7 ms·

Automation is what you are missing. I love that my light turns on in the hallway when sun sets. Or the lock locks/unlocks as I leave or approach the house. Or

Automation is what you are missing. I love that my light turns on in the hallway when sun sets. Or the lock locks/unlocks as I leave or approach the house. Or that I can see my camera over vpn.

prower 6y ago
I totally understand it for security, as ironic as it is (given the topic). For everything else though, I feel like there's a "honeymoon" effect in place, where the theoretical and immediate convenience overshadow the implications. To make a silly comparison, it's like buying digital videogames on a console instead of their physical versions, knowing you're trading immediate convenicence while giving away control, ownership and future availability. I would have much less problems processing IoT if the "I" was scrapped and optional by default. I guess I have an hard time understanding people relying on the internet at all.
- tehlike 6y ago
  Correct. Most people like myself go with no cloud versions of smart home gear. And use vpn to have a lot more control. A camera that works only locally (dafang hacks + wyze), home assistant, zigbee/zwave for example.
  - jabroni_salad 6y ago
    That's definitely a popular stance in the community of people who care enough to join the home automation and general electronics community, but if 'most people' is a factor, Amazon's best sellers are all "works with alexa" and "no hub required", and all of those products will surely die when their cloud tenancy is turned off.
- mason55 6y ago
  In addition to what the other reply said about going local-only using Zwave/Zigbee, the other key is that home automation should be "in addition to" not "instead of." Want to control your lights remotely or automate them? Use an in-wall smart switch. They still work as physical switches even if all your automation/smart home stuff is down. Guests don't need to know anything about the smart home, they can just operate them like regular switches. You get smarts "in addition to" the normal light operation that everyone in the world understands. Smart garage? Hook into a regular, tried and true garage opener using some kind of remotely controllable relay. The button on the wall still works, the opener in your car still works, but you can have smarts in addition to all that. Replacing regular bulbs with smart bulbs and then requiring a phone or internet connected voice device "instead of" a normal wall switch is insanity.
titzer 6y ago
Other people feel differently. I personally hate living in a haunted world which is filled with devices watching me, ready to pounce and fill me with delight at their fulfilling my every desire. It's absolute exhausting and downright terrifying when you think through the hell some motivated hacker (or hater) could subject you to. Is it unthinkable that all this stuff will turn on you one day? What if you become infamous for crossing the wrong person and a viral video sends the firehouse of political hatred from one group or another your way? "Swatting" is a thing. Just wait until people start hacking your house. They could burn it down while you are away by just turning on your oven maybe! Me? I'd like my bricks, locks, doors, lights, and life to stay dumb.
- yusefnapora 6y ago
  “Ghastly,” continued Marvin, “it all is. Absolutely ghastly. Just don't even talk about it. Look at this door,” he said, stepping through it. The irony circuits cut into his voice modulator as he mimicked the style of the sales brochure. “All the doors in this spaceship have a cheerful and sunny disposition. It is their pleasure to open for you, and their satisfaction to close again with the knowledge of a job well done.” - Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy People just can't get enough of Alexa and her Genuine People Personality!
  - kps 6y ago
    The door refused to open. It said, “Five cents, please.” He searched his pockets. No more coins; nothing. “I’ll pay you tomorrow,” he told the door. Again he tried the knob. Again it remained locked tight. “What I pay you,” he informed it, “is in the nature of a gratuity; I don’t have to pay you.” “I think otherwise,” the door said. “Look in the purchase contract you signed when you bought this conapt.” In his desk drawer he found the contract; since signing it he had found it necessary to refer to the document many times. Sure enough; payment to his door for opening and shutting constituted a mandatory fee. Not a tip. “You discover I’m right,” the door said. It sounded smug. — Ubik, Philip K Dick, 1969
- TheCapn 6y ago
  I like not having to get up and walk across my house to reset the internet because my ISPs modem is garbage and locks up under heavy load. I like being able to schedule my plant's grow lights to get the appropriate amount of light regardless of season and being able to keep that schedule even when i'm not home I like knowing that I left my garage door wide open as I drove away because I forgot to look back over my shoulder to see that the button in my car didn't get picked up. I like being able to unlock the door for my neighbor to let my dogs out if I end up stranded at work longer than I had intended to when I left that morning. I like that my garage camera turns on and takes shots of whoever is entering though the door when its opened. I like that my system texts me if a door/window is opened after 10pm (if its me? no biggy. If its an intruder? BIG HELP) I like that these devices are on a segregated VLAN with firewalling protecting my personal computers/NAS --- There's a lot of negativity to be said about smart devices, but you can't focus solely on the negativity while ignoring the advantages. There's also a level of risk and comfort each individual should be willing to set for themselves. I don't 100% trust my garage automation, that's why I have monitored security on my house. I'm not willing to automate devices that can harm my house (oven as your example) but I am willing to monitor their power state (is the oven on?) This isn't all or nothing in the end.
tails4e 6y ago
I agree, but what I dont like is how to function a device needs Internet connectivity. Our smart vaccum cannot work with its app unless its connected to thr Internet. The nice thing is we can see its progress on mobile data, etc, but its a little ott for a 3rd party server to be involved. I'd prefer it to be local only.
- _carbyau_ 6y ago
  I don't know of an off-the-shelf one you could buy. For the tinkerers, https://dontvacuum.me/ https://dontvacuum.me/ and dustcloud/dustbuilder as search terms. I have a roborock(Xiaomi sub-corporate brand) firmware flashed to no longer need internet, hosts "the database" on itself which is great for latency/responsiveness, provides web page functionality so you can use it from your phone, computer etc. I quite like it.
  - tails4e 6y ago
    Nice, I have the xaoimi mi vaccum Mop, not sure it's supported by that site just yet, but glad someone has taken up the challenge. It's a great little device.

Automation is what you are missing. I love that my light turns on in the hallway when sun sets. Or the lock locks/unlocks as I leave or approach the house. Or that I can see my camera over vpn.

prower 6y ago

I totally understand it for security, as ironic as it is (given the topic). For everything else though, I feel like there's a "honeymoon" effect in place, where the theoretical and immediate convenience overshadow the implications. To make a silly comparison, it's like buying digital videogames on a console instead of their physical versions, knowing you're trading immediate convenicence while giving away control, ownership and future availability. I would have much less problems processing IoT if the "I" was scrapped and optional by default. I guess I have an hard time understanding people relying on the internet at all.

tehlike 6y ago
Correct. Most people like myself go with no cloud versions of smart home gear. And use vpn to have a lot more control. A camera that works only locally (dafang hacks + wyze), home assistant, zigbee/zwave for example.
- jabroni_salad 6y ago
  That's definitely a popular stance in the community of people who care enough to join the home automation and general electronics community, but if 'most people' is a factor, Amazon's best sellers are all "works with alexa" and "no hub required", and all of those products will surely die when their cloud tenancy is turned off.
mason55 6y ago
In addition to what the other reply said about going local-only using Zwave/Zigbee, the other key is that home automation should be "in addition to" not "instead of." Want to control your lights remotely or automate them? Use an in-wall smart switch. They still work as physical switches even if all your automation/smart home stuff is down. Guests don't need to know anything about the smart home, they can just operate them like regular switches. You get smarts "in addition to" the normal light operation that everyone in the world understands. Smart garage? Hook into a regular, tried and true garage opener using some kind of remotely controllable relay. The button on the wall still works, the opener in your car still works, but you can have smarts in addition to all that. Replacing regular bulbs with smart bulbs and then requiring a phone or internet connected voice device "instead of" a normal wall switch is insanity.

titzer 6y ago

Other people feel differently. I personally hate living in a haunted world which is filled with devices watching me, ready to pounce and fill me with delight at their fulfilling my every desire. It's absolute exhausting and downright terrifying when you think through the hell some motivated hacker (or hater) could subject you to. Is it unthinkable that all this stuff will turn on you one day? What if you become infamous for crossing the wrong person and a viral video sends the firehouse of political hatred from one group or another your way? "Swatting" is a thing. Just wait until people start hacking your house. They could burn it down while you are away by just turning on your oven maybe! Me? I'd like my bricks, locks, doors, lights, and life to stay dumb.

yusefnapora 6y ago
“Ghastly,” continued Marvin, “it all is. Absolutely ghastly. Just don't even talk about it. Look at this door,” he said, stepping through it. The irony circuits cut into his voice modulator as he mimicked the style of the sales brochure. “All the doors in this spaceship have a cheerful and sunny disposition. It is their pleasure to open for you, and their satisfaction to close again with the knowledge of a job well done.” - Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy People just can't get enough of Alexa and her Genuine People Personality!
- kps 6y ago
  The door refused to open. It said, “Five cents, please.” He searched his pockets. No more coins; nothing. “I’ll pay you tomorrow,” he told the door. Again he tried the knob. Again it remained locked tight. “What I pay you,” he informed it, “is in the nature of a gratuity; I don’t have to pay you.” “I think otherwise,” the door said. “Look in the purchase contract you signed when you bought this conapt.” In his desk drawer he found the contract; since signing it he had found it necessary to refer to the document many times. Sure enough; payment to his door for opening and shutting constituted a mandatory fee. Not a tip. “You discover I’m right,” the door said. It sounded smug. — Ubik, Philip K Dick, 1969
TheCapn 6y ago
I like not having to get up and walk across my house to reset the internet because my ISPs modem is garbage and locks up under heavy load. I like being able to schedule my plant's grow lights to get the appropriate amount of light regardless of season and being able to keep that schedule even when i'm not home I like knowing that I left my garage door wide open as I drove away because I forgot to look back over my shoulder to see that the button in my car didn't get picked up. I like being able to unlock the door for my neighbor to let my dogs out if I end up stranded at work longer than I had intended to when I left that morning. I like that my garage camera turns on and takes shots of whoever is entering though the door when its opened. I like that my system texts me if a door/window is opened after 10pm (if its me? no biggy. If its an intruder? BIG HELP) I like that these devices are on a segregated VLAN with firewalling protecting my personal computers/NAS --- There's a lot of negativity to be said about smart devices, but you can't focus solely on the negativity while ignoring the advantages. There's also a level of risk and comfort each individual should be willing to set for themselves. I don't 100% trust my garage automation, that's why I have monitored security on my house. I'm not willing to automate devices that can harm my house (oven as your example) but I am willing to monitor their power state (is the oven on?) This isn't all or nothing in the end.

tails4e 6y ago

I agree, but what I dont like is how to function a device needs Internet connectivity. Our smart vaccum cannot work with its app unless its connected to thr Internet. The nice thing is we can see its progress on mobile data, etc, but its a little ott for a 3rd party server to be involved. I'd prefer it to be local only.

_carbyau_ 6y ago
I don't know of an off-the-shelf one you could buy. For the tinkerers, https://dontvacuum.me/ https://dontvacuum.me/ and dustcloud/dustbuilder as search terms. I have a roborock(Xiaomi sub-corporate brand) firmware flashed to no longer need internet, hosts "the database" on itself which is great for latency/responsiveness, provides web page functionality so you can use it from your phone, computer etc. I quite like it.
- tails4e 6y ago
  Nice, I have the xaoimi mi vaccum Mop, not sure it's supported by that site just yet, but glad someone has taken up the challenge. It's a great little device.