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Apple, Amazon, Google, and Zigbee Alliance to Develop Open Standard for Smart Home Devices [Updated]

H3LL5P4WN said:
Why? It at least forms a word, unlike Transmission Control Protocol Over IP.
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For the reason that mass home adoption is the goal...
We already have “techie” adoption.
Even here, amongst my fellow tech nerds, I bet more than a few, when seeing the initials IP think briefly “intellectual property” before going “no that makes no sense- they’re clearly referring to the OTHER meaning in tech for those initials.... internet protocol”.
It is not really a consumer-friendly description or name. Comparing it to the term TCP-IP doesn’t really change that.
If they wanted something easily understood to all (as far as benefits), they could’ve used an acronym like SHOW for Safe Homes Over Wireless, or something of that ilk... where it points out something as universally understood as safety.
 
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Good, smarthome stuff should have always been locally controlled - this whole "lets do everything in the cloud" concept is ridiculous. There is absolutely no reason a server in Kentucky should be necessary to turn on a light in my own house or unlock my front door.
 
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gplusplus said:
The last time Apple was on a standards committee, they quit and made their own competing technology and created even more fragmentation. I’m referring to when Apple was part of the Khronos group developing the Vulkan graphics API. They did an about-face and created their own graphics API: Metal. Now because of Apple, we don’t have a cross platform, modern graphics API, when the entire point of the committee they were part of was to make that happen.

So yea, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
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Apple is on like a dozen different standards committees - cherrypicking one that didn't go well is disingenuous.
 
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brucewayne said:
Every one of my Homekit devices (Ecobee, iHome smartplugs, Lutron and Philips lights) talk to the cloud directly can be accessed by other means.

For me i use homekit devices in conjunction with smartthings and hubitat because each one has its pros and cons. For instance, Hubitat is the only one that allows me to control philips hue lights with my Lutron Pico switches.
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I think the aim of this working group is to fix these exact problems. Right now, everything needs a cloud server, and I suspect that what Amazon is coming to realize is that it's expensive to run these services, but if they start charging than everyone gets annoyed when you have to pay a subscription to turn your lights on or off.

Amazon's been talking about making Alexa work offline, and I suspect that this is a way to push forward, so that I can - offline - tell Alexa to turn off the kitchen lights.
 
Perfect. So I will soon have to replace dozens of non standard, unsupported devices.

How about Google and Apple just give up?
 
With SmartThings, Homebridge and Alexa, I can run pretty much any Smart Home deivce from Alexa or Siri. No need to wait on them to get it together.
 
Good news. I love the Apple ecosystem, but HomeKit has brought me some issues. Hopefully this just opens up more devices and better standards for the ecosystem.
 
1144557 said:
Most homekit stuff is ridiculously expensive. I get security issues for things like cameras, but do I care if Google/Amazon/etc knows my smartplug lamp is on or off? Or how much electricity its using? No so much.

Not when its $10 vs $40 (homkit version) for the device. $40 per outlet REALLY adds up. Same with bulbs, do people care if its "secure" really? What possible personal info is out there from a bulb being on or off?
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Any device connected to your wifi can snoop on your entire wifi traffic - think about what that means. For example, if you give me your wifi password and let me connect to your wifi, I can pretty easily monitor you when you login to your bank and even "steal" that session - essentially letting me use your online banking as if I was you. You don't need to be a hacker expert to do this, there are bootable linux USB thumb drive images that can do this out of the box with a simple-to-use GUI. This is why security experts caution against logging into financial websites when on unknown wifi connections, and to click the "logout" button when done to formally terminate the session.

Now getting back to that $10 smart plug - any device on your home wifi can do this. A compromised smart plug, which you willingly connected to your wifi, can be transmitting back home everything you type into any internet website, all your cookies and login sessions, and pretty much everything you do on your wifi.

Networking nerds know how to sequester IoT devices using things like VLANs and other advanced routing tools. But I'd wager that 99% of small office or home users don't know these things, not to mention that that 90% of small office and home routers don't even offer such features.

So security matters a lot. Think about every device you connect to your wifi. Do you trust it enough to let it read every single thing you do on your wifi?
 
Does this mean the cameras and microphones used to spy on anyone using Smart Home Devices will be standardized, too?
 
smaffei said:
And, we will have to buy all new stuff… It's the lightning cable all over again.
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This is how things in technology work. If these don't change and progress, well things don't change and don't progress.
 
bbednarz said:
I swear to god if this makes all my current HomeKit stuff obsolete... Hoping Hue bulbs and Lutron wall switches will be fine and whatever is being updated can be pushed out to the bridges of each.
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god, i hope not. hopefully they will be decent enough to make firmware updates to bridges etc...
 
Old devices better be backward compatible with this new system. Chances are it wont and we will all have to replace the old devices with this "new standard."
 
Device compatibility is ultimately why I went with Amazon's ecosystem over HomeKit. I would have much preferred to get a HomePod to augment all of my other devices, but it felt way too limited compared to what competing smart speakers could do. If they do come up with a universal standard, then I may reconsider.
 
I was afraid that HomeKit would be Betamax 2.0, now there is a chance that overpriced Apple products might partially succeed.
 
oneMadRssn said:
Any device connected to your wifi can snoop on your entire wifi traffic - think about what that means. For example, if you give me your wifi password and let me connect to your wifi, I can pretty easily monitor you when you login to your bank and even "steal" that session - essentially letting me use your online banking as if I was you. You don't need to be a hacker expert to do this, there are bootable linux USB thumb drive images that can do this out of the box with a simple-to-use GUI. This is why security experts caution against logging into financial websites when on unknown wifi connections, and to click the "logout" button when done to formally terminate the session.

Now getting back to that $10 smart plug - any device on your home wifi can do this. A compromised smart plug, which you willingly connected to your wifi, can be transmitting back home everything you type into any internet website, all your cookies and login sessions, and pretty much everything you do on your wifi.

Networking nerds know how to sequester IoT devices using things like VLANs and other advanced routing tools. But I'd wager that 99% of small office or home users don't know these things, not to mention that that 90% of small office and home routers don't even offer such features.

So security matters a lot. Think about every device you connect to your wifi. Do you trust it enough to let it read every single thing you do on your wifi?
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Who gives out their wifi router master username password without a guest login set up? User error, sorry.

Yes I get all of that but you havent answered the question how the precious Homekit devices are BETTER. They aren't. ANY internet-connected device is vulnerable in some way.

Again, name an incident of a smart plug hack. Hypotheticals isnt evidence of an attack done that way. Once again, if you believe Apple's standards (Homekit) are infallible I have ice to go sell to some Eskimos. You are buying into the distortion field.

Your argument is against using any home devices at all which is one choice.
 
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