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Because it’s easy and convenient for new parents. The typical parent has never heard of Synology or Ubiquiti, doesn’t have a NAS, and gets whatever tech their

Because it’s easy and convenient for new parents. The typical parent has never heard of Synology or Ubiquiti, doesn’t have a NAS, and gets whatever tech their ISP gave/rents them.

chii 1y ago
It's more that a typical parent has not thought of the need to have a baby monitor, until they have a baby (in which case, they're too busy to build out their own baby monitor stack). Pay money to solve a problem and time-save as a parent is a valid business idea/strategy. The externalities that the parents might suffer if these businesses do not completely adhere to good security practices don't seem to come back to bite them (and most parents get lucky and not have any bad consequences - yet).
unethical_ban 1y ago
There is no technical requirement for an easy-to-use baby monitor to be cloud-connected. If there is no easy-to-use baby monitor which is not cloud-connected, that is a market problem, not a technical problem.
- Aurornis 1y ago
  > There is no technical requirement for an easy-to-use baby monitor to be cloud-connected. A common use case for baby monitors is being able to wander short distances away and still listen in: Work in yard, talk to a neighbor, go out to the detached garage. Having a baby monitor which is not tethered to the WiFi coverage is a selling point. Many cheap monitors are WiFi connected or use their own WiFi network and the range is limited. A lot of people in this thread are also completely missing the selling points of Nanit which include breathing tracking and sleep tracking features. It’s a product that could technically be implemented locally with enough extra processing power and cloud servers for coordinating out of home access and bouncing notifications, but obviously the number of people who would pay extra for that (instead of trying to roll their own solution HN style) is not large.
- GMoromisato 1y ago
  Agreed. Maybe the market for easy-to-use, self-hosted baby monitors doesn’t exist. I’d least I never heard a parent complain that their biggest problem dealing with a baby is lack of E2EE.
skrause 1y ago
The baby monitor could have its own SD card and webserver and then you provide a smartphone app which uses local network discovery to find the server and talk to it. In that case no parent needs to know about Synology or even IP addresses.
- krisoft 1y ago
  > In that case no parent needs to know about Synology or even IP addresses. But they need to know about networking enough to be on the same network. I understand that sounds easy, but every time someone gets confused about their cursed setup the company making the device will get a returned product and an angry review. Client isolation, multiple wifi networks, some devices being on wifi some on the mobile network.
  - chipsrafferty 1y ago
    Companies are making it harder and harder to use, or at least to understand how to use, your own network for anything other than "get Internet on device"
threetonesun 1y ago
It's much easier and less stressful to put your baby to sleep and (maybe) have a radio monitor. More technology does not inherently decrease stress.

Because it’s easy and convenient for new parents. The typical parent has never heard of Synology or Ubiquiti, doesn’t have a NAS, and gets whatever tech their ISP gave/rents them.

chii 1y ago

It's more that a typical parent has not thought of the need to have a baby monitor, until they have a baby (in which case, they're too busy to build out their own baby monitor stack). Pay money to solve a problem and time-save as a parent is a valid business idea/strategy. The externalities that the parents might suffer if these businesses do not completely adhere to good security practices don't seem to come back to bite them (and most parents get lucky and not have any bad consequences - yet).

unethical_ban 1y ago

There is no technical requirement for an easy-to-use baby monitor to be cloud-connected. If there is no easy-to-use baby monitor which is not cloud-connected, that is a market problem, not a technical problem.

Aurornis 1y ago
> There is no technical requirement for an easy-to-use baby monitor to be cloud-connected. A common use case for baby monitors is being able to wander short distances away and still listen in: Work in yard, talk to a neighbor, go out to the detached garage. Having a baby monitor which is not tethered to the WiFi coverage is a selling point. Many cheap monitors are WiFi connected or use their own WiFi network and the range is limited. A lot of people in this thread are also completely missing the selling points of Nanit which include breathing tracking and sleep tracking features. It’s a product that could technically be implemented locally with enough extra processing power and cloud servers for coordinating out of home access and bouncing notifications, but obviously the number of people who would pay extra for that (instead of trying to roll their own solution HN style) is not large.
GMoromisato 1y ago
Agreed. Maybe the market for easy-to-use, self-hosted baby monitors doesn’t exist. I’d least I never heard a parent complain that their biggest problem dealing with a baby is lack of E2EE.

skrause 1y ago

The baby monitor could have its own SD card and webserver and then you provide a smartphone app which uses local network discovery to find the server and talk to it. In that case no parent needs to know about Synology or even IP addresses.

krisoft 1y ago
> In that case no parent needs to know about Synology or even IP addresses. But they need to know about networking enough to be on the same network. I understand that sounds easy, but every time someone gets confused about their cursed setup the company making the device will get a returned product and an angry review. Client isolation, multiple wifi networks, some devices being on wifi some on the mobile network.
- chipsrafferty 1y ago
  Companies are making it harder and harder to use, or at least to understand how to use, your own network for anything other than "get Internet on device"

threetonesun 1y ago

It's much easier and less stressful to put your baby to sleep and (maybe) have a radio monitor. More technology does not inherently decrease stress.