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this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2023
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Technology
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Dont have a "Smart" home in general, especially not with Amazon shit
Smart home devices have been a godsend for accessibility though. My dad's got Parkinson's disease. He couldn't adjust our lamps without knocking them over and he couldn't use the pullcords on the ceiling fan lights without losing his balance. Smart bulbs + Google Assistant are the only reason why he doesn't need someone to turn the lights on/off for him.
Not everyone has the same needs, and unfortunately if these things weren't mass market products they probably wouldn't exist, or only exist at a price point that nobody living on disability payments could afford.
I'm looking into moving him over to a locally hosted setup, but this tech is still critical for a subset of people and definitely needs to exist at an affordable price.
Yeah accessibility is actually a good point, but probably the only one, and i still hate the idea of literally allowing everyone with more than 0 tech understanding to spy out my entire life... Or that of my grandpa...
Absolutely! I’m disabled and it can take me some time to get to the front door at times, especially in our old 3 story house (mistakes were made). Being able to see who was at the door, and tell them I was on my way down saved me so many missed deliveries.
Exactly! A "dumb" home is just a liittle bit more inconvenient, but at least I don't need to worry about being policed by a megacorp
My "dumb" home does exactly what i want, cause i made it "smart" myself (most stuff gets controlled by a raspberry pi)
Wish I had the skill to set that stuff up and how to use raspberry pi. Any good tutorials that I can learn from?
It's a bit more inconvenient on average, but it's a heck of a lot more convenient when the power is out, the internet is down, or some giant company is just being dicks.
We should stop calling cloud-connected iot devices "smart". How is it "smart" to connect to the internet just to check if you can use your internet-connected doorbell?
Actual smart home devices are AWESOME. If your iot devices use standard, open protocols, don't connect to the internet, except for your local network and can be controlled from anywhere in your house by using tools like Home Assistant, then they're ACTUALLY smart devices.
We should start calling cloud iot devices "dependent" devices.
The term "dependent" more accurately represents the nature of these devices: they are reliant on internet connectivity and proprietary protocols, limiting user control and adding unnecessary complexity to simple tasks. Unlike truly "smart" devices, these "dependent" devices are less functional and flexible, due to their need to always be tethered to the cloud.
Think about it: if your internet goes down, your "smart" doorbell becomes nothing more than an ordinary doorbell. If the company's servers have an outage, your "smart" security system can't alert you of potential dangers. You're left completely in the dark, with supposedly advanced technology that's completely useless when it's most needed.
With truly smart devices that use standard, open protocols and can function independently of the internet, you maintain control and can adapt your system to meet your needs. Even without internet, these systems can continue to monitor your home, control your lights, and more. That's the real power of smart technology.
So let's change the language we use and the expectations we set for this technology. Let's demand independence from the cloud, security, and reliability from our devices. It's time to transition from "dependent" devices to truly smart home technology.
I like your suggestion that devices of that sort should be called dependent instead of smart.
Exactly! We need more information about this. Unfortunately the majority of the people are IT security/privacy ignorant and they just buy all the shit that are on Amazon that costs a few bucks just to be able to turn on the lights asking Alexa (I find that to be really dum, except for people with ability problem and such).
There are ways to have a fully smart home that doesn’t rely on internet access at all.
Right, but what percent of "smart home" users actually do this?
I have smart home devices, luke a doorbell, but I limit all traffic on them to be local network traffic only. No random requests or connections to outside servers and if I need to access it away from home I jump on a VPN. Not a solution for everyone, but it gives you a lot more control over your devices.
Oh yeah, for sure. Don't trust Amazon for shit.