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One of the companies that is solving this very problem is Xiaomi. Their method is quite crude - that is, they make everything themselves. But the end result is

One of the companies that is solving this very problem is Xiaomi. Their method is quite crude - that is, they make everything themselves. But the end result is that everything they make - from an air purifier to a TV - is connected and operated via a similar / familiar OS called MIUI. They give away their phones for very cheap, because the phone is the Trojan horse - it is the remote control for all the other devices it makes. Xiaomi is the largest and fastest growing IoT company on the planet, and worth keeping an eye out for.

freehunter 11y ago
Yup, Xiamoi makes everything interoperable by making it themselves. And Apple makes HomeKit. And Google makes their own. And Microsoft makes their own. And HP makes their own. And... See the problem?
- guybrushT 11y ago
  I do. And you are right. I think we will get to a place where one company does it right, before we agree on an interoperable standard.
  - krisdol 11y ago
    I'm cynica that will be the case. On the Internet TV front we have roku, apple tv, chrome cast, kindle fire TV-- all of them empty plastic boxes doing nearly the same exact thing, and yet there is no interop to speak of. It's just more walled gardens
    - narrowrail 11y ago
      I've been considering replacing my media PC with a Roku, so I'm curious why you would call them "empty plastic boxes" considering the Roku can stream from my local server and I block all outbound requests at my router (firewall). The advantage I see is the 5W power draw vs. my current 20W. I'm also unclear on what interoperability would mean for one of these devices. I don't think 2 Roku on the same network have any capacity to communicate either (maybe I'm wrong?).
      - wpietri 11y ago
        I'm not krisdol, but I presume the "empty plastic boxes" is a reference to the fact that the amount of hardware necessary to stream video is now miniscule. My Roku is the size it is not because it needs to be that big to hold components, but so that it looks substantial to consumers and doesn't get lost in a ball of cables. And interop for me would mean that instead of N proprietary platforms that must be targeted separately by software/content makers, there would be one universal platform with different manufacturers. The Amazon app on Roku, for example, is pretty weak; I presume it's much better with an actual Amazon device. And YouTube wasn't available on Roku for a number of years, even though you could get it on other devices, I presume because Google was trying to make their own device play with Google TV.
        narrowrail 11y ago
        I agree with your take, but I don't see that happening; I prefer to take care of media acquisition on my own because I don't trust these companies to do any differently than the media companies they seek to, ultimately, replace. Roku has the private channel feature that I think makes it more interesting than the other players, and I wish more effort was exerted to explore the possibilities with private channels. Have you used this feature? It seems to me that if the streaming providers had better APIs, the device makers could make use of them; I imagine Amazon's devices have access to private APIs that Roku does not.
        wpietri 11y ago
        I haven't. I use the Roku to put things like Netflix and Amazon on the big screen. I remember trying a few different things to put content from my server on the Roku, but I could never get it to work smoothly; there were hitches both with the on-Roku software and with encoding issues. Instead I just bought an Intel NUC for that. In a few years I hope I can replace them both with some sort of Android device, but for now I don't mind two devices.
        jsingleton 11y ago
        I picked up a new Sky Now TV box for 8 GBP (with cashback). It's basically a re-branded Roku but you can't get all the channels. Still, quite the bargain considering it even comes with an HDMI cable. It has all the standard catchup apps such as BBC iPlayer but no Netflix (Sky are competitors). It also has a developer mode which may be what you are referring to. I managed to side-load Plex onto it. If the Netflix app code was available then I guess that could be side-loaded too. Only one development app can be loaded at a time though. I also looked at doing some development but the VBScript brings back too many bad memories. :) http://digiex.net/guides-reviews/guides-tutorials/media-guides/13101-step-step-guide-installing-plex-nowtv-box.html http://digiex.net/guides-reviews/guides-tutorials/media-guid...
    - andyidsinga 11y ago
      if all of these have youtube, hulu and netflix ...to the consumer that might be the level of interop currently required -- interop with their fav delivery platforms, not necessarily the devices themselves
  - dmix 11y ago
    Why not a good open-source standard? iOS did it "right" for mobile, but Android provided tough competition. And Apple benefited from the competition... it pushed iOS designers to keep their game up - and likewise.
    - diego_moita 11y ago
      Like AllJoyn? [0] https://allseenalliance.org/ https://allseenalliance.org/
    - staz 11y ago
      https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/
  - jahnu 11y ago
    Like file systems and network shares! weeps for the future he'll never see
    - simoncion 11y ago
      What's wrong with CIFS?
  - simoncion 11y ago
    We haven't seen this with instant messaging. For some inexplicable reason, the big players find great value in maintaining walled gardens. Why would we expect things to be any different in the world of hardware?
- andyidsinga 11y ago
  If Xiamoi makes enough of the stack, the devices with a desirable user experience...it might not be a problem at all for both Xiamoi and the customers at this phase of IoT - the vertical integration level is likely required to get it off the ground and make it a good experience. Eventually, a shift to a more horizontal and open approach will win out, but it seems hard to do that at the starting point of an emerging market.
- jmspring 11y ago
  Actually, Microsoft has joined as part of the "Allseen Alliance" and has done a great deal of work around Alljoyn. One link is here -- https://ms-iot.github.io/content/en-US/win10/AllJoyn.htm https://ms-iot.github.io/content/en-US/win10/AllJoyn.htm Also a colleague of mine has done a great deal of work with and talked about this work over the last year or so. Here is a link to one of his talks -- http://www.omggeek.com/elc-2015-alljoyn-101-make-smarter-devices-ivan-r-judson-microsoft/ http://www.omggeek.com/elc-2015-alljoyn-101-make-smarter-dev... Part of the issue with IoT is what do you define as IoT, the devices themselves, data ingest, management infrastructure, etc. The whole topic is pretty broad.
- hohenheim 11y ago
  That is not a problem. That is competition. Imagine the opposite where a company has monopoly over the technology.
  - lultimouomo 11y ago
    If you had to decide the brand of your power sockets, and then use only devices of that brand, would you call that competition?
Zigurd 11y ago
There is a whole different dynamic to these devices in China. Air quality, water quality, etc. are part of middle class lifestyle in China, and many people do not trust the authorities to keep these parameters within spec. Multiple air filters in an apartment are common, and monitoring the performance of these devices is an obvious interest to their owners. This is a much more compelling home automation story than thermostats or smoke alarms that should be mostly invisible in the home environment.
- JupiterMoon 11y ago
  I've never understood the desire to add smart technology to the smoke alarm. Once properly installed a smoke alarm should be interacted with when (1) there is a fire, (2) the battery is running flat. False alarms pretty much mean you've installed it wrong.
  - mschuster91 11y ago
    > I've never understood the desire to add smart technology to the smoke alarm. Because very few things suck more than coming home from work and your house is burnt down because the smoke alarm wasn't heard by anyone and by the time the fire crews arrive it's too late. Happened to a friend of mine, house was beyond repair even though fire crews arrived 10min after a passing driver noticed the blaze.
    - jfim 11y ago
      A smoke detector is there to alert the occupants of the building so that they get out. If it was an actual alarm system that is connected to a dispatcher, the firefighters would've been notified.
      - webXL 11y ago
        Yeah, as originally designed perhaps, but what if you could add a bit of tech to make sure your pets are safe? Or you're not coming home only to inhale carbon monoxide? I don't think $99 is a ridiculous expense for such peace of mind, even if it's not proven to be full proof just yet.
Sven7 11y ago
Weeds grow fast too. Maybe I'll go buy some.

freehunter 11y ago

Yup, Xiamoi makes everything interoperable by making it themselves. And Apple makes HomeKit. And Google makes their own. And Microsoft makes their own. And HP makes their own. And... See the problem?

guybrushT 11y ago
I do. And you are right. I think we will get to a place where one company does it right, before we agree on an interoperable standard.
- krisdol 11y ago
  I'm cynica that will be the case. On the Internet TV front we have roku, apple tv, chrome cast, kindle fire TV-- all of them empty plastic boxes doing nearly the same exact thing, and yet there is no interop to speak of. It's just more walled gardens
  - narrowrail 11y ago
    I've been considering replacing my media PC with a Roku, so I'm curious why you would call them "empty plastic boxes" considering the Roku can stream from my local server and I block all outbound requests at my router (firewall). The advantage I see is the 5W power draw vs. my current 20W. I'm also unclear on what interoperability would mean for one of these devices. I don't think 2 Roku on the same network have any capacity to communicate either (maybe I'm wrong?).
    - wpietri 11y ago
      I'm not krisdol, but I presume the "empty plastic boxes" is a reference to the fact that the amount of hardware necessary to stream video is now miniscule. My Roku is the size it is not because it needs to be that big to hold components, but so that it looks substantial to consumers and doesn't get lost in a ball of cables. And interop for me would mean that instead of N proprietary platforms that must be targeted separately by software/content makers, there would be one universal platform with different manufacturers. The Amazon app on Roku, for example, is pretty weak; I presume it's much better with an actual Amazon device. And YouTube wasn't available on Roku for a number of years, even though you could get it on other devices, I presume because Google was trying to make their own device play with Google TV.
      - narrowrail 11y ago
        I agree with your take, but I don't see that happening; I prefer to take care of media acquisition on my own because I don't trust these companies to do any differently than the media companies they seek to, ultimately, replace. Roku has the private channel feature that I think makes it more interesting than the other players, and I wish more effort was exerted to explore the possibilities with private channels. Have you used this feature? It seems to me that if the streaming providers had better APIs, the device makers could make use of them; I imagine Amazon's devices have access to private APIs that Roku does not.
        wpietri 11y ago
        I haven't. I use the Roku to put things like Netflix and Amazon on the big screen. I remember trying a few different things to put content from my server on the Roku, but I could never get it to work smoothly; there were hitches both with the on-Roku software and with encoding issues. Instead I just bought an Intel NUC for that. In a few years I hope I can replace them both with some sort of Android device, but for now I don't mind two devices.
        jsingleton 11y ago
        I picked up a new Sky Now TV box for 8 GBP (with cashback). It's basically a re-branded Roku but you can't get all the channels. Still, quite the bargain considering it even comes with an HDMI cable. It has all the standard catchup apps such as BBC iPlayer but no Netflix (Sky are competitors). It also has a developer mode which may be what you are referring to. I managed to side-load Plex onto it. If the Netflix app code was available then I guess that could be side-loaded too. Only one development app can be loaded at a time though. I also looked at doing some development but the VBScript brings back too many bad memories. :) http://digiex.net/guides-reviews/guides-tutorials/media-guides/13101-step-step-guide-installing-plex-nowtv-box.html http://digiex.net/guides-reviews/guides-tutorials/media-guid...
  - andyidsinga 11y ago
    if all of these have youtube, hulu and netflix ...to the consumer that might be the level of interop currently required -- interop with their fav delivery platforms, not necessarily the devices themselves
- dmix 11y ago
  Why not a good open-source standard? iOS did it "right" for mobile, but Android provided tough competition. And Apple benefited from the competition... it pushed iOS designers to keep their game up - and likewise.
  - diego_moita 11y ago
    Like AllJoyn? [0] https://allseenalliance.org/ https://allseenalliance.org/
  - staz 11y ago
    https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/
- jahnu 11y ago
  Like file systems and network shares! weeps for the future he'll never see
  - simoncion 11y ago
    What's wrong with CIFS?
- simoncion 11y ago
  We haven't seen this with instant messaging. For some inexplicable reason, the big players find great value in maintaining walled gardens. Why would we expect things to be any different in the world of hardware?
andyidsinga 11y ago
If Xiamoi makes enough of the stack, the devices with a desirable user experience...it might not be a problem at all for both Xiamoi and the customers at this phase of IoT - the vertical integration level is likely required to get it off the ground and make it a good experience. Eventually, a shift to a more horizontal and open approach will win out, but it seems hard to do that at the starting point of an emerging market.
jmspring 11y ago
Actually, Microsoft has joined as part of the "Allseen Alliance" and has done a great deal of work around Alljoyn. One link is here -- https://ms-iot.github.io/content/en-US/win10/AllJoyn.htm https://ms-iot.github.io/content/en-US/win10/AllJoyn.htm Also a colleague of mine has done a great deal of work with and talked about this work over the last year or so. Here is a link to one of his talks -- http://www.omggeek.com/elc-2015-alljoyn-101-make-smarter-devices-ivan-r-judson-microsoft/ http://www.omggeek.com/elc-2015-alljoyn-101-make-smarter-dev... Part of the issue with IoT is what do you define as IoT, the devices themselves, data ingest, management infrastructure, etc. The whole topic is pretty broad.
hohenheim 11y ago
That is not a problem. That is competition. Imagine the opposite where a company has monopoly over the technology.
- lultimouomo 11y ago
  If you had to decide the brand of your power sockets, and then use only devices of that brand, would you call that competition?

Zigurd 11y ago

There is a whole different dynamic to these devices in China. Air quality, water quality, etc. are part of middle class lifestyle in China, and many people do not trust the authorities to keep these parameters within spec. Multiple air filters in an apartment are common, and monitoring the performance of these devices is an obvious interest to their owners. This is a much more compelling home automation story than thermostats or smoke alarms that should be mostly invisible in the home environment.

JupiterMoon 11y ago
I've never understood the desire to add smart technology to the smoke alarm. Once properly installed a smoke alarm should be interacted with when (1) there is a fire, (2) the battery is running flat. False alarms pretty much mean you've installed it wrong.
- mschuster91 11y ago
  > I've never understood the desire to add smart technology to the smoke alarm. Because very few things suck more than coming home from work and your house is burnt down because the smoke alarm wasn't heard by anyone and by the time the fire crews arrive it's too late. Happened to a friend of mine, house was beyond repair even though fire crews arrived 10min after a passing driver noticed the blaze.
  - jfim 11y ago
    A smoke detector is there to alert the occupants of the building so that they get out. If it was an actual alarm system that is connected to a dispatcher, the firefighters would've been notified.
    - webXL 11y ago
      Yeah, as originally designed perhaps, but what if you could add a bit of tech to make sure your pets are safe? Or you're not coming home only to inhale carbon monoxide? I don't think $99 is a ridiculous expense for such peace of mind, even if it's not proven to be full proof just yet.

Sven7 11y ago

Weeds grow fast too. Maybe I'll go buy some.