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Apple, Amazon, Google, and Zigbee Alliance to Develop Open Standard for Smart Home Devices [Updated]
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Zigbee...Ugh, a crap protocol, there's no feedback to in wall switches, Z-Wave would be much better.
I am shocked that the companies are agreeing to this! I hope they come to an agreement on standards soon. I'd love to see my Alexa devices updated to work more seamlessly with homekit...this may be a pipe dream though.
The problem with Homebridge amongst other solution is that it is too complicated for the majority of people, they want plug&play, not Homebridge.
Agreed. Everything needs to be installable and configurable by your Grandma. And "just work".
Seriously? The same devices that are homekit are also google home and Alexa compatible? If they are doing malicious stuff they'll do it no matter. Furthermore it's clear at this point that Apple's focus on security and privacy are partly just marketing. Only when they function through
You also have to have a sense of proportionality. Lightbulbs vs door vs keeping your health records is very much different from a privacy and security perspective.
This is wonderful news. I've been pretty disillusioned by the whole smart home thing. I've been determined to be HomeKit only, not just because of security fears, but also because I want all of my kit to work together. The problem is that this severely restricts my choices at the moment, especially as I'm outside the US.
I didn't see this coming, but if it works out as it should then this is seriously good news for everyone - consumers, manufacturers and the tech companies.
I'm so pleased that Apple are on board with this.
Best tech news of the year by far!
I didn't see this coming, but if it works out as it should then this is seriously good news for everyone - consumers, manufacturers and the tech companies.
I'm so pleased that Apple are on board with this.
Best tech news of the year by far!
It (Software/Apps) needs to be easily understood, a well thought out layout/easy menus and UI/Icons.
I used Homebridge, there's a steep learning curve, lots of stuff for geeks, pretty sure most would abandon /delete Homebrige after mere minutes, that is, if they even get that far.
About time. Chance of success, almost zero. The above mentioned cannot even get the simple charging cable standard implemented. Unfortunately Apple the worst offender for not going along with standards. Think of all the consumers cost savings if we only needed one standard charging device.
On the positive side, fingers crossed and would like to be wrong on this one.
On the positive side, fingers crossed and would like to be wrong on this one.
I have HomeBridge set up on my QNAP, with a Nest plugin going. It works pretty well, but my issues have been primarily around stability and automations within the Home app.
This is why I've been totally resistant to buying into this stuff. Last thing I need is the expense and hassle and environmental impact of keeping my light switches and bulbs "updated" the way I do with my phone and computer.
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...aaaand here goes a bunch more electronics that were "cutting edge" a few years ago, off to the landfill. Oh well, just charge it to the credit card of the atmosphere's capacity to absorb more carbon.
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What are you talking about? Zigbee absolutely has two-way communication and, not only that, but each zigbee node acts as a repeater, making the mesh stronger and broader the more devices you have. It sounds more like you have a gripe with a specific zigbee implementation. Zigbee is the standard for professional home automation for a good reason (it works, it works well, it's feature-full, and it doesn't cause support requests).
Sorry for the confusion created, I was talking about dumb switches, if you toggle the switch the bulb does not work anymore, and believe me, that creates problems, I bought into Zigbee, won't buy additional Zigbee stuff.
Z-wave is faster/ more reliable than Zigbee.
Sure they're compatible. But since I'm not using the Google or Amazon "protocols" to communicate with my devices, and indeed have them disabled, those avenues of attack are closed.
You clearly don't have a security background. That's ok, not everyone does and would not understand the concept of pivoting.
Lightbulb vs door vs PII are literally privacy and security, both electronic and physical. Unless I'm misunderstanding you, you're suggesting that should a nefarious individual remotely unlock your door, it's totally fine; that they only have access to your doorway now. 😆
That example is literally the physical parallel to someone man-in-the-middle'ing a lightbulb signal and then observing you logging into your doctor's website.
IMO Apple is washing its hands of the whole sordid mess. There is no money in any HA product unless the makers can collect user data and sell it. Apple says they’re above all that...
Agreed. And including "IP" in the name sort of excludes tech like Bluetooth, which is puzzling. Unless it's IP over Bluetooth, but that doesn't seem necessary.
Let's see where this goes!
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I disagree that Apple is the worst offender on using standards. I bet you're thinking strictly 30-pin & Lightning connectors vs. USB, eh? Apple could not go with older USB standards for iPod back in 2001 because it didn't meet their needs. The first iPod came with Firewire, if you recall. Then they released the 30-pin connector. Then Lightning. This was all *before* USB Type C (aka USB-C) was released.
As for software standards, macOS (and iOS as a result) are heavily built on open-source software and tons can be installed for free. People usually think about "Mac apps" and "iPhone apps" to add capability, but that's excluding a ton of other software that's available to developers, etc. via the command-line.
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Oh thank god, its about damn time! There are far to many differences in operations and connectivity. I hope this helps and gives a sense of direction and standard.
Exactly. This new group can be a good thing, or it could be very, VERY bad.
Time will tell...
I never said giving out the master username and password. Simply the passphrase to the wifi connection is enough.
Do you put all your IoT devices on a guest network? If so, good for you but most people don't. Most people don't even have the guest network configured, if they even have a router that supports guest networks. And if they do, they use it for guests, not IoT devices.
Here is a story about a currently known vulnerability in Wemo smartplugs: https://www.pcmag.com/article/372329/exclusive-bitdefender-finds-security-hole-in-wemo-smart-plu
Here's a list of some notable hack stories: https://www.hostreview.com/blog/191217-4-worst-iot-security-hacks-of-all-time
Importantly, because of the nature of the hacks and devices, most companies can't detect when a hack has occurred. https://www.fastcompany.com/9029256...d-many-companies-cant-tell-when-theyre-hacked
I never said HomeKit devices are infallible. But HomeKit devices are better for a number of reasons: First, the API mandates the use of certain encryption and security standards, whereas a cheapo device might not be following current security best practices. Second, Apple is a huge company with a valuable reputation to protect, and thus will find and patch security issues in a timely manner as they have done before, whereas a cheapo device might never receive a single patch post purchase. Third, HomeKit requires devices to allow local control - meaning they don't necessarily have to be connected to an outside server to work. This is huge from a privacy and security standpoint.
Other standards are good too, for example Zigbee. HomeKit is not the only good option, but I would take a HomeKit-compatible smart plug for $40 over a rando chinesium Amazon smart plug for $10 any day.
All the options have weaknesses and will probably be hacked. But just because all devices can be hacked doesn't mean all devices are equally vulnerable to hacking, or that it is a good reason to throw security out the window and just always buy the cheapest thing available. All cars can crash, but I still think it's worth paying more for a car with good crash testing.
Better late than never I guess, but definitely several years late.
This only matters because Apple is involved, and Apple is only involved because they’ve lost so badly against these other clowns that have rushed stuff to market and eschewed security in the process.
Apple wants to stop losing, and doesn’t want their customers using so many less secure products (because we are).
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This only matters because Apple is involved, and Apple is only involved because they’ve lost so badly against these other clowns that have rushed stuff to market and eschewed security in the process.
Apple wants to stop losing, and doesn’t want their customers using so many less secure products (because we are).
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I don't know about that. Advanced users are always going to prefer the flexibility of something like Homebridge over the watered down version that they'll get with a mass market product.
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I don't care at all that charging cables are not globally, universally, the same. It really just does not matter. It is not enough of a goal to be worth the road to get there. Which is why it hasn't happened.