Smart home devices need to have a personal hub that does not require any cloud service. This way when the manufacturer goes under, or they cease support, you don't lose any functionality.
Smart home devices need to have a personal hub that does not require any cloud service. This way when the manufacturer goes under, or they cease support, you don't lose any functionality.
This will never happen - on the one hand, companies like to project a likelihood of success, so any hedging is deadly. On the other hand, the cloud service is the reason they are so cheap - both...
This will never happen - on the one hand, companies like to project a likelihood of success, so any hedging is deadly. On the other hand, the cloud service is the reason they are so cheap - both because it makes it cheaper to provide, but more because it adds a significant, shall we say, 'alternative revenue stream'.
There's Apple HomeKit. A number of Apple devices can act as the hub. They are reliant on Apple servers to control devices from outside your LAN, but I can still do just about everything while at...
There's Apple HomeKit. A number of Apple devices can act as the hub. They are reliant on Apple servers to control devices from outside your LAN, but I can still do just about everything while at home even if I unplug my modem.
That will grind to a halt and fail eventually without an internet connection, and as soon as it gets one 100% of that data is getting fed directly to Apple.
That will grind to a halt and fail eventually without an internet connection, and as soon as it gets one 100% of that data is getting fed directly to Apple.
I bought an esp8266 based smart switch and immediately flashed it with tasmota firmware. Now it doesn't have to leave my network at all, and it has much better integration and no need for...
I bought an esp8266 based smart switch and immediately flashed it with tasmota firmware. Now it doesn't have to leave my network at all, and it has much better integration and no need for intrusive third party apps. My vision for the future smart home is a home 'server' that handles everything locally and acts as a hub, router, nas/cache for content.
True, but that makes remote management a lot more difficult. To me, remotely accessing stuff is a major reason I have smart home devices in the first place.
True, but that makes remote management a lot more difficult. To me, remotely accessing stuff is a major reason I have smart home devices in the first place.
Easily resolved by having your home device sync with your mobile app. So when your home IP changes, that device tells your app what the new IP is. Also, the app uses a secure connection inbound to...
Easily resolved by having your home device sync with your mobile app. So when your home IP changes, that device tells your app what the new IP is. Also, the app uses a secure connection inbound to your smart home hub.
Dynamic dns is difficult to setup, and it still requires sending data to a 3rd party (unless you host your own authoritative dns). It also, as far as I am aware, will not work behind carrier grade...
Dynamic dns is difficult to setup, and it still requires sending data to a 3rd party (unless you host your own authoritative dns). It also, as far as I am aware, will not work behind carrier grade NAT (I have not had to test this though). It is a solution, but not a perfect one. Also, more practically, the people who would care about this advantage have either set it up already, or wouldn't trust an off-the-shelf device anyway.
DNS services, usually via third parties like godaddy. The local software would see the new IP, update the DNS record with your provider and then your mobile device would use DNS to reach the new...
DNS services, usually via third parties like godaddy. The local software would see the new IP, update the DNS record with your provider and then your mobile device would use DNS to reach the new address.
Tangentially related and mostly for giggles, so feel free to label “Joke” or “Offtopic”. A company where a friend of mine works has a product named “$COMPANY Smart Home” or “Úmnyj Dom” in Russian....
Tangentially related and mostly for giggles, so feel free to label “Joke” or “Offtopic”.
A company where a friend of mine works has a product named “$COMPANY Smart Home” or “Úmnyj Dom” in Russian. In Russian we have the “biez-/bies-” prefix, that means “without”, so “biezúmnyj” means “crazy” (lit. “without a mind”). Needless to say, the project is such a mess that they routinely call it “Biezumnyj Dom” or “Crazy Home”.
It’s a shame. I had a smart light switch from them and it was priced relatively well for it did. I tried going to the rebate page and it just rejects my serial number as invalid. Oh well.
It’s a shame. I had a smart light switch from them and it was priced relatively well for it did.
I tried going to the rebate page and it just rejects my serial number as invalid. Oh well.
I got a number of their Google Assistant powered speakers since they were on sale for $20 around Christmas time last year. The fact that they were only on the map because they were that cheap...
I got a number of their Google Assistant powered speakers since they were on sale for $20 around Christmas time last year. The fact that they were only on the map because they were that cheap probably contributed to them deciding not to produce them anymore.
There’s not even good support for stuff like zwave, which should be hub provider independent. Afaik, there is currently nonsub $200 zwave thermostat for example. And setting up basic...
There’s not even good support for stuff like zwave, which should be hub provider independent. Afaik, there is currently nonsub $200 zwave thermostat for example. And setting up basic functionality, like set point limits, is darn hard. I’ve been out of the coding game for a spell, but i was a professional once, and could not figure it out.
Smart home devices need to have a personal hub that does not require any cloud service. This way when the manufacturer goes under, or they cease support, you don't lose any functionality.
This will never happen - on the one hand, companies like to project a likelihood of success, so any hedging is deadly. On the other hand, the cloud service is the reason they are so cheap - both because it makes it cheaper to provide, but more because it adds a significant, shall we say, 'alternative revenue stream'.
There's Apple HomeKit. A number of Apple devices can act as the hub. They are reliant on Apple servers to control devices from outside your LAN, but I can still do just about everything while at home even if I unplug my modem.
That will grind to a halt and fail eventually without an internet connection, and as soon as it gets one 100% of that data is getting fed directly to Apple.
Source?
Better Apple than Google
I bought an esp8266 based smart switch and immediately flashed it with tasmota firmware. Now it doesn't have to leave my network at all, and it has much better integration and no need for intrusive third party apps. My vision for the future smart home is a home 'server' that handles everything locally and acts as a hub, router, nas/cache for content.
True, but that makes remote management a lot more difficult. To me, remotely accessing stuff is a major reason I have smart home devices in the first place.
Easily resolved by having your home device sync with your mobile app. So when your home IP changes, that device tells your app what the new IP is. Also, the app uses a secure connection inbound to your smart home hub.
If your IP changes between your connections, how will it know the new IP?
Dynamic DNS
That requires extra software running on your local network though.
Dynamic dns is difficult to setup, and it still requires sending data to a 3rd party (unless you host your own authoritative dns). It also, as far as I am aware, will not work behind carrier grade NAT (I have not had to test this though). It is a solution, but not a perfect one. Also, more practically, the people who would care about this advantage have either set it up already, or wouldn't trust an off-the-shelf device anyway.
DNS services, usually via third parties like godaddy. The local software would see the new IP, update the DNS record with your provider and then your mobile device would use DNS to reach the new address.
I do this for my home based Exchange mail server.
Tangentially related and mostly for giggles, so feel free to label “Joke” or “Offtopic”.
A company where a friend of mine works has a product named “$COMPANY Smart Home” or “Úmnyj Dom” in Russian. In Russian we have the “biez-/bies-” prefix, that means “without”, so “biezúmnyj” means “crazy” (lit. “without a mind”). Needless to say, the project is such a mess that they routinely call it “Biezumnyj Dom” or “Crazy Home”.
It’s a shame. I had a smart light switch from them and it was priced relatively well for it did.
I tried going to the rebate page and it just rejects my serial number as invalid. Oh well.
I got a number of their Google Assistant powered speakers since they were on sale for $20 around Christmas time last year. The fact that they were only on the map because they were that cheap probably contributed to them deciding not to produce them anymore.
There’s not even good support for stuff like zwave, which should be hub provider independent. Afaik, there is currently nonsub $200 zwave thermostat for example. And setting up basic functionality, like set point limits, is darn hard. I’ve been out of the coding game for a spell, but i was a professional once, and could not figure it out.
No z-wave support, but a decent amount of their stuff supported HomeKit, which is a major draw for iOS users.