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TODAY I got an email saying my $600 robot vacuum cleaner -- which only works via an app -- would no longer work with said app. It has no physical buttons to ma

TODAY I got an email saying my $600 robot vacuum cleaner -- which only works via an app -- would no longer work with said app. It has no physical buttons to manage schedules, just a "spot clean now" button. I hand-wrung when I bought it -- knowing it was a risk requiring I trust them -- aand I was bitten. Awesome. Welcome to the future.

looperhacks 10mo ago
You may want to check if your robot is supported by Valetudo: https://valetudo.cloud/ https://valetudo.cloud/
- jansper39 10mo ago
  Reading through that site, it seems like instead of locking yourself into a corporations app, you're locking it into his instead. He doesn't seem to want to run an open source community, he's building an app for himself and publishing it for people who have exactly the same use case as him.
  - fwip 10mo ago
    True, but you don't need to install updates once you have the software installed, and it's probably better not to. The software on the robot doesn't need the app to control, either - it exposes an API that either the app or custom software can talk to, sans cloud servers.
- inanutshellus 10mo ago
  ooo thanks for the link, buuut it appears NEATO Robotics vacuums aren't supported ... yet. I had hoped Home Assistant might be able to handle it but it appears their integration just sends the data to NEATO, which no no longer works. https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/neato/ https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/neato/ Blarg.
ryandrake 10mo ago
Nobody on HN wants to hear this, but REG-U-LA-TION. The glorious free market is consistently failing to solve the growing problem of cloud-tethered and app-tethered products being nerfed by their manufacturers after the point of sale.
- tsunamifury 10mo ago
  I think those who believe regulation is universally the devil forget the era where products were received DOA and customers had no recourse while companies simply called it profit.
  - alyandon 10mo ago
    I can't take anyone that views regulation as universally evil seriously when history is full of stuff like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radithor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radithor
    - tsunamifury 10mo ago
      Evidently HN doesn't like this particular history...
      - dredmorbius 10mo ago
        <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9176267 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9176267> <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44508062 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44508062> The Radithor reference is of course quite apropos, and I'm a fan of effective and principled regulation to avoid that and numerous other market failures.
- nine_k 10mo ago
  Sorry, but it's CUS-TO-MERS. They buy stuff that can only be controlled via an app talking to the cloud. They buy stuff that cannot be repaired. They buy stuff that openly lies about its specs, for an "unbelievably good price". The customers go for the cheapest, all else be damned. Education in general, and about critical thinking in particular, could help.

looperhacks 10mo ago

You may want to check if your robot is supported by Valetudo: https://valetudo.cloud/ https://valetudo.cloud/

jansper39 10mo ago
Reading through that site, it seems like instead of locking yourself into a corporations app, you're locking it into his instead. He doesn't seem to want to run an open source community, he's building an app for himself and publishing it for people who have exactly the same use case as him.
- fwip 10mo ago
  True, but you don't need to install updates once you have the software installed, and it's probably better not to. The software on the robot doesn't need the app to control, either - it exposes an API that either the app or custom software can talk to, sans cloud servers.
inanutshellus 10mo ago
ooo thanks for the link, buuut it appears NEATO Robotics vacuums aren't supported ... yet. I had hoped Home Assistant might be able to handle it but it appears their integration just sends the data to NEATO, which no no longer works. https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/neato/ https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/neato/ Blarg.

ryandrake 10mo ago

Nobody on HN wants to hear this, but REG-U-LA-TION. The glorious free market is consistently failing to solve the growing problem of cloud-tethered and app-tethered products being nerfed by their manufacturers after the point of sale.

tsunamifury 10mo ago
I think those who believe regulation is universally the devil forget the era where products were received DOA and customers had no recourse while companies simply called it profit.
- alyandon 10mo ago
  I can't take anyone that views regulation as universally evil seriously when history is full of stuff like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radithor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radithor
  - tsunamifury 10mo ago
    Evidently HN doesn't like this particular history...
    - dredmorbius 10mo ago
      <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9176267 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9176267> <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44508062 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44508062> The Radithor reference is of course quite apropos, and I'm a fan of effective and principled regulation to avoid that and numerous other market failures.
nine_k 10mo ago
Sorry, but it's CUS-TO-MERS. They buy stuff that can only be controlled via an app talking to the cloud. They buy stuff that cannot be repaired. They buy stuff that openly lies about its specs, for an "unbelievably good price". The customers go for the cheapest, all else be damned. Education in general, and about critical thinking in particular, could help.