State of Smart Homes 2020
As the year starts, the one thought I'm left with is; the only major player in the smart home space that people should be trusting is Ikea.
The other day my August lock stopped working with Home Assistant. Seems they decided to start throttling requests. Not a huge deal. They didn't shut down the service or reduce functionality or anything like that. But, this move does break external integrations.
And external integrations are key in this space. We are still at a place where no major commercial player offers a complete solution. Which is to say, getting a fully smart home up and running requires numerous hubs and apps if you want a fully supported experience. Which is a nightmare.
Any solution with a cloud connection, especially ones where that is the only way of driving the solution are a huge risk to people trying to bridge the gap. When Nest shut down its online API and this August fiasco are two proper examples.
I'm not criticizing these companies for what they did with their cloud services. While I hate the new model Google is pushing on Nest owners it is impossible to deny that many people were experiencing security breaches with the old Nest APIs and August likely added throttling to help ensure quality of service.
But, there is no local API. The is no alternative.
Tradfri from Ikea on the other hand has no 1st party cloud solution. The entire solution is local. Sure, it can hook up with Google Assistant and HomeKit. But, these are afterthoughts and the solution can function properly in a closed network (with obvious caveats of no updates). And the devices talk directly to each other as well. Which is in contrast to my Hue lights. When the bridge is off (usually due to a faulty power cord) the remote can no longer drive the lights. My Ikea bridge can stop existing and the light switches and lights will keep working.
Security is also less of an issue. Google and Apple need to worry about securing their ends of the solution, not Ikea. So there is less burden on them. And this all means that if Ikea decided to shut down it's smart home division there is a much higher chance that all external integrations (not to mention the devices and apps) would likely continue working.
Because the hardware and communication is almost exclusively inside my own network, I can secure as much or as little as I want.
Honestly, my Nest camera is a hunk of trash compared to one I picked up for $80 after taxes. The Hue lights ARE better than Ikeas but not by enough that I really care. As I've said before, future additions to my smart home will be devices which don't rely on a cloud service. I just need a good smart thermostat that meets the bill and a smart lock and I'll be set I think.
The other day my August lock stopped working with Home Assistant. Seems they decided to start throttling requests. Not a huge deal. They didn't shut down the service or reduce functionality or anything like that. But, this move does break external integrations.
And external integrations are key in this space. We are still at a place where no major commercial player offers a complete solution. Which is to say, getting a fully smart home up and running requires numerous hubs and apps if you want a fully supported experience. Which is a nightmare.
Any solution with a cloud connection, especially ones where that is the only way of driving the solution are a huge risk to people trying to bridge the gap. When Nest shut down its online API and this August fiasco are two proper examples.
I'm not criticizing these companies for what they did with their cloud services. While I hate the new model Google is pushing on Nest owners it is impossible to deny that many people were experiencing security breaches with the old Nest APIs and August likely added throttling to help ensure quality of service.
But, there is no local API. The is no alternative.
Tradfri from Ikea on the other hand has no 1st party cloud solution. The entire solution is local. Sure, it can hook up with Google Assistant and HomeKit. But, these are afterthoughts and the solution can function properly in a closed network (with obvious caveats of no updates). And the devices talk directly to each other as well. Which is in contrast to my Hue lights. When the bridge is off (usually due to a faulty power cord) the remote can no longer drive the lights. My Ikea bridge can stop existing and the light switches and lights will keep working.
Security is also less of an issue. Google and Apple need to worry about securing their ends of the solution, not Ikea. So there is less burden on them. And this all means that if Ikea decided to shut down it's smart home division there is a much higher chance that all external integrations (not to mention the devices and apps) would likely continue working.
Because the hardware and communication is almost exclusively inside my own network, I can secure as much or as little as I want.
Honestly, my Nest camera is a hunk of trash compared to one I picked up for $80 after taxes. The Hue lights ARE better than Ikeas but not by enough that I really care. As I've said before, future additions to my smart home will be devices which don't rely on a cloud service. I just need a good smart thermostat that meets the bill and a smart lock and I'll be set I think.
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