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There it is, half of those things absolutely terrify me, but they're also exciting. But then that's kinda the thing with new technology isn't it? There was a ti

by 50CNT 11y ago

There it is, half of those things absolutely terrify me, but they're also exciting. But then that's kinda the thing with new technology isn't it? There was a time when trains were exciting and terrifying machines (and they probably still are). Honestly, adveillance and order automation seem like they'll be useful. And abused. People hacking into celebrity fridges, script kiddies ordering toner and other very shady things on the ORM side will inevitably happen. I will however plead the Stallman on ownership-to-rent. DRM on Keurigs and usage timers on light bulbs just feel underhanded. So opposed to that. That's an entirely different argument though. Well, I kinda get consumer IoT now, but I'm still confused why people are going on about it like it's the best thing since sliced blue-tooth. Guess I'm not imaginative enough. Guess I'll be the old grumpy paranoid man at the end of the road that never showers and orders his own ink.

pjc50 11y ago
Most of the enthusiasts are people on the sell side who've decided it's the next big untapped market. Or the "maker" community with Arduinos and ESP2866 chips. Or the intersection of those on Kickstarter. But enthusiast IoT genuinely is exciting; people building little things tailored specifically to their needs. Not a multibillion dollar unicorn festival though. Home automation has been a minority interest for decades, and likely to remain that way.
- 50CNT 11y ago
  I guess I'm in the maker/enthusiast camp, but given how I think about these things, a lot of consumer IoT just seems crass and not that well thought out. Ill designed solutions to problems that aren't there. Actually, think of that awkward in between period for land line phones when LCD screens seemed like too much of an expense, but you could finally embed enough computing power to add several dozen layers of features whilst keeping the 9-10 button layout for cost reasons, which meant that almost all those features went unused, and necessary features became impossible to discover. Yeah, there was a manual, but who remembers all those numeric codes? We took something simple and made it harder to use applying computing power to it, which is quite the achievement. And now there's IoT, and I'm counting on the same thing to happen. Bosh deciding to replace manual affordances with WiFi? Please, no. Kafka please. This 'boutta be worse than OEM androids. Mentally I've put IoT in the same camp as VR and (soft) wearable electronics. Lots of excitement because it's living with the Jetsons stuff, combined with little awareness of the technical and economical challenges behind it, which limit potential applications to some carefully engineered niche products (say the Echo, Occulus, and maybe the fitbit. Notice how the Echo is "Internet of thing" for the most part, the Occulus big and wired and expensive, and the fitbit a bracelet because copper breaks when bent regularly, so you gotta have a solid piece) and hobbyists. I'm sure there'll be a killer app coming out some time in the nearish future, but your altair basic still ain't quite the PC. I'm miffed at schlep blind tech people pretending it is. Y'all ain't got no demo, y'all got Techcrunch tellin' you bout the promised land is here and no engineer to slap some sense into you.

by 50CNT 11y ago

pjc50 11y ago

Most of the enthusiasts are people on the sell side who've decided it's the next big untapped market. Or the "maker" community with Arduinos and ESP2866 chips. Or the intersection of those on Kickstarter. But enthusiast IoT genuinely is exciting; people building little things tailored specifically to their needs. Not a multibillion dollar unicorn festival though. Home automation has been a minority interest for decades, and likely to remain that way.

50CNT 11y ago
I guess I'm in the maker/enthusiast camp, but given how I think about these things, a lot of consumer IoT just seems crass and not that well thought out. Ill designed solutions to problems that aren't there. Actually, think of that awkward in between period for land line phones when LCD screens seemed like too much of an expense, but you could finally embed enough computing power to add several dozen layers of features whilst keeping the 9-10 button layout for cost reasons, which meant that almost all those features went unused, and necessary features became impossible to discover. Yeah, there was a manual, but who remembers all those numeric codes? We took something simple and made it harder to use applying computing power to it, which is quite the achievement. And now there's IoT, and I'm counting on the same thing to happen. Bosh deciding to replace manual affordances with WiFi? Please, no. Kafka please. This 'boutta be worse than OEM androids. Mentally I've put IoT in the same camp as VR and (soft) wearable electronics. Lots of excitement because it's living with the Jetsons stuff, combined with little awareness of the technical and economical challenges behind it, which limit potential applications to some carefully engineered niche products (say the Echo, Occulus, and maybe the fitbit. Notice how the Echo is "Internet of thing" for the most part, the Occulus big and wired and expensive, and the fitbit a bracelet because copper breaks when bent regularly, so you gotta have a solid piece) and hobbyists. I'm sure there'll be a killer app coming out some time in the nearish future, but your altair basic still ain't quite the PC. I'm miffed at schlep blind tech people pretending it is. Y'all ain't got no demo, y'all got Techcrunch tellin' you bout the promised land is here and no engineer to slap some sense into you.