3 ms·

I actually don’t really get the point of a cloud service for this. Aren’t babies usually left in situations where there’s at least one trusted adult locally ava

I actually don’t really get the point of a cloud service for this. Aren’t babies usually left in situations where there’s at least one trusted adult locally available?

thaumasiotes 1y ago
Yes, the normal solution to wondering how a baby is doing is to look over at it.
- afro88 1y ago
  24/7?
  - ragebol 1y ago
    > There is usually no noise or evidence of struggle from [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIDS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIDS So, 24/7 kinda, yeah... Realistically, the risk is relatively low I'd say, so to still stay a functioning parent with other duties (for baby or otherwise), you don't look 24/7
avereveard 1y ago
Leading cause of death under one year is sudden infant death syndrome which happens mostly at nap time, situations where the adult may need rest, self care or housekeeping. You cannot fathomly watch an infant 24/7 especially if one parent is working and there's minimal support sistem (living far from relative, working grandparents etc)
- breakingcups 1y ago
  "Measures not shown to be useful include positioning devices and baby monitors." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIDS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIDS
  - lupire 1y ago
    That statement is ambiguous with regard to automated video analysis.
  - avereveard 1y ago
    you quoting wikipedia? lol. ox and hearth rate baby monitor definitely alert on sids. prevent, no, and that's why they are not medical devices, and wouldn't make sense to pay a randomized controlled trial to certify as one. works? yeah. hearth stops beating, ox goes under parameter, parents get an alert. here's the FDA statement about it https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/pdf22/K222597.pdf https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/pdf22/K222597.pdf
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
hobofan 1y ago
The "point" of the cloud service is that it's sadly usually the easiest way to create a [on-premise-device]<->[user's smartphone/laptop] for B2C/residential deployments of appliances (like the baby monitor in this case). It's much easier to create a device<->internet connection + a smartphone<->internet connection that it is to deal with the myriad of issues that occur if you try to do local device<->smartphone connections in networks with unknown topology and quirks (e.g. ISP provider being overly conservative in their firewall presets). If that in general would be a more trivial issue you would see less cloud services. (You would probably still a similar amount of cloud services due the increased monetization options, but this would level the playing field for local-only options.)
- cube00 1y ago
  Hopefully as IPv6 gets more adoption we'll be able to open up some of these services, although IoT devices never get firmware updates so they'll have to sit behind Wireguard so maybe not.
- ghm2180 1y ago
  Why is it hard for a local device to expose a REST API from home —a DDNS updater could update IP address for a cname — and then access all the local data local_device(REST API) <> Smartphone?
  - philipallstar 1y ago
    I would imagine these were the reasons: - most people want to build lovely structures in the cloud, as it's hard to fix bugs in software on devices - you'd need to open up a firewall on the home router - auth might be tricky - can't bolt on value added "enhancements"
JCM9 1y ago
It’s an over engineered solution to a, relatively, simple problem of access long the device on the local network. This used to be a hard problem to solve but in 2025 I’d question why they’re going through the headache of all this cloud stuff when they could just build a quality device that runs locally with a simple base station that triggers alerts. They only hosting they really need is something to send alerts to an app.
Aurornis 1y ago
Yes, a parent is always around. The part you might be missing is that the parent doesn’t want to have to limit their movements to areas where WiFi coverage is good. Many cheap baby monitors are WiFi connected. You have to haul the video unit around and keep it live to hear when it cuts out, then move back toward where WiFi coverage was good. This won’t seem like a big deal to someone who lives in an apartment or who has a house with 7 Ubiquiti APs covering everywhere inside and out, but it is a big deal to a parent who has a single WiFi router and wants to be able to do something like pull weeds in the yard, have a conversation with the neighbor, or go to a detached garage and work on a project without having to worry about their exact WiFi coverage at every moment to check on the baby.

I actually don’t really get the point of a cloud service for this. Aren’t babies usually left in situations where there’s at least one trusted adult locally available?

thaumasiotes 1y ago

Yes, the normal solution to wondering how a baby is doing is to look over at it.

afro88 1y ago
24/7?
- ragebol 1y ago
  > There is usually no noise or evidence of struggle from [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIDS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIDS So, 24/7 kinda, yeah... Realistically, the risk is relatively low I'd say, so to still stay a functioning parent with other duties (for baby or otherwise), you don't look 24/7

avereveard 1y ago

Leading cause of death under one year is sudden infant death syndrome which happens mostly at nap time, situations where the adult may need rest, self care or housekeeping. You cannot fathomly watch an infant 24/7 especially if one parent is working and there's minimal support sistem (living far from relative, working grandparents etc)

breakingcups 1y ago
"Measures not shown to be useful include positioning devices and baby monitors." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIDS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIDS
- lupire 1y ago
  That statement is ambiguous with regard to automated video analysis.
- avereveard 1y ago
  you quoting wikipedia? lol. ox and hearth rate baby monitor definitely alert on sids. prevent, no, and that's why they are not medical devices, and wouldn't make sense to pay a randomized controlled trial to certify as one. works? yeah. hearth stops beating, ox goes under parameter, parents get an alert. here's the FDA statement about it https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/pdf22/K222597.pdf https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/pdf22/K222597.pdf
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]

hobofan 1y ago

The "point" of the cloud service is that it's sadly usually the easiest way to create a [on-premise-device]<->[user's smartphone/laptop] for B2C/residential deployments of appliances (like the baby monitor in this case). It's much easier to create a device<->internet connection + a smartphone<->internet connection that it is to deal with the myriad of issues that occur if you try to do local device<->smartphone connections in networks with unknown topology and quirks (e.g. ISP provider being overly conservative in their firewall presets). If that in general would be a more trivial issue you would see less cloud services. (You would probably still a similar amount of cloud services due the increased monetization options, but this would level the playing field for local-only options.)

cube00 1y ago
Hopefully as IPv6 gets more adoption we'll be able to open up some of these services, although IoT devices never get firmware updates so they'll have to sit behind Wireguard so maybe not.
ghm2180 1y ago
Why is it hard for a local device to expose a REST API from home —a DDNS updater could update IP address for a cname — and then access all the local data local_device(REST API) <> Smartphone?
- philipallstar 1y ago
  I would imagine these were the reasons: - most people want to build lovely structures in the cloud, as it's hard to fix bugs in software on devices - you'd need to open up a firewall on the home router - auth might be tricky - can't bolt on value added "enhancements"

JCM9 1y ago

It’s an over engineered solution to a, relatively, simple problem of access long the device on the local network. This used to be a hard problem to solve but in 2025 I’d question why they’re going through the headache of all this cloud stuff when they could just build a quality device that runs locally with a simple base station that triggers alerts. They only hosting they really need is something to send alerts to an app.

Aurornis 1y ago

Yes, a parent is always around. The part you might be missing is that the parent doesn’t want to have to limit their movements to areas where WiFi coverage is good. Many cheap baby monitors are WiFi connected. You have to haul the video unit around and keep it live to hear when it cuts out, then move back toward where WiFi coverage was good. This won’t seem like a big deal to someone who lives in an apartment or who has a house with 7 Ubiquiti APs covering everywhere inside and out, but it is a big deal to a parent who has a single WiFi router and wants to be able to do something like pull weeds in the yard, have a conversation with the neighbor, or go to a detached garage and work on a project without having to worry about their exact WiFi coverage at every moment to check on the baby.