Amazon to Permanently Disable Cloud Cam, Offers Affected Customers a Free Blink Mini and/or Echo

I don't understand any device designed to last only 5-7 years. That's not only bad for the planet (mining finite resources, plus disposal) but I never understood why companies can't make things that last over 30 years. At one time, that was what made a company have loyal customers. Back when companies cared about customers over shareholders, that is. If you made crap, no one would buy and they'd go bankrupt. Call me old fashioned, but I won't buy or support companies who can't make stuff that lasts a lifetime. I do not know when things changed but I still hate it. Even cars today people seem to junk them when they're still new looking, not even trying to sell them anymore. I am of the generation who bought one vehicle for life.

Companies used to exist by reputation. If you made garbage people would refuse to buy your brand, but if you made quality people would not only be loyal to your brand but word of mouth would make you have more customers in the long run.

Not being supported does not = paperweight. My HTC Thunderbolt is 11 years old, and still works 100% as designed.
 
The new world. You don't own it, you don't get to use it and it won't last too long if you do. Meanwhile I have friends that have a 1952 GE Refrigerator in their Summer home in Maine that is still working.
 
The new world. You don't own it, you don't get to use it and it won't last too long if you do. Meanwhile I have friends that have a 1952 GE Refrigerator in their Summer home in Maine that is still working.

It's so depressing to me

To your point, we have a washer/dryer set in our basement from I think the 80s, maybe early 90s.. They work wonderfully and require almost nothing other than a new belt every 10 years or so.

To me, we shouldn't even let all this modern disposable junk be made or sold, particularly in light of all the plastic pollution and other ecological issues being caused by this "endless growth" and "disposable everything" culture.
 
The new world. You don't own it, you don't get to use it and it won't last too long if you do. Meanwhile I have friends that have a 1952 GE Refrigerator in their Summer home in Maine that is still working.
The goal of the World Economic Forum/Davos. "You'll own nothing, and you'll be happy"

OIP.jpg

The sad thing is that many people are so used to renting their stuff and paying off loans/leasing and have themselves tied into multiple subscriptions already that they won't even notice when it happens, and likely won't even be bothered by it. People like myself are already compared to luddites, amish and horse and carriage folks.
 
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I don't understand any device designed to last only 5-7 years. That's not only bad for the planet (mining finite resources, plus disposal) but I never understood why companies can't make things that last over 30 years. At one time, that was what made a company have loyal customers. Back when companies cared about customers over shareholders, that is. If you made crap, no one would buy and they'd go bankrupt. Call me old fashioned, but I won't buy or support companies who can't make stuff that lasts a lifetime. I do not know when things changed but I still hate it. Even cars today people seem to junk them when they're still new looking, not even trying to sell them anymore. I am of the generation who bought one vehicle for life.

Companies used to exist by reputation. If you made garbage people would refuse to buy your brand, but if you made quality people would not only be loyal to your brand but word of mouth would make you have more customers in the long run.

Not being supported does not = paperweight. My HTC Thunderbolt is 11 years old, and still works 100% as designed.
You must be old. ;)

Do you really want to use a 30 year old computer or TV? Should businesses stop innovating and creating new technology because people like you want to hold on to old ideas forever? Then there's stockholders, who need to see increased sales year-over-year, which isn't obtainable when everyone is happy with their 30 year old device.

I question your claim about the HTC. It was discontinued in 2012 and ran Android 4. "...works 100% as designed" means it still runs 10 year old apps, or you can update to the latest versions of Android and apps?
 
It works 100% as it was made. As in everything it could do in 2011 it can do today. All the basic tasks of a smartphone work, from messaging, to calls, web browsing, music playback, even mobile games. Old apps aren't that different from modern versions (although I find the UI far more pleasing than modern versions).

It in essence does everything a modern smartphone can do. It might not have a dozen cameras or a huge impractical screen, but it works perfectly fine for me.

Once again, someone mentions how my lifestyle would invite stagnation. Sorry, but we're already there. Name one phone in the last few years that was not a massive downgrade from the Thunderbolt. We no longer have:

1. Headphone jack
2. Expandable storage
3. removable battery
4. a phone that's not intended for basketball players
5. one that can survive a drop without a case

It goes on and on and on. All we have today are cameras and large screens and flat design apps. That's been it since 2014. I'm not in favor of being stuck in time but there's nothing improving only regressing. We have phones today with less features than the HTC Thunderbolt, and people still use their phones primarily for the same things the Thunderbolt (and various others) did way back when. People still message, call, use social media, etc. The smartphone is no longer improving massively each iteration like it did from 2007 (The Nokia N95) to 2014 (the Samsung Galaxy S5, a phone with more hardware features than any modern phone today--IR blaster, water proofing, removable battery, fingerprint sensor, heart rate sensor, decent camera, expandable storage, etc).

I actually have a 30 year old TV, it's in my workshop for white noise when I'm doing outside work in the garage. Still works. I mean what does a TV even need to do? Play sound and video. Does one really need a modern one for that?

Let's face reality here. We cannot sustain the planet with infinite consumption. We either need to slow down or stop. Since nothing is improving in tech like 2007-14, what is the point? When the next smartphone revolution happens, if it ever does, we'll talk. Until then my Thunderbolt still feels more 'modern' than whatever phones are today.

I personally wish we had the variety we had in 2011. We had slider phones, flip phones, phones with tiny screens to phones with larger screens, phones with skins that sold them and had specific feature sets (Motoblur, TouchWiz, Sense, Meego, etc) and far, far more competition. We have hardly any real competition and everything is a homogenized boring stagnant mess. We need the likes of Nokia, the T-Mobile Sidekick, Symbian, WebOS, Windows Mobile, and the like back. The innovation won't happen with just Android vs. iOS, or Samsung vs. Apple.

Here's to the crazy ones, indeed. The movers, the shakers. The ones who don't believe in the status quo. We need them back. They're the ones who change the world.
 
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Unacceptable they can’t release an update to allow me to convert to a home managed camera. Once these go offline I won’t have cameras as I’ll just save up to do it off a local network setup. Buy a NAS and such. Cost a lot up front but at least I can run uninterrupted when a company decides no more.

Anyone buying from Apple or Google or Amazon beware this will happen sooner than later. They get bored and declare your perfectly fine camera obsolete. I have echos but I only get when they are heavily discounted for this exact reason. They’d become useless. Makes me not even trust HomePod minis.
 
It wasn't long ago the Lowe's IRIS platform ultimately shuttered and created a ton of e-waste right along with it (although their gen-2 smart plugs were able to work with Smartthings).

Revolv died when Google acquired it, and they never refunded the money people paid for the 'lifetime subscription' either.

Now this. Any wonder why I don't invest in the 'cloud'? 'Clouds' ultimately disappate. I saw it coming the day Ubuntu One, MEGA, and Samsung Cloud EOLd. They can call the cloud the future all they like, and I'll never give in. I will keep my music on my device on SD Cards until the day I die, and laugh in the end since I'll still have my 1,000 songs in my pocket whether I have signal or not!

As for when/if HomePods will die, or not connect, I suppose after the amount of time passed when my iPhone 4 refuses to open Kindle anymore because it requires iOS 13 to do a 'required' update, or my iPod touch refuses to allow an older version of Walmart to install from my Purchased list because it requires iOS 14 to install (I had installed it in the past, what gives, Apple?)

Meanwhile, the 11 year old Kindle app remains working on my Thunderbolt. Apple's longer support is a myth.
 
Its this type of thing that was in the back of my mind when I invested in Nest products. I went ahead and did it anyways, but I always get the sense that later on down the line Google may get bored and try something else!
 
Well, to be fair, when/if the Nest ecoystem dies, the Thermostat will still operate as a 'standard programmable and very cool looking remake of the classic Honeywell Round' without a connection. The Nest Hub will be e-waste for sure, though. I think the speakers themselves can still work as bluetooth speakers, someone correct me if I'm wrong here.
 
It’s why we have cheap digital thermostats. I’m waiting for standards to shake out. That or just have my husband program the stuff in ladder logic.
 
Its this type of thing that was in the back of my mind when I invested in Nest products. I went ahead and did it anyways, but I always get the sense that later on down the line Google may get bored and try something else!
They get bored too often. They must be 4 year-olds or something. What exactly was wrong with Reader, Notebook, Play Music that demanded inferior replacements? Why not listen to the customers who wanted to keep using them all and offer a paid solution to make everyone happy? You then can make the new product and make money off of any curmudgeon who prefers the old, and satisfy more people.

The days when businesses cared about customers were better. Today it's shaft the customers and favor the shareholders. I don't know when that happened but it happened instantly one day and it still makes me sick.
 
It works 100% as it was made. As in everything it could do in 2011 it can do today. All the basic tasks of a smartphone work, from messaging, to calls, web browsing, music playback, even mobile games. Old apps aren't that different from modern versions (although I find the UI far more pleasing than modern versions).

It in essence does everything a modern smartphone can do. It might not have a dozen cameras or a huge impractical screen, but it works perfectly fine for me.

Once again, someone mentions how my lifestyle would invite stagnation. Sorry, but we're already there. Name one phone in the last few years that was not a massive downgrade from the Thunderbolt. We no longer have:

1. Headphone jack
2. Expandable storage
3. removable battery
4. a phone that's not intended for basketball players
5. one that can survive a drop without a case

It goes on and on and on. All we have today are cameras and large screens and flat design apps. That's been it since 2014. I'm not in favor of being stuck in time but there's nothing improving only regressing. We have phones today with less features than the HTC Thunderbolt, and people still use their phones primarily for the same things the Thunderbolt (and various others) did way back when. People still message, call, use social media, etc. The smartphone is no longer improving massively each iteration like it did from 2007 (The Nokia N95) to 2014 (the Samsung Galaxy S5, a phone with more hardware features than any modern phone today--IR blaster, water proofing, removable battery, fingerprint sensor, heart rate sensor, decent camera, expandable storage, etc).

I actually have a 30 year old TV, it's in my workshop for white noise when I'm doing outside work in the garage. Still works. I mean what does a TV even need to do? Play sound and video. Does one really need a modern one for that?

Let's face reality here. We cannot sustain the planet with infinite consumption. We either need to slow down or stop. Since nothing is improving in tech like 2007-14, what is the point? When the next smartphone revolution happens, if it ever does, we'll talk. Until then my Thunderbolt still feels more 'modern' than whatever phones are today.

I personally wish we had the variety we had in 2011. We had slider phones, flip phones, phones with tiny screens to phones with larger screens, phones with skins that sold them and had specific feature sets (Motoblur, TouchWiz, Sense, Meego, etc) and far, far more competition. We have hardly any real competition and everything is a homogenized boring stagnant mess. We need the likes of Nokia, the T-Mobile Sidekick, Symbian, WebOS, Windows Mobile, and the like back. The innovation won't happen with just Android vs. iOS, or Samsung vs. Apple.

Here's to the crazy ones, indeed. The movers, the shakers. The ones who don't believe in the status quo. We need them back. They're the ones who change the world.

I miss Symbian and my Nokia E71
 
As much as I'd LOVE to try the Nokia N95, with both its slider keypad as well as sliding media controls up top, it was sadly 3G only, no SIM card. You can't activate it today. My Thunderbolt is only working via a technicality wherein it refuses to connect to any network other than LTE only. The CDMA portion is totally dead.

I'd also have loved to have tried the old Windows Mobile-based HTC Touch Diamond. Talk about an attractive phone with an even more attractive UI than the Thunderbolt which took only certain cues from it. Now THAT was when Sense UI was at its peak.

htc_touch_diamond__f256.jpg

Although I still appreciate the Thunderbolt's rather iOS 6-inspired look. I can't stand flat UI at all. All modern phones do is frustrate me and make me hate them each time I wake the display (and that's when my S20 FE didn't randomly wake up in my pocket only for me to discover after a few hours and find out the battery is at 5%!)
 
You must be old. ;)

Do you really want to use a 30 year old computer or TV? Should businesses stop innovating and creating new technology because people like you want to hold on to old ideas forever? Then there's stockholders, who need to see increased sales year-over-year, which isn't obtainable when everyone is happy with their 30 year old device.

I question your claim about the HTC. It was discontinued in 2012 and ran Android 4. "...works 100% as designed" means it still runs 10 year old apps, or you can update to the latest versions of Android and apps?
Getting a bit outside the scope of the original post but I think more of the issue is here that all technologies and the underpinning hardware is now and can be “value engineered”. Meaning that any refrigerator, water heater or just about anything can be (and is…) designed with failure points to offer 3 to 5 years of service almost to the day.
 
This is why you NEVER should buy smart-home products that do not follow a standard that is supported by multiple vendors.

For example, I have a few "POE" security cameras. If the manufacturer goes bankrupt, there or 20 others who make plug-compatible cameras.
 
They get bored too often. They must be 4 year-olds or something. What exactly was wrong with Reader, Notebook, Play Music that demanded inferior replacements? Why not listen to the customers who wanted to keep using them all and offer a paid solution to make everyone happy? You then can make the new product and make money off of any curmudgeon who prefers the old, and satisfy more people.

The days when businesses cared about customers were better. Today it's shaft the customers and favor the shareholders. I don't know when that happened but it happened instantly one day and it still makes me sick.
They have changed or dropped so many things. I'm all for innovation and new ideas, but they either acting like 4 year olds or meth addicted ADHD developers because its hard for us all to keep up to what they start, drop and keep.
 
Another abandoned IoT device that leaves consumers holding the bag
Honestly? When I read this, I was sort of impressed it was handled as well as it was. Typically, companies just announce end of life for these products, rendering them paperweights, with no attempt to compensate the customer at all. (That or they make some lame attempt like offering you 15% off on a replacement product.)

At least here, Amazon is giving away a complimentary Blink Mini or Echo, depending on the situation. If you used this cloud cam since 2017-2018, you definitely got your money's worth by now. Maybe less of a deal for someone who just bought one recently. But anything tied to a cloud service is subject to getting cancelled.

(That's why I bought Eufy for my video doorbell. No cloud subscription required. Saves video to an SD card in the base station on my local network.)
 
And how long before the Blink or Echo dies? Sorry, but I don't support the continued e-waste bundle. It's bad enough we got devices that can't be easily repaired and are disposable, but it takes a real piece of work to take a perfectly functional device and kill it just to make you buy another. I won't give such companies my money. You either make quality stuff tha lasts forever or I ain't buying.
 
And how long before the Blink or Echo dies? Sorry, but I don't support the continued e-waste bundle. It's bad enough we got devices that can't be easily repaired and are disposable, but it takes a real piece of work to take a perfectly functional device and kill it just to make you buy another. I won't give such companies my money. You either make quality stuff tha lasts forever or I ain't buying.

I'm no fan of it either, but some of these smaller electronic devices are inexpensive enough to produce so they really DO consider them disposable items that facilitate you paying for subscriptions or enabling other purchases that cost-justify their temporary existence.

I remember it happening when I got a VoIP telephone service too. They shipped me the "VoIP modem" you attached your land-line phone(s) to and when I cancelled my service and went with someone else, I was told to just keep the modem. They didn't want it back. But it was useless with any other company's service. I even looked into re-flashing its firmware or finding some Linux PBX support for it in some manner to make it usable again, but it was proprietary for just that one vendor. Had to throw it out in the end.

The Amazon Echo is unlikely to get cancelled any time soon though. They've kept that whole ecosystem of Alexa devices since they started with it -- and I haven't seen any of the older models being disabled from working artificially, even long after they're discontinued and replaced with newer editions.
 
For those interested who made the mistake of purchasing a Cloud Cam, after a horrible 45 minutes with Amazon customer service, this is the story.

I bought three Cloud Cams ($125 each) a few years ago, and honestly they work fine. When I bought them, at no point was I told that these were going away in three years - quite the opposite in fact. The sales pitch I received was that these were going to be the next top of the line security cameras.

Anyhow, I received the email that they are discontinuing them so I am irritated that the $375 loss is just expected to be absorbed by the consumer.

I have three cameras and they are offering me ONE free mini (their new camera) BUT it comes with a subscription plan (naturally) and the link they sent in the email does not work. Meaning that it is supposed to be a promo for a "free" camera and one free year of the subscription service but the link they sent out does not give any discount, it just charges full price.

I reached out to Amazon customer service, which I knew was going to be a nightmare and true to form, they did not disappoint. I was transferred to EIGHT different people and the last manager could not answer my question and refused to transfer me to anyone saying "I am the last point of contact." She then gave me a nonworking email address to send a query to which I received a bounceback email on.

So, at this point, it looks like you only get one free camera no matter how many Cloud Cams you have and even that, myself and Amazon can't figure out how to get that working.

Filed a complaint with the BBB and plan to file a complaint with the Dept of Consumer Protection. I doubt either party will do anything but customers should not be getting scammed by Amazon like this. :(
 
I wonder if this was out of the blue due to something malicious as they are offering free replacements.
Just a note that if you see my post after my conversation with Amazon today they are offering ONE free replacement camera (I own three CloudCam cameras) so it looks like it is one per HH. Also, the link they sent me in the email did not work and Amazon could not figure out how to get it work.

So at this point I have zero free replacements and have a $375 loss on my cameras. Also, the new cameras require a subscription package (which they claim will be free for the one camera for the first year but again, no dice on that actually working).
 
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