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I'm never investing in Google's smart home ecosystem again

androidauthority.com

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Re: I'm never investing in Google's smart home ecosystem again

#341

Post by therealdrag0 »

MR4D wrote: post #121
Corrado wrote: post #2

I feel like this is just one more thing that Google leadership is failing at. I have some similar examples to the ones in the article. I recommended that my brother-in-law get a Google wifi AP some years ago. Recently, I got an email from Google saying that they are no longer supporting it and after a certain date you will no longer be able to make changes to it. WTF?!? My Apple Airport Extreme is older than the Goog…

The Nest situation is actually even worse - you specifically need a Gmail account on a Google domain. If you have a Google hosted domain on gmail like I do, it won’t work. I’ll never buy a nest again either.

Why is that such a problem. Just make a throwaway account that you log into once a year for the nest. Just like you would if it was some other random company(create a new account).

Re: I'm never investing in Google's smart home ecosystem again

#342

Post by [deleted] »

oceanplexian wrote: post #270
eastbound wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After maintaining online services, I’m quite sure it’s vulnerabilities. It’s extremely costly after 3-5 years to maintain old software. Ex: You have a thermostat or an alarm system that runs Debian, Debian gets a vulnerability, you try to upgrade it, but you need to change Debian versions, and your old stack isn’t supported on the newer version. Nowadays you need to keep patching all your old appliances, keep the old…

My smart home stuff is all Z-Wave and my oldest devices are going on 10 years now. A light switch doesn’t need to be maintained or updated. I guess a hacker could drive up to my house with a laptop and a SDR, reverse engineer the protocol and then, I guess, turn my lights on and off? That’s a security tradeoff I’m willing to accept.

[deleted]

Re: I'm never investing in Google's smart home ecosystem again

#343

Post by hsjqllzlfkf »

cowsandmilk wrote: post #83
hsjqllzlfkf wrote: post #78

In this thread: people invest time into a free product and then complain that they get rugged.

How are the devices Google is selling “free”? The backend services supporting them were bundled as features of the device and are part of why people paid money for the devices.

Did I say devices? Or did I say products?

Re: I'm never investing in Google's smart home ecosystem again

#344

Post by fennecfoxy »

I agree, I went all in on nest hubs/minis etc to have assistant for making requests to control stuff. I've got a bunch of Xiaomi and custom sensors and other devices hooked up to home assistant with a relay through to Google (that I've had to pay for...because Google's home ecosystem is just fucking terrible, anybody could do better with their eyes closed).

I've noticed over time that assistant has become much dumber, is prone to misunderstanding what you say, Google sucks at hardware their wifi antennas are total crap, any minor latency between multiple assistant devices will result in them all trying to respond rather than the closest one, it's just a nightmare.

I haven't done any personal projects in a long time but I think it's about time I start playing with the OpenAI apis + whisper and see if I can't build a better assistant.

Re: I'm never investing in Google's smart home ecosystem again

#345

Post by fennecfoxy »

cabalamat wrote: post #208
titzer wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prior to replacing my furnace I had a mercury thermostat that was easily over 50 years old. The new one is digital but isn't "smart". I don't expect 50 years, but 20-30 seems reasonable. Somehow software people have forgotten that physical things last a long time, and people want them to keep working and stay the same as long as possible . My thermostat doesn't need "upgrades", and anyone who thinks they are going to…

> The new one is digital but isn't "smart". I do not, nor will I ever use, any "smart" device. "Smart" devices are - unnecessarily complicated - privacy destroying - overpriced - vendor lock-in - often infected with online ads you can't get rid of - likely to stop working if the vendor goes bust, their business model changes, or they just feel like it IMO, it is rarely or never a smart decision to get a "smart" devic…

- likely to stop working if the vendor goes bust, their business model changes, or they just feel like it

This is true of anything these days...hell even as someone who's into electronics/firmware development stuff and whatnot, I wouldn't even bother trying to fix a $20-50 (or even more) device, let alone the average person. Stuff is complicated enough these days that you pretty much have to become the expert on any device in order to fix it.

The Xiaomi zigbee stuff is pretty good/standard, amongst others. IoT can be great, I find the most useful thing is using cheap Xiaomi motion sensors with wifi led lights so that lights turn on/off based on presence in the room.

Re: I'm never investing in Google's smart home ecosystem again

#346

Post by fennecfoxy »

JohnFen wrote: post #323
jrockway wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to feel this way, but don't anymore. Smart devices don't all go out to the cloud; you can easily build a completely-local smart home that nobody on the Internet can control or monitor. This is the default in Apple's ecosystem (though they integrate with cloud services if you want), and you don't even have to use a major tech company's ecosystem. You can install Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi and build your o…

Exactly. The worst thing that came from "the internet of things" is that people now assume that having great home automation equates to having to use cloud-connected devices that aren't really under your control. It just isn't so.

It would all be helped if the gov were to include a law forcing all IoT companies to support at least a minimum standard protocol so everything plugs together and make it possible for these things to work without downloading their app/signing up to an account. Also making it illegal for devices to phone home via the internet by default.

But then there's a lot of stuff that our governments could solve but they never will.

Re: I'm never investing in Google's smart home ecosystem again

#347

Post by fennecfoxy »

boring_twenties wrote: post #328
SparkyMcUnicorn wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fully respect when anyone decides they don't want smart devices, but all of your bullet points are quite easy to accomplish with off the shelf devices these days ("unnecessarily complicated" will always be debatable though). All of my lights, outlets, and dozens of other niche things, never connect to the internet, and everything is fully functional when there's no internet connection. Home Assistant with Zigbee de…

I am completely unable to understand why any of these devices need any kind of wireless radio at all. They're all plugged into wall power all the time, and powerline Ethernet works fine. What am I missing?

Why would I plug sensors, that sip power, into a power point?

When I have humidity/temperature, light, motion, etc in every single room how many freaking power points am I meant to have in my house, aha. Maybe American houses have walls absolutely studded with power points but most other places don't.

Re: I'm never investing in Google's smart home ecosystem again

#348

Post by fennecfoxy »

biztos wrote: post #240
cabalamat wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The new one is digital but isn't "smart". I do not, nor will I ever use, any "smart" device. "Smart" devices are - unnecessarily complicated - privacy destroying - overpriced - vendor lock-in - often infected with online ads you can't get rid of - likely to stop working if the vendor goes bust, their business model changes, or they just feel like it IMO, it is rarely or never a smart decision to get a "smart" devic…

I dipped my toe ever so cautiously into "smart home" territory last year, buying three "smart" lightbulbs at the Apple Store, but only talking to them over Bluetooth. (At least, I think I'm only doing that: I suppose it's possible the software that talks to them via BT got them on my WiFi without my permission? Doubtful but hmmm...) Anyway at some point there was a software update to the controller app and it couldn'…

I hope you're not serious about the sex toy thing lmao, I thought we were all over that sort of prudishness by now or is it a I don't eat hot dogs cause I'm a man sort of thing

Re: I'm never investing in Google's smart home ecosystem again

#349

Post by cabalamat »

SparkyMcUnicorn wrote: post #225
cabalamat wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The new one is digital but isn't "smart". I do not, nor will I ever use, any "smart" device. "Smart" devices are - unnecessarily complicated - privacy destroying - overpriced - vendor lock-in - often infected with online ads you can't get rid of - likely to stop working if the vendor goes bust, their business model changes, or they just feel like it IMO, it is rarely or never a smart decision to get a "smart" devic…

I fully respect when anyone decides they don't want smart devices, but all of your bullet points are quite easy to accomplish with off the shelf devices these days ("unnecessarily complicated" will always be debatable though). All of my lights, outlets, and dozens of other niche things, never connect to the internet, and everything is fully functional when there's no internet connection. Home Assistant with Zigbee de…

I have lights in my home too. If I want to turn a light on or off, I get up, walk three steps, and turn the light switch on.

I could make all this computer controlled over a home server if I wanted to, but what's the point?

Re: I'm never investing in Google's smart home ecosystem again

#350

Post by Friedduck »

I’ll add my lament. We use nest cameras, a nest thermostat and google WiFi. As part of their recent forced account merge our WiFi controls no longer work.

Their apps are buggy and freeze-prone, and ironically continually trying to sell more product when the existing ones don’t work well.

I’m regrettably having to replace everything to get off this treadmill. Lesson learned.

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