash_Button

Re: AWS IoT Button

#84

Post by arviewer »

staticelf wrote: post #67
deanCommie wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> none of their services are any good Care to back that statement up? :) (no argument on the environmentally subpar approach to the button)

Well, it's a subjective statement as it is my opinion. But for me as a Swede: * The closest retail in Amazon is in GB or Germany, orders takes weeks to reach me which is a mystery since I've ordered stuff from Germany before and they usual deliver within a week. * Closest AWS datacenter is in Ireland, latency is high for nordic countries. * Their documentation is very confusing, you can read all about their web servi…

Try Frankfurt. It may have better latency for you, even if it's further away.

Re: AWS IoT Button

#85

Post by JetSpiegel »

ben174 wrote: post #12
Hortinstein wrote: post #11

in case anyone is interested I wrote a node.js module a while back to repurpose dash buttons not as elegant as their official IoT button, but it works (and dash buttons are 25% of the price) https://github.com/hortinstein/node-dash-button edit: corrected my tired beer math

> and dash buttons are 4 times cheaper If they were four times cheaper, they'd be -$60. I think you meant they're 25% the price.

That's not how fractions work.

Re: AWS IoT Button

#87

Post by toyg »

shubb wrote: post #83
bschwindHN wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the Amazon official page ( https://aws.amazon.com/iot/button/ ): How long will the battery last? The battery should last for approximately 1,000 presses. When the device battery runs out of charge, there is no way to recharge or replace the battery. How can you sell a button that has only 1000 presses in it for $20 with a straight face? Looks like overcomplicated, overpriced garbage to me.

It's being presented as testing hardware, so you can get to know their stack. At $19, it's probably being subsidized substantially. In the same way free AWS instances are not adequate for hosting a production website, this is a toy for devs to get to know their stack... The real question for this device is, is it hackable, i.e. can you change the software running on it, or open it up and solder different hardware to…

> this is a toy for devs to get to know their stack...

The difference being that AWS has real tiers. The dash button is exactly the same even if you "go pro" (what does that even mean? You persuade your BigCo employer to join the program?).

I suspect it's a last-gasp attempt at making some money out of a program that has not become as popular as they thought.

Re: AWS IoT Button

#88

Post by vtlynch »

shubb wrote: post #83
bschwindHN wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the Amazon official page ( https://aws.amazon.com/iot/button/ ): How long will the battery last? The battery should last for approximately 1,000 presses. When the device battery runs out of charge, there is no way to recharge or replace the battery. How can you sell a button that has only 1000 presses in it for $20 with a straight face? Looks like overcomplicated, overpriced garbage to me.

It's being presented as testing hardware, so you can get to know their stack. At $19, it's probably being subsidized substantially. In the same way free AWS instances are not adequate for hosting a production website, this is a toy for devs to get to know their stack... The real question for this device is, is it hackable, i.e. can you change the software running on it, or open it up and solder different hardware to…

"At $19, it's probably being subsidized substantially."

Doubtful

Re: AWS IoT Button

#89

Post by mikeash »

shubb wrote: post #83
bschwindHN wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the Amazon official page ( https://aws.amazon.com/iot/button/ ): How long will the battery last? The battery should last for approximately 1,000 presses. When the device battery runs out of charge, there is no way to recharge or replace the battery. How can you sell a button that has only 1000 presses in it for $20 with a straight face? Looks like overcomplicated, overpriced garbage to me.

It's being presented as testing hardware, so you can get to know their stack. At $19, it's probably being subsidized substantially. In the same way free AWS instances are not adequate for hosting a production website, this is a toy for devs to get to know their stack... The real question for this device is, is it hackable, i.e. can you change the software running on it, or open it up and solder different hardware to…

If it's testing hardware, then why doesn't it have a replaceable battery? This is just madness.

Re: AWS IoT Button

#90

Post by mikeash »

notatoad wrote: post #49
dmritard96 wrote: post #43

Our Puck ( https://flair.co/products/puck ) is sorta like this but with a small display. Instead of a generic button its a bit like a generic knob. So far positioned more as a heating and cooling device but I know I am excited to open it up to developers.

At 3x the price (or 12x the price of a hacked button), it's not really in the same market as the dash button though

You'll hit breakeven on the price at 2,001 presses and from that point on it'll be cheaper.
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