Live data from Hacker News

Philips Hue will soon force users to create an account

defcon.social

71–80 of 338 posts

Re: Philips Hue will soon force users to create an account

#73
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good to know! I have been using Logitech circle view with HomeKit secure video with no problems other than needing to make sure wifi strength is plentiful. Ideally, there would be a wired HomeKit secure video option, but I have yet to see it.

I have a Logitech cam too and it's been trouble free with a great picture, though for some reason it does seem to take longer to start streaming on my iPhone than the other cameras. I was really hoping for some big improvements in Home / HomeKit with iOS 17 but alas, no.

I think a wired Apple TV and lots of wifi coverage for the cameras help a lot. Wireless home hub does not perform the same.

Re: Philips Hue will soon force users to create an account

#74
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

companies are profit first, not trust first

Yes, we need more regulation. Or a better system to begin with.

Do you think its a coincidence this came right after the ban on incandescent bulbs? Regulation got us here. It won't help when government is captured.

Re: Philips Hue will soon force users to create an account

#75
post #22
post #10

Time and time again It takes just one MBA trying to boost numbers to turn a good product into a data collection nightmare. Honestly is there any IoT brand that we can trust long-term? Maybe IKEA stuff?

There is a somewhat strangely named German brand that sells private IoT door / security cams. Forgot the name, sadly. They’re quite expensive though. My guess is they might sell private lightbulbs. For home audio, Sonos is great. Their voice assistant is completely locally processed.

Eve? -> https://www.evehome.com/en

Re: Philips Hue will soon force users to create an account

#76
post #67

The whole IoT world is a huge mess. A large number of the products are a massive privacy nightmare, security is questionable in interoperability is a pipe dream. I have an old house, where it location of a few switches are just completely illogical. One solution would be to install a few "smart" switches and a relay or two. If I want to stay secure and care the least bit about cost and privacy, there's no choice othe…

Zigbee Sonoff relays paired to one of their coordinators flashed with Tasmota. Although if the walls are too thick or tge sistances too high it could pose an issue for 2.4Ghz.

I have actually looked at Sonoff, but they won't fit into the wall. In order to fit into classic Danish design tradition our wall mounts/boxes are slightly to small to fit anything not specifically design for them. Our switches and socket looks a lot nice than anything I've seen from the US, EU or UK, but they are special little snowflakes.

There's an entire cottage industry and hobby scene around making 3D print and modifications to Ikea, Hue and other switches so that they'll look like "the real thing".

Re: Philips Hue will soon force users to create an account

#77
post #10

Time and time again It takes just one MBA trying to boost numbers to turn a good product into a data collection nightmare. Honestly is there any IoT brand that we can trust long-term? Maybe IKEA stuff?

I'm sure the right answer is open source stuff, self-hosted. But as an alternative, the Apple Homekit architecture does seem serious about keepig as much info as possible on the devices themselves and not throwing stuff into the cloud.

Re: Philips Hue will soon force users to create an account

#78
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh come on - don't you want for all your bulbs to be turned on already _before_ you get back home? It's a gamechanger!

What is a game changer is to be able to just turn off everything in the house when I leave, and know the iron will be off, along with all the lights. It's not critically important, but the many individually small conveniences add up.

Turn off the main switch ?

Re: Philips Hue will soon force users to create an account

#79
post #10

Time and time again It takes just one MBA trying to boost numbers to turn a good product into a data collection nightmare. Honestly is there any IoT brand that we can trust long-term? Maybe IKEA stuff?

I'm sure the right answer is open source stuff, self-hosted. But as an alternative, the Apple Homekit architecture does seem serious about keepig as much info as possible on the devices themselves and not throwing stuff into the cloud.

Maybe that's why the number of smart devices that work with Homekit is so limited?

I really don't understand many of the "smart" device manufacturers. They clearly aren't capable of running the services required to manage their devices, so why do they keep insisting on doing so? My parents have a smart radiator that couldn't be managed for over a month because a server in Norway was down. Why not just have it be manageable by Homekit and skip the infrastructure cost?

Re: Philips Hue will soon force users to create an account

#80
post #10

Time and time again It takes just one MBA trying to boost numbers to turn a good product into a data collection nightmare. Honestly is there any IoT brand that we can trust long-term? Maybe IKEA stuff?

companies are profit first, not trust first

Right: It's not the companies' fault they're engaging in deceptive and unfair business practices; they're profit-maximizing machines. They don't care about trust or know what it is.

It's our fault we're letting them do that. Bad behavior should be affecting profits. Probably through regulation.

Post reply on HN