361–370 of 378 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Depends where you are. I would agree in most cities, but in a lot of rural areas, Fred is going to get thrown in jail.
You think fred isn't going to just loot the next town over?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mostly agree. Why do I need WIFI on my lights, coffee maker, or dishwasher? A thermostat is my personal exception though. Being able to program it on my phone is a huge UI improvement over prior thermostats. Also, being able to change it without getting out of bed in the middle of the night is a bonus.
I just don't understand why programming a thermostat needs to bring Google into the loop? It's not needed. My data should stay with me if I so desire (without needing extensive mistake-prone config).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or end up like people investing in “smart homes” in the 90s. Remember when built in intercom systems in the home were considered advanced? http://mentalfloss.com/article/510559/what-smart-home-techno...
And how about my long unused (over 35 years!) but still working 1967 (built when my house was constructed) central vacuum?
This article was a surprisingly difficult read. It felt like every other word was a brand name, and the underlying confusing naming scheme surely didn't help. On top of that the author flip-flops between the issues of Nest going away (loss of privacy, and product ecosystem) while excited about Nest functionality moving to Google Home (Google Nest?). I think the main takeaway for me is that it'll probably be another d…
> It felt like every other word was a brand name God, yes, that's been annoying me a lot recently. Was a bird fined? No, Bird was fined. Do you want a smart home? Buy Smart Home! I find it much easier to read when brands and products aren't just random nouns.
Smart people don't buy smart home devices. My relatively poor grandparents and my slightly less poor parents had a hard working life, but none of them had to sleep in a dark cold room because the switch to turn the lights on or the heating stopped working. Ever. This problem has been solved by other people many many years ago. Last month I watched a documentary where a billionaire was showing of his multi million man…
Smart people don't buy smart home devices. My relatively poor grandparents and my slightly less poor parents had a hard working life, but none of them had to sleep in a dark cold room because the switch to turn the lights on or the heating stopped working. Ever. This problem has been solved by other people many many years ago. Last month I watched a documentary where a billionaire was showing of his multi million man…
This is pure FUD. I'm disappointed that it's got so many responses on HN instead of being down-voted in exchange for a better anti-IoT argument at the top instead. But hey, sure, let's go through this: - I don't care about some dude you saw on TV. A single anecdote means nothing. Even less when it's someone not representative of the population. - A strawman convenience is another terrible argument. Sometimes it matte…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suppose that’s why instead of showing examples you are making broad sweeping claims?
Airport stuff, Ping, Monster branded beats headphones, etc. You can get support for mac/etc stuff for 5 years after purchase (which admittedly is nice). However, before you decide that is awesome, things like the headphones were killed with no support regardless of purchase date. Apple also refuses to call anything it stopped manufacturing "canceled" at all. It deliberately tries to message this part, calling them "v…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> There are several IoT products with manual fallback options on the market. Name three. Also, "manual fallback" is a cop-out. When I want manual operations, I don't go looking for home automation. The "smart" features should be available without Internet. There's nothing technically difficult about this, but it isn't being done because of abusive business practices.
If you don't want an internet enabled device, then you are looking in the wrong place. The I in IoT stands for internet.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was pretty skeptical before trying it. I found that you don't spend much time configuring things and it's actually quite nice to just go to bed saying "Alexa, turn off living room". Not life changing, but definitely worth the investment. If something fails, you're no worse off than you were before. Also, smart sockets and switches are great items for a Christmas/birthday/wedding/etc registry/gift-list.
> If something fails, you're no worse off than you were before. Well, you are already horizontal. In fact it's worse, because unless every single light source is hooked up, you now spend twice the mental effort. Past: 1. Turn off everything 2. Go to bed. Present: 1. Turn off everything that is dumb. Only dumb thing. 2. Ensure smart things are ON (physically have power) otherwise you won't be able to voice control the…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Apple sells Apple Home Hub Apple doesn't sell a "home hub" product. But their smart speaker (HomePod), TV set top box (Apple TV) and tablets (iPad) can all function as a gateway for HomeKit devices to be securely controlled from outside the LAN without the devices themselves having to be very smart or secure.
IIRC, there was AirPort, which was / is a wireless router that had options for things like storing device backups or similar. Totally feasible to make a killer wireless AP that's Apple branded and connects better to the ecosystem, but that doesn't seem to be the direction Apple is going.
It's a shame they stopped investing in them and missing the whole mesh Wi-Fi development. Also in this age where they're touting "privacy first" and iTunes is on the endangered list, not supporting iOS device backups over a LAN is a huge deficiency.