I found a review of the Harmony Link because I have no idea what, exactly, it is. From what I can tell it's basically an IR blaster that can be controlled via

I found a review of the Harmony Link because I have no idea what, exactly, it is. From what I can tell it's basically an IR blaster that can be controlled via an iPad/iPhone/Android app. There are some value-add features, like access to local TV listings from the app. It sounds like there were limitations, such as not being able to actually schedule recordings from it - in fairness, the review I found was from 2011 and firmware/app updates may have changed this. But at it's core, the device is an IR blaster accessible over some sort of network interface. It makes no sense that this would NEED some kind of cloud service for regular operation. I can, however, see two pieces that greatly benefit from a cloud service: 1) Initial setup. There are constantly new TVs, DVD players, cable boxes, etc with their different IR codes and quirks. The cloud service would be a good way to house this database so that it can be continuously updated without needing to push a firmware and/or app update. Each firmware/app update could include a base set of IR codes, or all codes as of the time the update was built, so that you can get base functionality without needing the service. Once you've picked a set of devices it can download the codes once and not require continuous access. 2) TV listings. This seems to be one of the value-added features with the Harmony and there's no realistic way to bake this into the app or firmware. This needs to be a cloud service. Sure, maybe the TV listings will go away, I get that. I even get that they may want to discontinue the product and no longer support the app. But that's no reason to brick a bunch of devices - just say to people "This is no longer supported, the app may stop working with future OS updates, and the TV listings are going to go away." Ideally they'd also say "Here's our internal API guide that the hardware guys gave to the software guys, enjoy". And in a perfect world, "Here's the github link to our firmware source code that we just released under a BSD license, enjoy."