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I've bought a lot of "IoT" devices (going back to the days of X10) and yeah lot of them are utterly useless, but so were a lot of dotcom startups in 1999. The
by tlrobinson 10y ago
I've bought a lot of "IoT" devices (going back to the days of X10) and yeah lot of them are utterly useless, but so were a lot of dotcom startups in 1999.
The thing I've realized, which may be obvious, is that first and foremost the device needs to work well in its "unconnected" form. Examples:
* Hue/LIFX/etc suck because most of the time I just want to flip a light switch, not pull out my iPhone to control it. I'm a fan of Z-Wave (or whatever) switch replacements that function just fine as regular switches, or I can turn off every light in my house through a wall controller, Alexa, or my iPhone. But if that secondary system fails I can still control my lights.
* Withings scales are great, because it works well as a simple scale, but also records my weight so I can go back and look at trends, etc.
* I like Dropcams because they're super easy, though I wish it weren't locked to a proprietary service
- steven2012 10y agoI have the Hue dimmer switch which makes them infinitely more useful. I can now control my lights without having to pull wires etc.
- tlrobinson 10y agoThat may work, as long as you can prevent people from using the wall or lamp switch, and if it works even if your internet connection/router is down. My preference is for more hard-wired/bulletproof solutions.
- steven2012 10y agoYes it works with no internet connection, you connect to a hub on the local network. Pulling a new wire is better but also much more expensive. Adding a new switch for me is~200 and I can't move it around like the Hue.