3 ms·

And in two or three years, when that cloud service inevitably shuts down, you'll be stuck with a pot that doesn't heat water.

vorpalhex 5y ago
The app doesn't need the cloud for bluetooth usage or basic wifi usage (though "out of your house" usage likely uses their relay service). You would no longer get "recipe of the week" stuff, but that is a small loss. The real danger is that eventually the app goes away due to not being maintained. Hopefully they release the API spec before then, but my specific device has already been reverse engineered at least.
- yencabulator 5y ago
  The app will eventually stop working because of incompatible updates to the phone OS.
  - phatfish 5y ago
    Yup, "smart" devices will require an accompanying phone of a similar age with the app already installed in case it was removed from the App/Play store -- if you want to keep using it much after 5 years.
  - vorpalhex 5y ago
    Yeah, that is the danger I tried to allude to in my second paragraph. I hope we do see phone/OS/store ecosystems that focus on longterm stability of features and UI. Keep devices repairable by end users, supply parts for the whole of the phone's lifespan. Fair phone is trying to do this for phone hardware, and Framework is doing similar for laptops. We still need OS and store ecosystems.
- LordDragonfang 5y ago
  It should be legally mandated to release either the firmware source, or at least the API and applicable keys, before discontinuing support for a device. I'm reminded of the Wemo netcams my parents owned, which updated to remove a previous ability connect directly to the video stream in favor of pay-only cloud software, and the proceeded to cease support for that, leaving my parents with two completely useless bricks. https://www.belkin.com/us/support-article?articleNum=316642 https://www.belkin.com/us/support-article?articleNum=316642

vorpalhex 5y ago

The app doesn't need the cloud for bluetooth usage or basic wifi usage (though "out of your house" usage likely uses their relay service). You would no longer get "recipe of the week" stuff, but that is a small loss. The real danger is that eventually the app goes away due to not being maintained. Hopefully they release the API spec before then, but my specific device has already been reverse engineered at least.

yencabulator 5y ago
The app will eventually stop working because of incompatible updates to the phone OS.
- phatfish 5y ago
  Yup, "smart" devices will require an accompanying phone of a similar age with the app already installed in case it was removed from the App/Play store -- if you want to keep using it much after 5 years.
- vorpalhex 5y ago
  Yeah, that is the danger I tried to allude to in my second paragraph. I hope we do see phone/OS/store ecosystems that focus on longterm stability of features and UI. Keep devices repairable by end users, supply parts for the whole of the phone's lifespan. Fair phone is trying to do this for phone hardware, and Framework is doing similar for laptops. We still need OS and store ecosystems.
LordDragonfang 5y ago
It should be legally mandated to release either the firmware source, or at least the API and applicable keys, before discontinuing support for a device. I'm reminded of the Wemo netcams my parents owned, which updated to remove a previous ability connect directly to the video stream in favor of pay-only cloud software, and the proceeded to cease support for that, leaving my parents with two completely useless bricks. https://www.belkin.com/us/support-article?articleNum=316642 https://www.belkin.com/us/support-article?articleNum=316642