That’s the reason why I never buy a smart device I don’t control.
That’s any smart device. Unless you’re the one.doimg the updates.yoirself, they will all become obsolete as technology evolves. This is the case here too; sounds they just don’t have enough people using them to justify figuring out how to keep them working as new devices and platforms roll on. 9.5 years is an alright run, comparatively.
Depends on your definition of "smart’ I guess. ZigBee stuff like buttons and the like probably won’t become obsolete for a long time. I guess you could argue that ZigBee protocol updates could eventually brick them though. Good thing a lot of it is open source
The trick is to buy reasonably open devices, then provide the smarts yourself.
If it can talk to / be configured by HomeAssistant, and doesn’t require internet to work, it’ll probably be fine.
Just because it’s a “smart” service doesn’t mean it has to connect to the Internet or a server or the manufacturer. If it does neither, it can’t be turned off by them.
All my devices run local-only protocols. Nothing leaves my house. The devices that would be proprietary were reflashed to tasmota (fully open source, local only). Others are either Zigbee or Shelly. While Shelly has a cloud connection, it’s fully optional and disabled by default (including automatic updates). The hardware is also supported by tasmota, and reflashing is always just 5 minutes of effort away.
There is absolutely nothing that any manufacturer has to do to keep my stuff working. I have to do a little something (keep my tiny server on, basically). But more importantly there is nothing any manufacturer can do to stop my stuff from working.
9.5 years is ancient in smart home devices.
Though, any company that stops supporting a device should be legally required to open source all dependencies required to operate it, or provide a full refund.
I don’t have one, but maybe sue for source code?
There’s a good reason all stuff you buy is zigbee or zwave.
Otherwise this is an inevitably
or Matter
Isn’t matter just a standard, that runs on multiple Protokolls like ZigBee or wifi?
It’s a protocol that runs over WiFi, Ethernet and Thread. So not Zigbee. Though the Zigbee alliance was part of the group that designed the Matter spec. Many Zigbee hubs also support Matter but the two protocols are on two distinct networks. And if you want to use Matter over Thread you need a device that can act as a Thread Border Router. Like an AppleTV or a Home Assistant instance with a Thread antenna.
That’s about the only reason I’m still sticking with TP-LINK for switches.
hopefully you can eventually find something to replace them with. TP-Link doesn’t have a great track record imo. Poor build quality, bad software, extensive unpatched vulnerabilities, and accusations of spyware (I haven’t gone to the effort to confirm that point yet though.) I messed with them a few times doing network support for businesses. Hated them every time I touched them. Maybe the light switches aren’t as bad in all areas, but I doubt their networking is any better, it’s probably worse since it’s IoT.
All of mine are sequestered to their own vlan that can only talk to Home Assistant. But they do have ones that use matter now.
Love a good isolated vlan
how many times does logitech specifically, and these companies in general, have to do this before idiots stop buying this shit?
There need to be strong regulations to prevent this sort of Ewaste. As long as companies can get away with this they will.
And no, voting with your pocket book isn’t going to change their behavior.
While I agree that something needs to be done, stronger regulations will just be in an added requirement for the development of these devices, which will make it more expensive.
You can’t have fast development, cheap things, and longevity. Companies will not invest in making those products because they’ll be out of business by the time their market is saturated.
That’s the point. If your business has to create a mountain of un-recyclable trash in order to thrive, it should absolutely fail.
There has to be some sort of reasonable balance between new developments and longevity.
Asking any engineer for a device that’s near indestructible but will continue to have software updates for 10 years is a hard ask.
For a lot of devices right to repair would work just fine. Being able to swap out battery extends the life of most cell phones. But it’s an unreasonable request for that cell phone, for example, to be able to be supported for 10 years worth of software updates.
It will slow the development cycle for a lot of devices down quite a bit. Which honestly is fine. I feel like a lot of products have reached maturity, and companies are reinventing them just for the sake of reinventing them and selling a “new” product with a new battery. I’m looking at you, Apple.
The problem with determining what is an acceptable lifecycle for a product is that there will be no one left to support the product in 10 years if the company folds in the meantime. It is a significant drag on companies to support legacy products while also innovating and creating new products. It’s just a fact a fact.
And from a consumer perspective, If you want cool, new fancy, shiny shit every year and for it to be reliable and last for 10 years, it’s just not gonna happen. We have been trained To buy new shit every year and desire that new shiny upgrade Without understanding that we’re getting cheap shitty products for a premium.
Your $100” iPhone is now going to become a $3000 iPhone that lasts for five years instead of two. Tell me how that’s a win for anybody?
Right to repair is not about demanding unlimited software support it is saying we want access to the API so we can do our own support if we choose to.
It is about designing products that can be repairable and providing the means to do so. Regulations will be required to do this because a big part relies on standardization of parts.
This is because we can’t expect manufacturers to continuously supply parts. That is unrealistic. On the other hand, if you require standardized parts then it becomes repairable without the burden on the manufacturer.
if idiots stop buying this shit, they wont keep making it.
the problem is the idiots keep buying
That doesn’t work. The amount of research people need to do to get enough information which product can currently just be shut down by the manufacturer is crazy…also it doesn’t matter: the corps can just change the contract afterwards and you loose access to the features anyway…it needs regulations to stop this.
Only person that thinks reading the packaging is a mountain of effort, is the kind of lazy person who buys stupid home automation devices to avoid walking five feet to turn off a lightbulb.
Blaming consumers for the behavior of corporations is a fallacy of capitalism… consumers act in their best interests, not necessary in everyone’s best interests, so we all suffer if everyone does that.
if consumers acted in their best interest, none of this shit would exist.
Oh yes, advertising doesn’t work, which is why it’s fucking everywhere
Only people that dont want to blame the consumers for buying the shit… are the idiots that buy the shit, which is why they get so incensed when you argue that landfill shovel shit wont stop being sold until they stop buying it.
Stop buying shit, and companies will stop dumping billions into its R&D and advertising. They’re not doing that shit to waste money, They’re doing that to sell products… and if you stop buying it, they’ll stop making it.
Yes, this is all self-evident to anyone who recognizes overconsumption and premature or planned obsolescence.
My point is that advertising and other misinformation makes it extremely difficult for the average person to make rational decisions about technical issues when making purchases, so blame lies much more with companies, governments, and culture than the teeming hordes you look smugly down on.
Are you buying these u/a_random_idiot? /Jk
Honestly though how are consumers supposed to know which ones will be a bust and which ones won’t?
Very simple.
Does the product say requires an internet connection? Does it say on the packaging that it requires an app to use? Do you get home and find out it needs those things despite the packaging not saying it?
Then don’t buy it/Return it.
Its not that hard to avoid falling into this pit. But I guess if you are too lazy to walk the five feet to turn your living room lights off, maybe you’re too lazy to actually read anything… and if you’re that lazy, then I dont give a fuck about how you get screwed.
Worse is those things CAN change. Do it require an Internet connection? No, but this update does so you better hope you have it firewalled right. Does it need an app? No, but this update does. Easy never update right? … Now you have an unpatchable hard coded device on your network. What could go wrong?
It changed after 90 days? Whomp whomp no returns. You could fight the legal battle with the mutlicolgerate to get it refunded by the manufacturer. That will be painless to do with the thing you have hardwired into your house…
Listen I get you, I look at opensource firm for a given product type first THEN buy off of that, even that requires added research if there is a server componet (smart vaccums create maps of various types).
Easist option is to do nothing, but that does suck. Day to day chores suck a little, when you are disabled its a massive suck. Listen if your full of piss and vinigar, spry and full of energy, go install automation for charity for seniors and the disabled. They can really use the help.
Who needs any of this digital feces? Not want, but need? I don’t have a single problem that can be solved with technology these days.
I mean your on the internet.
*you’re
And the internet was once simply a handful of interconnected university mainframes transferring text. What are we doing right now?
*beans
And those mainframes once had my dick in it.
Explains the smell.
Yeah, slightly charred.
That’s why I never went serious into home automation. Because any affordable system is based on cloud shit beyond my control. Cloud goes belly-up, and thousands invested ins such a system are suddenly scrap? Not with me.
You didn’t look very hard.
Cheap zigbee stuff exists everywhere. And zigbee is an open standard, so if it works, it will work until the equipment breaks.
Yes, but a lot of ZigBee stuff ends up in environments that use a cloud-connected “smart” hub.
And that’s the fault of whoever uses those hubs. You can use practically any zigbee hub you wish. Zigbee is zigbee.
Ive hated logitech for a while. Looks like my opinion of them wont be changing any time soon. I get no longer supporting products, but bricking them? And then giving a 15% off coupon for some products that they could later brick as well? Youd have to be a right fucking mug to buy anything logitech after this.
I get no longer supporting products, but bricking them?
I think what’s happening in the background here is these “Internet of Trash” devices hook to cloud infrastructure for which the business no longer wants to pay.
If they were interested in actually building something useful, they would open up their API layers and add a way to link them to different services. But since they don’t give a fuck about you as a customer, they plan poorly as a business, and they have no ability to produce well-engineered software, instead they code everything so that it is hopelessly coupled (probably through hard-coded things up to and including certificates) with specific garbage they made, make it impossible to move to anything else, and then brick your shit.
See it’s shit like this that makes me want to set up a trebuchet just out of line of sight of their corporate HQ and return the bricked hardware with prejudice.
Unfortunately, Logitech ended support for their T1432 modal trebuchet last year.
