As someone who tried to create a company that produced smart home tech that didn't even have the ability to phone home, this is why we can't have nice things.

As someone who tried to create a company that produced smart home tech that didn't even have the ability to phone home, this is why we can't have nice things. About ten years ago the market was perfect for a smart home renaissance. Hardware was becoming cheap enough and powerful enough that your average bootstrapping solo founder could start a business with off the shelf components. Everything was in place for the old guard of laggy and clunky consumer tech to become fast, efficient, and offline. But giant corporations and VCs smell an opportunity like a shark smells blood in the water. Everyone jumps on the bandwagon with a creeping sludge of inferior offerings, smothering the ecosystem. Only the billion dollar surveillance capitalists can penetrate the toxic market pollution and reach consumers. And so, while you may have a handful of niche/maker products that hang on, the consumer is led to believe that everything is an Internet of Shit. And this is why we can't have nice things.