Live data from Hacker News

GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

theregister.co.uk

121–130 of 235 posts

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The reset procedure works better when the bulb is white rather than color. So it doesn't just work or not, it works better .

What. One would think that a reset procedure is binary, it either works or it doesn't...

Some people aren't satisfied with the bog standard factory reset. They need the better reset.

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#122
post #42

Here the reset procedure for Awox color light bulbs: 1. If possible, put your bulb in white (hot or cold no matter ...). The reset procedure works better when the bulb is white rather than color. 2. In the steps below, the power is turned off. It is not ON / OFF done using the remote control or the application, but electrical ON / OFF. 3. Your light bulb is off. This is the beginning of the procedure. 4. Turn it on b…

> The reset procedure works better when the bulb is white rather than color. So it doesn't just work or not, it works better .

Maybe it works better in the sense that it is easier to see when the bulb is on or off so you can tell what you're doing?

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#123

This is why I don't buy the "IoT smart home" future. There's no such thing as a "smart" device that doesn't typically break within 4-5 years. Dozens of such devices in a house means you'd be dealing with a broken device every few months, which is my nightmare. I want the LEAST amount of complexity possible to control all my critical living functions, from fridges to windows to lights to cars.

My smart home is pretty simple: our existing ceiling lights and air conditioners are IR controlled so I bought some cheap Chinese IR blasters and installed Homebridge on my NAS. This means when I'm lying in the sofa trying to get my daughter to sleep I can easily turn the lights down/redirect the breeze, but at the same time nothing at all is actually dependent on the smarts, it's pure convenience.

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#124
post #45
post #40

If Apple had done this light bulb you’d have to buy a $70 “resetter” device, that would do the on/off cycling for you. If Facebook had made the light bulb, you’d have to unfriend the lightbulb for it to reset. If Google had made the lightbulb, well the reset function would be discontinued. If Microsoft had made the lightbulb, you’d need to call your active directory admin to perform the reset.

>If Facebook had made the light bulb, you’d have to unfriend the lightbulb for it to reset. The funny thing is, I can see IoT enabled devices using social media accounts as an interface. You would be required to follow your appliances on Facebook or Twitter or whatever and your refrigerator would PM you when you were low on juice or something.

> You would be required to follow your appliances on Facebook or Twitter or whatever and your refrigerator would PM you when you were low on juice or something.

I remember a time when we were promised smart fridges that would be able to give the user a live inventory and even automatically reorder food when items were running low. Instead we got "smart" light bulbs that give you an epileptic fit when they inevitably stop working and need to be factory reset.

What a time to be alive!

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#125
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that there is a logical chain of engineering considerations that got us to this point I take as granted (yes, the article thinks it could have been done better but, as you point out, there are safety problems). But our world is becoming more and more like a Doglas Adams novel - I seem to remember in one of the H2G2 books that they considered their civilisation so advanced that they did away with TV remotes,…

I kind of do that to Spotify - I have to listen to tracks I don't necessarily like so that their suggestion mechanism would stop pushing me the same stuff I had already listened to. PS: That being said, I would still listen to stuff I don't like to discover something, but that's beyond the point - wasn't automation supposed to make our lives better in some way? :)

So your goal is discovery of music?

We used to have a great solution for this: disk jockeys. Some stations still do employ them as actual curators of music, not just a pleasing voice over the Clear Channel Top 40 feed.

The problems of today are strange.

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#126
post #120

This is why I don't buy the "IoT smart home" future. There's no such thing as a "smart" device that doesn't typically break within 4-5 years. Dozens of such devices in a house means you'd be dealing with a broken device every few months, which is my nightmare. I want the LEAST amount of complexity possible to control all my critical living functions, from fridges to windows to lights to cars.

I decided to give away my "smart" door lock and test setup of "smart" light bulbs. I have better things to do than pretending to be tech helpdesk for mye house/family for things that aren't really giving me much benefit. The door lock had some nice features, but I had no secondary way of entering the house without breaking something so I decided it was too high risc. The Philips HUE lightbulbs are not capable of reme…

> The Philips HUE lightbulbs are not capable of remembering their last state so they default to full throttle

That is indeed the default behavior, but they can recall the previous state or another setting altogether after losing power. See “Power-on behavior” under Settings in the app.

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#127
if the device is raddio (bluetooth) controlled, wouldnt it be more sane to reset through the bluetooth device? perhaps a unique serial number on the bulb (verifies access to the bulb), and/or a bulb generated string of random bits (on/off), so the user enters for say 10 cycles if the bulb is on or off (prevents replay attacks)? ok, you should close the window blinds.

or even simpler: just unscrew and rescrew the lightbulb to reset!

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#128
I've come to the conclusion that the point of the whole 'smart home' and 5G in every neighborhood is really just to improve surveillance of a greater percentage of the population for a bigger portion of the day by whomever. I don't see any other real practical advantage for consumers to networking any appliances. It's a lot more complexity for little to no gain.

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#129

if the device is raddio (bluetooth) controlled, wouldnt it be more sane to reset through the bluetooth device? perhaps a unique serial number on the bulb (verifies access to the bulb), and/or a bulb generated string of random bits (on/off), so the user enters for say 10 cycles if the bulb is on or off (prevents replay attacks)? ok, you should close the window blinds. or even simpler: just unscrew and rescrew the ligh…

> wouldnt it be more sane to reset through the bluetooth device

No, because you might be resetting because you can't connect with the bluetooth device.

> or even simpler: just unscrew and rescrew the lightbulb to reset!

How does the light bulb know it's unscrewed? How is that different from turning the switch off?

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#130

I have a story on point. My brother is a manager at a company which installs electrical and HVAC systems, working mostly with very high-end private homes. They had this couple as clients, both very fancy architects, who designed their new home to be completely computer-controlled, from window shutters to air conditioners to lights, without any physical switches (I guess there was a remote and sensors or something). T…

Yea no. I don’t see how that was even allowed in the first place for safety reason.
Post reply on HN