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

theregister.co.uk

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

#161

Post by sumedh »

DJHenk wrote: post #156
sumedh wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You never been in bed and then remembered to turn off the light in some other room?

No? Well, maybe I have done that somewhere in the past ten years. If that's the case then I probably got out of bed, turned it off and went back to bed again. And immediately forgot that it happened, because it is only a very minor inconvenience. Really a lot less hassle than dealing with this IoT tech.

> because it is only a very minor inconvenience.

Well for the rest of us its very huge inconvenience :)

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

#162

Post by vinaypai »

janekm wrote: post #29
acd wrote: post #21

If you have kids they play with turning the light switch on and off. So I can see the need not to reset by accident. A simpler solution is to have ordinary plain light bulbs. Probably friendlier to the environment due to less electronics. It’s hard to hack ordinary light bulbs so they are secure. Reset button makes sense though. Reset button are costlier for bill of materials so manufacturers save on that.

Reset button is actually a safety issue, as the bulb would have to be plugged into the mains to register the reset. A metal paperclip inserted into the body of the light bulb would be very problematic from an electrical isolation point of view. The big failure arguably is not testing the firmware sufficiently (or building in recovery algorithms) to necessitate a reset procedure in the first place.

And what happens when you lose your phone and need to pair it with a new device?

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

#163

Post by dwild »

undecisive wrote: post #68

> For some reason, GE decided not to install a physical reset button – you know, one of those tiny holes that you have to stick a pin or paperclip into. Hmmm... Nope, I can't see a problem with getting people to stick a paperclip into holes around mains electricity! Sounds perfectly safe. Seriously though, this is bonkers. Power cycling patterns are by far the best method for initiating a reset - and no, sending a re…

> Hmmm... Nope, I can't see a problem with getting people to stick a paperclip into holes around mains electricity! Sounds perfectly safe.

What say it needs to be in the socket? A battery or a capacitor is all you need to make sure it can still a bit outside its sockets (you don't need much to clear the memory either).

It could be a physical button too, no need for a pin.

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

#164

Post by ihuman »

roland35 wrote: post #143
Talyen42 wrote: post #117

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 am all for dumb appliances over the current crop of "smart" appliances, but one feature I would LOVE would be some kind of sensor log of my refrigerator! This would help to know if the power went off while I was gone - did the temperature rise too much? That is all I need... The same would apply to other appliances and HVAC, just simple data to know everything is working correctly.

If all you want is to check for power outages, you could use a Raspberry Pi Zero that has a program that notifies you when it starts, and constantly logs a heartbeat to a file. If you run the program at startup, you'll be notified when the power comes back on.

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

#165

Post by vinaypai »

pdkl95 wrote: post #61
qball wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because smart bulbs are the cheapest and best option for making the following possible: * Wake timers. I can wake up with light shining in my face even with the curtains drawn, which makes it easier for my body to sense that it's time to wake up and harder for it to fall back to sleep. Bonus points if it's green or blue on a grey day, which the more expensive bulbs allow you to choose. * Security and timing. Lights c…

> the cheapest and best option My father and I implemented all of those features trivially and cheaply in the late 1980s with X10 switches/outlets/fixture. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X10_%28industry_standard%29 X10 devices also featured: * No internet (or other network) access. It worked as long as the mains power was on. * Putting the control in the outlet or fixture allowed any type of light or device to be cont…

Yes I wonder why they didn't use an industry-standard wireless protocol. Possibly one named after a Norse king and built into basically every phone made in the last decade or so.

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

#166

Post by selimthegrim »

gus_massa wrote: post #90
undecisive wrote: post #68

> For some reason, GE decided not to install a physical reset button – you know, one of those tiny holes that you have to stick a pin or paperclip into. Hmmm... Nope, I can't see a problem with getting people to stick a paperclip into holes around mains electricity! Sounds perfectly safe. Seriously though, this is bonkers. Power cycling patterns are by far the best method for initiating a reset - and no, sending a re…

> e.g. on-off 5 times with no more than 5 seconds in either state Until you get a small kid that has just learned how light switches work, probably around 2 or 3 years.

That or the Cheat decides to throw a light-switch rave

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

#167

Post by post_break »

Phillipharryt wrote: post #3

I remember this being brought up on reddit. Yes it's ridiculously lengthy, but having a procedure instead of a reset button is actually a smart idea. So they've taken a kernel of a good idea and went overboard on trying to protect users from accidentally resetting. Having a procedure allows you to reset bulbs in hard-to-reach places or a whole set of lights in one room can be reset using the one lightswitch.

Ever have a parent call and need help troubleshooting a wifi router over the phone? Imagine trying to walk them through this.

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

#168

Post by kakwa_ »

Junk_Collector wrote: post #158
roland35 wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am all for dumb appliances over the current crop of "smart" appliances, but one feature I would LOVE would be some kind of sensor log of my refrigerator! This would help to know if the power went off while I was gone - did the temperature rise too much? That is all I need... The same would apply to other appliances and HVAC, just simple data to know everything is working correctly.

You could do this today without any sort of "smart" appliance for about $1.00, $50 if you are being lazy. Just get a super simple micro-controller and radio on a board and throw it into your fridge. Have it record the temperature at a regular interval into a ring buffer and poll it periodically from a chron script. Get your power from the light switch in the fridge door. Alternatively, a Li-po or Li-ion battery can l…

Or even simpler, put a cheap analog thermometer which records the min and max temperature in your fridge.

Maybe not exactly this one, but something like that:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61jmAUQ70pL...

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

#169

Post by geerlingguy »

bhj wrote: post #126
acje wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

TIL, thanks! Won’t have to wake up to practically full sunlight at night if there’s a power blip now.

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

#170

Post by Aloha »

dwild wrote: post #163
undecisive wrote: post #68

> For some reason, GE decided not to install a physical reset button – you know, one of those tiny holes that you have to stick a pin or paperclip into. Hmmm... Nope, I can't see a problem with getting people to stick a paperclip into holes around mains electricity! Sounds perfectly safe. Seriously though, this is bonkers. Power cycling patterns are by far the best method for initiating a reset - and no, sending a re…

> Hmmm... Nope, I can't see a problem with getting people to stick a paperclip into holes around mains electricity! Sounds perfectly safe. What say it needs to be in the socket? A battery or a capacitor is all you need to make sure it can still a bit outside its sockets (you don't need much to clear the memory either). It could be a physical button too, no need for a pin.

The last thing I want to do is have to change the battery in my light bulbs.
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