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Philips Hue will soon force users to create an account

defcon.social

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

#211

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

vidarh wrote: post #97
amelius wrote: post #33

We need a no-tether law. If you buy a product you should be able to use it even if you completely break all ties with the original vendor. Otherwise it's a service and not a product.

Pretty much any home automation that supports zigbee or z-wave already provides this for everything except their bridges , though. And that includes Hue. While I'd happily support regulating tethering as well, because it'd certainly make some things easier, with a little bit of thought you can build out home automation where it's all under your control. E.g. stick to zigbee and z-wave devices as the default, and get…

Sure, but the bridge is an important part of the system.

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

#212

Post by MaxBarraclough »

beefman wrote: post #162

The door refused to open. It said, "Five cents, please." He searched his pockets. No more coins; nothing. "I'll pay you tomorrow," he told the door. Again he tried the knob. Again it remained locked tight. "What I pay you," he informed it, "is in the nature of a gratuity; I don't have to pay you." "I think otherwise," the door said. "Look in the purchase contract you signed when you bought this conapt." In his desk d…

Reminds me of The Right to Read, a short story by Richard Stallman.

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.en.html

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

#213

Post by burkaman »

jm4 wrote: post #168
neilv wrote: post #113

"What's the worst that could happen, if we let MBA-types take over engineering?" "Even your home's light bulbs will require an Internet-connected computer account that spies on you."

I don't recall any of this short-sighted, anti-consumer nonsense when I earned my MBA. I do remember a focus on ethics and doing right by the consumer. There was a lot of corporate social responsibility stuff that I thought was going to be a drag and then it ended up being pretty informative. I suspect MBA-types often get a bad rap because pretty much everyone has had a shitty boss before and that person may have had…

When did you earn your MBA?

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

#214

Post by waffletower »

About 10 days ago I was climbing upstairs late headed to bed. I stared at the Hue app on my phone confused. Was Hue really asking me to agree to a new terms of service (ToS) before it would allow me to turn off lights in my own home? Lights that I had purchased outright without Phillips financing more than 8 years ago? Indeed it was. What value as a customer do I get from these hilariously timed, intrusive ToS updates? Better question: what value does the company issuing them gain by alienating existing customers?

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

#215

Post by dheera »

jchw wrote: post #210

Most (almost all?) Philips Hue devices are standard Zigbee devices. Chuck out your Philips gateway and replace it with a Raspberry Pi, Home Assistant and a Zigbee stick. Yeah, it's a bit more work, but if you're reading Hacker News you probably already know how to do this anyways, and honestly, Home Assistant is pretty damn good at staying hands-off. (I only update it every few months, it's on a battery backup in my…

> standard Zigbee devices

One of the issues with these "standard" Zigbee devices is that you can't configure all of their settings.

I have a bunch of Aqara motion sensors and I can't set their timeouts or sensitivity unless I use the Aqara app and hub. Used as a normal Zigbee device they offer no configuration options.

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

#216

Post by WaitWaitWha »

Mitigation: If using Zigbee bulbs,

1. get rid of the Philips app (not the bulbs).

2. Replace the Philips Hue bridge (hub) with a RasPi or NUC computer.

3. Connect a Zigbee/Z-Wave combo USB radio dongle.

4. Load Home Assistant OS.

This solution not only replaces the Philips locked system, but it can replace (or take over) Amazon, Google, Apple, Ikea and more, simultaneously. About 2551 more.

Home Assistant is not perfect, but it provides just the privacy (and features) these vendors are taking away or never gave me.

I have Zigbee, Z-Wave, and Wifi devices on Home Assistant (RasPi 4 8GB peaks around 4% utilization). I rarely care about who makes the device nowadays. Is it Zigbee or Z-Wave and cheap? Great, I buy it, and it works.

As of this instance, it manages over 100 "devices", from a magnetic door sensor to the Synology NAS drive temperature.

( list of official integrations [because there are many more through community integrations]: https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/#all )

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

#217

Post by Fauntleroy »

surfingdino wrote: post #209

Philips used to make products I wanted to own. I now make sure I don't allow them them in my life. (Not just Philips, btw.) I wonder why large corporations/brands do not care anymore? Have they become too big to remove them from our lives and do not need to listen to us?

People who do not care about this kind of thing are far more profitable to them than we are.

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

#218

Post by ewoodrich »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #146
ender341341 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you basically need to recreate the scenes in home assistant and use the hue bridge as as dumb of a bridge as you can. There should be little to no things that home assistant scenes can't do that hue scenes can. I'll still probably recommend hue light bulbs with the caveat that I don't recommend their bridge/app, compared to the other bulbs I've used they are much more reliable and handle color changes much more smoot…

I haven't used anything but Hue, but I've been looking to get off them because they're so unreliable. Like clockwork, one or two bulbs go bad every year and will still be dimly lit even when "off", or worse still they will start flickering constantly when "off". It's kind of depressing if something with such poor quality is the most reliable option out there. :(

Anecdata but I have about 20 Hue bulbs of various color types I've owned for several years and have had no failures. I do wish the button switches wouldn't eat through coin cell batteries though.

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

#219

Post by hadlock »

surfingdino wrote: post #209

Philips used to make products I wanted to own. I now make sure I don't allow them them in my life. (Not just Philips, btw.) I wonder why large corporations/brands do not care anymore? Have they become too big to remove them from our lives and do not need to listen to us?

Philips owns the brand but the product was spun off to a third party company several years ago, who licenses it.

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

#220

Post by moffkalast »

beefman wrote: post #162

The door refused to open. It said, "Five cents, please." He searched his pockets. No more coins; nothing. "I'll pay you tomorrow," he told the door. Again he tried the knob. Again it remained locked tight. "What I pay you," he informed it, "is in the nature of a gratuity; I don't have to pay you." "I think otherwise," the door said. "Look in the purchase contract you signed when you bought this conapt." In his desk d…

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