5 ms·

It's not extorting. It's making sure your house doesn't burn down because you bought the el cheapo bulb from knockoff brand C.

rrrx3 11y ago
It's making sure that you're not liable for someone's house burning down because they bought the el cheapo bulb from knockoff brand C. This is standard protective legal boilerplate to protect philips in the unlikely event. Also, want to point out that philips is not "extorting money" from other companies - they can choose to enter the "friends of" program to make the general consumer feel better, or choose not to, at their discretion. The class of user that realizes any zigbee bulb will work with a hue hub is already technically proficient, and will more often than not be willing to take on any associated "risks."
raverbashing 11y ago
Pray tell how does a LED Lamp can burn your house down Oh wait it can't (if it can because your wiring is crap and the protection devices are not working you have much bigger problems)
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  A LED bulb converts your 230V AC (or 110V in the US) power source into 12V DC (in case of Hue itself). This converter part can, if poorly made, create a fire hazard. And a bulb is usually mounted inside a lamp, many of which are flammable and have the shape that will accumulate heat inside instead of dissipating it.
  - pjc50 11y ago
    .. but that's not a software issue.
    - TeMPOraL 11y ago
      I know, but 'raverbashing wasn't talking about one. He asked how a LED lamp could burn your house down.
  - raverbashing 11y ago
    Yes, but that applies to china mobile chargers and a lot of other devices that nobody worries about (and also to CFDs and any led lamp that might be today in your house) And of course it's not a software issue
    - TeMPOraL 11y ago
      > And of course it's not a software issue Of course it's not. You weren't talking about one, you asked how a LED lamp can burn your house down. It can. Personally, I can't see how someone could legitimately blame Philips for a Hue-connected-but-unsupported third-party bulb starting a fire, but I don't doubt some will try.
    - WorldMaker 11y ago
      > And of course it's not a software issue Funny thing though, but that AC/DC converter is manipulated by firmware activated by a wifi protocol. If the fire only starts when the converter is activated into its highest conversion rate in a particular sequence by certain commands sent across that wifi protocol and those commands are being chosen by a user of an app on a mobile device two rooms away, is that a software issue? It's certainly a gray area.
      - raverbashing 11y ago
        If your DC/DC converter has a duty-cycle of 100% most likely the controlling FET will burn out and stop working
eveningcoffee 11y ago
You maybe want to look at http://www.developers.meethue.com/documentation/how-hue-works http://www.developers.meethue.com/documentation/how-hue-work... to reconsider your position: They [the lights] are connected to the bridge via an open standards protocol called ZigBee Light Link. If you want an analogy, then it is similar to the case where MS Office would refuse to open ODF documents from another office suites and then after uproar would only support documents from friends of Microsoft.

rrrx3 11y ago

It's making sure that you're not liable for someone's house burning down because they bought the el cheapo bulb from knockoff brand C. This is standard protective legal boilerplate to protect philips in the unlikely event. Also, want to point out that philips is not "extorting money" from other companies - they can choose to enter the "friends of" program to make the general consumer feel better, or choose not to, at their discretion. The class of user that realizes any zigbee bulb will work with a hue hub is already technically proficient, and will more often than not be willing to take on any associated "risks."

raverbashing 11y ago

Pray tell how does a LED Lamp can burn your house down Oh wait it can't (if it can because your wiring is crap and the protection devices are not working you have much bigger problems)

TeMPOraL 11y ago
A LED bulb converts your 230V AC (or 110V in the US) power source into 12V DC (in case of Hue itself). This converter part can, if poorly made, create a fire hazard. And a bulb is usually mounted inside a lamp, many of which are flammable and have the shape that will accumulate heat inside instead of dissipating it.
- pjc50 11y ago
  .. but that's not a software issue.
  - TeMPOraL 11y ago
    I know, but 'raverbashing wasn't talking about one. He asked how a LED lamp could burn your house down.
- raverbashing 11y ago
  Yes, but that applies to china mobile chargers and a lot of other devices that nobody worries about (and also to CFDs and any led lamp that might be today in your house) And of course it's not a software issue
  - TeMPOraL 11y ago
    > And of course it's not a software issue Of course it's not. You weren't talking about one, you asked how a LED lamp can burn your house down. It can. Personally, I can't see how someone could legitimately blame Philips for a Hue-connected-but-unsupported third-party bulb starting a fire, but I don't doubt some will try.
  - WorldMaker 11y ago
    > And of course it's not a software issue Funny thing though, but that AC/DC converter is manipulated by firmware activated by a wifi protocol. If the fire only starts when the converter is activated into its highest conversion rate in a particular sequence by certain commands sent across that wifi protocol and those commands are being chosen by a user of an app on a mobile device two rooms away, is that a software issue? It's certainly a gray area.
    - raverbashing 11y ago
      If your DC/DC converter has a duty-cycle of 100% most likely the controlling FET will burn out and stop working

eveningcoffee 11y ago

You maybe want to look at http://www.developers.meethue.com/documentation/how-hue-works http://www.developers.meethue.com/documentation/how-hue-work... to reconsider your position: They [the lights] are connected to the bridge via an open standards protocol called ZigBee Light Link. If you want an analogy, then it is similar to the case where MS Office would refuse to open ODF documents from another office suites and then after uproar would only support documents from friends of Microsoft.