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There is a somewhat strangely named German brand that sells private IoT door / security cams. Forgot the name, sadly. They’re quite expensive though. My guess i

by jorvi 3y ago

There is a somewhat strangely named German brand that sells private IoT door / security cams. Forgot the name, sadly. They’re quite expensive though. My guess is they might sell private lightbulbs. For home audio, Sonos is great. Their voice assistant is completely locally processed.

leononame 3y ago
You might be thinking of the Homematic IP line, great products for home automation, they also have door locks etc. They are also compatible with just Homematic which doesn't use the internet (so no IoT), but rather a local gateway for controlling the devices. I don't think they have lightbulbs though. The company name is eQ-3
- solarkraft 3y ago
  Homematic has a pretty good reputation. Their stuff is reliable and they're quite open to DIYers. In turn the products are a bit on the expensive side, but not wildly so. Fun fact: eQ-3 is a subsidiary of the DIY electronics store ELV: https://www.eq-3.com/about-eq-3.html https://www.eq-3.com/about-eq-3.html
lotsofpulp 3y ago
This one is French, but I thought it might be what you are referring to. https://www.netatmo.com/ https://www.netatmo.com/
- drcongo 3y ago
  Word of warning about Netatmo cameras - even if you buy the HomeKit Secure Video ones, they stop working if the memory card dies. And it dies a LOT on their cameras. I've got 3 of their outdoor security cameras, and two of them stopped working while I was away on holiday. I had a very long conversation with them about this massive flaw in their system, they kept just saying "it needs the memory card to save the video" - I pointed out that a) it doesn't, it's streaming to HSV, and b) with every other camera I own the memory card is optional. The quality of the video on them is also considerably worse than any of my other cameras.
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    Good to know! I have been using Logitech circle view with HomeKit secure video with no problems other than needing to make sure wifi strength is plentiful. Ideally, there would be a wired HomeKit secure video option, but I have yet to see it.
    - drcongo 3y ago
      I have a Logitech cam too and it's been trouble free with a great picture, though for some reason it does seem to take longer to start streaming on my iPhone than the other cameras. I was really hoping for some big improvements in Home / HomeKit with iOS 17 but alas, no.
      - lotsofpulp 3y ago
        I think a wired Apple TV and lots of wifi coverage for the cameras help a lot. Wireless home hub does not perform the same.
        drcongo 3y ago
        True, I have a wired Apple TV which I try to ensure is always my primary HomeHub but it does seem to just change on a whim from time to time - there's about 15 candidate hubs in the house!
        moepstar 3y ago
        > Apple TV which I try to ensure is always my primary HomeHub How? I was under the impression that you cannot actively decide which device becomes the primary one? I 'only' got a wired ATV and a HomePod mini - and the mini is the primary hub way more often that i'd like it to be (like... none of the time, at all :) )
        drcongo 3y ago
        It's a royal pain in the arse, but it involves unplugging every candidate hub and plugging them back in again in the preferred order. Can't say for sure, but I think the points where my preferred order has changed without me doing anything were down to very short power cuts during the night, when that happens, you get whichever device boots back up first as your primary hub.
mirekrusin 3y ago
Are you joking about Sonos? They force you to have account with them to use speakers and you have to enable location sharing on your app to connect (!!). They know more about people than their parents do.
- coremoff 3y ago
  Sonos are also agressively pushing out app updates that sunset older models of their speakers, as we all arbitrarily doing things like blocking streaming of audio from your phone. Sonos might have been good in the past when they were selling a way of streaming your ripped mp3s around your house, they are no longer good now that they think they own the content too.
  - petepete 3y ago
    Plus Sonos really hasn't kept up. No support for RSTP, no ability to cast audio. I have many devices and use them every day - but if I had a clean slate I don't think I'd buy them again.
  - jorvi 3y ago
    > Sonos are also agressively pushing out app updates that sunset older models of their speakers Sonos has a ~10 year support timeline on their speakers. That's longer than even Apple supports any of their devices, and they're often considered the gold standard of long support of tech products. I hate being made to defend Sonos twice as it makes me feel like a shill, but it is truly how it is.
    - mirekrusin 3y ago
      Man, it's a speaker. Get Bose or something similar - they'll just keep working without strings attached/tracking/on-the-road/etc forever. ps. I'm happily using 10y+ old iMac 27" with popOS - works great.
      - jorvi 3y ago
        Sonos doesn’t have tracking. That’s my entire point. And it’s extremely ironic you call Bose “no strings attached”, that’s what Sonos is about in the most literal sense. You pay a huge premium in trade for less wires, great multi-room audio, decent sound and a long support timeline. I will say that I hope Sonos and Google bury the axe at some point, and the Cast (or at least DIAL) protocol gets added.
dao- 3y ago
https://smart-life24.de/ https://smart-life24.de/ perhaps? They do sell light bulbs. They're not particularly expensive. I think you might need an account with the Smart Life app, and my girlfriend appears to have a proper account using her e-mail address, but my user ID appears to be a random string, so I guess that's somewhat private?!
e61133e3 3y ago
Eve? -> https://www.evehome.com/en https://www.evehome.com/en

by jorvi 3y ago

leononame 3y ago

You might be thinking of the Homematic IP line, great products for home automation, they also have door locks etc. They are also compatible with just Homematic which doesn't use the internet (so no IoT), but rather a local gateway for controlling the devices. I don't think they have lightbulbs though. The company name is eQ-3

solarkraft 3y ago
Homematic has a pretty good reputation. Their stuff is reliable and they're quite open to DIYers. In turn the products are a bit on the expensive side, but not wildly so. Fun fact: eQ-3 is a subsidiary of the DIY electronics store ELV: https://www.eq-3.com/about-eq-3.html https://www.eq-3.com/about-eq-3.html

lotsofpulp 3y ago

This one is French, but I thought it might be what you are referring to. https://www.netatmo.com/ https://www.netatmo.com/

drcongo 3y ago
Word of warning about Netatmo cameras - even if you buy the HomeKit Secure Video ones, they stop working if the memory card dies. And it dies a LOT on their cameras. I've got 3 of their outdoor security cameras, and two of them stopped working while I was away on holiday. I had a very long conversation with them about this massive flaw in their system, they kept just saying "it needs the memory card to save the video" - I pointed out that a) it doesn't, it's streaming to HSV, and b) with every other camera I own the memory card is optional. The quality of the video on them is also considerably worse than any of my other cameras.
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  Good to know! I have been using Logitech circle view with HomeKit secure video with no problems other than needing to make sure wifi strength is plentiful. Ideally, there would be a wired HomeKit secure video option, but I have yet to see it.
  - drcongo 3y ago
    I have a Logitech cam too and it's been trouble free with a great picture, though for some reason it does seem to take longer to start streaming on my iPhone than the other cameras. I was really hoping for some big improvements in Home / HomeKit with iOS 17 but alas, no.
    - lotsofpulp 3y ago
      I think a wired Apple TV and lots of wifi coverage for the cameras help a lot. Wireless home hub does not perform the same.
      - drcongo 3y ago
        True, I have a wired Apple TV which I try to ensure is always my primary HomeHub but it does seem to just change on a whim from time to time - there's about 15 candidate hubs in the house!
        moepstar 3y ago
        > Apple TV which I try to ensure is always my primary HomeHub How? I was under the impression that you cannot actively decide which device becomes the primary one? I 'only' got a wired ATV and a HomePod mini - and the mini is the primary hub way more often that i'd like it to be (like... none of the time, at all :) )
        drcongo 3y ago
        It's a royal pain in the arse, but it involves unplugging every candidate hub and plugging them back in again in the preferred order. Can't say for sure, but I think the points where my preferred order has changed without me doing anything were down to very short power cuts during the night, when that happens, you get whichever device boots back up first as your primary hub.

mirekrusin 3y ago

Are you joking about Sonos? They force you to have account with them to use speakers and you have to enable location sharing on your app to connect (!!). They know more about people than their parents do.

coremoff 3y ago
Sonos are also agressively pushing out app updates that sunset older models of their speakers, as we all arbitrarily doing things like blocking streaming of audio from your phone. Sonos might have been good in the past when they were selling a way of streaming your ripped mp3s around your house, they are no longer good now that they think they own the content too.
- petepete 3y ago
  Plus Sonos really hasn't kept up. No support for RSTP, no ability to cast audio. I have many devices and use them every day - but if I had a clean slate I don't think I'd buy them again.
- jorvi 3y ago
  > Sonos are also agressively pushing out app updates that sunset older models of their speakers Sonos has a ~10 year support timeline on their speakers. That's longer than even Apple supports any of their devices, and they're often considered the gold standard of long support of tech products. I hate being made to defend Sonos twice as it makes me feel like a shill, but it is truly how it is.
  - mirekrusin 3y ago
    Man, it's a speaker. Get Bose or something similar - they'll just keep working without strings attached/tracking/on-the-road/etc forever. ps. I'm happily using 10y+ old iMac 27" with popOS - works great.
    - jorvi 3y ago
      Sonos doesn’t have tracking. That’s my entire point. And it’s extremely ironic you call Bose “no strings attached”, that’s what Sonos is about in the most literal sense. You pay a huge premium in trade for less wires, great multi-room audio, decent sound and a long support timeline. I will say that I hope Sonos and Google bury the axe at some point, and the Cast (or at least DIAL) protocol gets added.

dao- 3y ago

https://smart-life24.de/ https://smart-life24.de/ perhaps? They do sell light bulbs. They're not particularly expensive. I think you might need an account with the Smart Life app, and my girlfriend appears to have a proper account using her e-mail address, but my user ID appears to be a random string, so I guess that's somewhat private?!

e61133e3 3y ago

Eve? -> https://www.evehome.com/en https://www.evehome.com/en