Philips Hue will soon force users to create an account • Hacker News Board

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

#201

Post by VTimofeenko » Thu, Sep 21, 2023, 7:46 PM UTC

_ea1k wrote: post #167

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."

Don't forget highly locked down garage doors that are readily accessible by major merchants. And also pair easily with similarly locked down in garage cameras.

I am actually looking for a wallmount garage door opener right now. While they do have myq-whatever cloud thing, my understanding is that it's optional. It should be possible to connect an ESP32 or the Konnected sensor thing which will pretend to be a wall button from the opener perspective. Could probably even stick it into a Faraday cage to prevent Amazon sidewalk scenario.

Is that not really an option?

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

#202

Post by iteratethis » Thu, Sep 21, 2023, 7:48 PM UTC

poisonborz wrote: post #68

The big question is at which level this auth is enforced: - official Hue apps - who cares - hue bridge - bad, would break apps like HuePro and would force more complicated setup for some - bulb - unlikely, that would mean everyone buying this for IoT lighting can throw out their whole set

My guess would be in the app.

Enforcing it at the bridge level would break so many setups, apps, custom integrations that even if they try this, they'll dial it back from the avalanche of outrage.

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

#203

Post by ilyt » Thu, Sep 21, 2023, 7:48 PM UTC

yomlica8 wrote: post #115

vidarh wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Seems like cheap auto off timers and simple motion detector lights would solve all those problems with 1970s technology and no network connections at all.

If you always leave and come back at same time, sure. If you dont, fiddling with timer to turn on power just because you got off work early would be a bit of a bother.

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

#204

Post by pdntspa » Thu, Sep 21, 2023, 7:49 PM UTC

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…

While I agree, and my own business education was very much like this, it is management that is closest to shareholder primacy and the public-market monster that is mandatory, unlimited growth. It is these perverse incentives that fuel rent-seeking fuckery

Primacy needs to be destroyed and the company's obligations divided evenly among all stakeholders: shareholders, employees, and customers

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

#205

Post by iteratethis » Thu, Sep 21, 2023, 7:51 PM UTC

dmead wrote: post #175

Simulacra wrote: post #86

Has anyone else noticed the proliferation of having to sign up for a service or account just to use the product that you paid for?

This is a well established trend. I dropped razer when they tried to get me to login to something to use my fucking mouse.

But why? Are you not interested in our weekly 4GB driver update? Even more ways to blink the lights now.

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

#206

Post by Tijdreiziger » Thu, Sep 21, 2023, 7:53 PM UTC

SparkyMcUnicorn wrote: post #166

anabab wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

can you still set up direct connection between a switch and a light which would work even if the hub is down?

All zigbee devices require a coordinator. It can be a raspberry pi or any other hardware/software with the radio, but it does have to be powered up.

Not all, IKEA Trådfri works fully hub-less by default.

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

#207

Post by AlexandrB » Thu, Sep 21, 2023, 7:53 PM UTC

littlestymaar wrote: post #35

justinclift wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brother is unfortunately playing games with DRM and similar now too. :(

Bad service drives out good…

Always going to be a race to the bottom unless the consumer has rights to repair and modify their own devices. Otherwise products that lean on either ad-based or subscription recurring revenue can always undercut products that don't at retail. Make this shit impractical because anyone can install 3rd party firmware that disables the subscription DRM and the problem will go away.

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

#208

Post by cj » Thu, Sep 21, 2023, 7:54 PM UTC

sp332 wrote: post #187

SparkyMcUnicorn wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All zigbee devices require a coordinator. It can be a raspberry pi or any other hardware/software with the radio, but it does have to be powered up.

So how do the Hue light switches work?

Hue light switches (well, the ones I have) simply stick on the wall with no wiring.

The _real_ light switch is permanently on, and the _hue_ light switch sends a beacon to the hub to turn the configured lights on/off (the light bulb socket is always-on)

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

#209

Post by surfingdino » Thu, Sep 21, 2023, 7:54 PM UTC

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?

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

#210

Post by jchw » Thu, Sep 21, 2023, 7:54 PM UTC

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 house so it's basically always on, sometimes I forget it's even there.)