Brookfield Residential Announces Plans to Offer HomeKit Standard in New Homes

[MacRumors]

Homebuilding company Brookfield Residential today announced plans to offer Apple HomeKit as standard in new communities where it builds homes.

The Delano neighborhood in the Eastwood Village of Irvine, California will be the first to feature all connected homes that are able to interface with HomeKit and will be equipped with HomeKit-compatible accessories like lights, thermostats, locks, and more.

"In our new neighborhoods, the future comes standard: As with other consumer innovations such as keyless autos, what is novel today will soon be pervasive," said Foley. "And Apple Home is the most innovative yet easy-to-use system for smart homes, giving homebuyers connected living at their fingertips - or at the command of their voices, using Siri. This makes their appliances work for them, providing joy, ease, security and privacy."

Specific HomeKit accessories that will come standard in all homes include Lutron Caseta lighting, the Honeywell Lyric T6 Smart WiFi Thermostat, Schlage Sense Smart Deadbolts, and Ubiquiti Wireless Access Points for "peak WiFi performance throughout the home."

Along with new homes in Irvine, Brookfield also has plans to build HomeKit-compatible homes in many other areas of Southern California including Playa Vista, Chula Vista, San Marcos, Azusa, and Ontario Ranch.

There are multiple homebuilding companies that have announced plans to support Apple's HomeKit platform, including KB Home, Lennar, Weberhaus in Germany, and R&F properties in China.

Article Link: Brookfield Residential Announces Plans to Offer HomeKit Standard in New Homes

 

[justperry]

While I like Ubiquiti products it has no HomeKit compatibility AFAIK.

 

[NachoGrande]

Wow you'll be able to turn on your light. Should get a ROI somewhere between 2050-20 home kit is terribly oppressive.

 

[adamjackson]

While I like Ubiquiti products it has no HomeKit compatibility AFAIK.

Correct but as square footage grows or as people want to control outdoor speaker systems from their iPad, a strong WiFi network that can handle dozens of low energy devices is pretty important.

I have over 70 devices in my Unifi Cloud Key in the last 24 hours in a house that's only 1500 square feet. A smart home may not use a ton of bandwidth but it needs to balance these devices with two 4K televisions streaming UHD content from Netflix / Amazon as well as 3 Macs backing up to a Synology via Time Machine protocol.

I would argue a modern Mesh system would do just fine versus a Unifi system but I'd highly recommend Unifi for those who can afford it.

 

[DanSteel]

I wonder what they plan to use for video surveillance that is home kit compatible... not much to choose from...

 

[nuckinfutz]

Are the Ubiquiti AP on an Ethernet backhaul?

"Nuke it from orbit...it's the only way to be sure"

 

[CrystalQuest76]

I have over 70 devices in my Unifi Cloud Key in the last 24 hours in a house that's only 1500 square feet. A smart home may not use a ton of bandwidth but it needs to balance these devices with two 4K televisions streaming UHD content from Netflix / Amazon as well as 3 Macs backing up to a Synology via Time Machine protocol.

Sometimes its better to not tell people how much high-priced stuff you have. It incentivizes the thieves.

 

[adamjackson]

Sometimes its better to not tell people how much high-priced stuff you have. It incentivizes the thieves.

Anyone that reads my blog knows where I live and what stuff I Have. That's what home security and insurance is for. I'm a nut for technology and like writing about it and making videos about it. Living in fear is no way to live.

 

[Val-kyrie]

So, as someone who still manually unlocks doors and turns on lights.... What happens when the internet goes out? Can you still unlock your doors? Turn on your lights?

Also, how secure is the system from outside hacking?

Not sure I want my home so connected ...

 

[MrX8503]

So, as someone who still manually unlocks doors and turns on lights.... What happens when the internet goes out? Can you still unlock your doors? Turn on your lights?

Also, how secure is the system from outside hacking?

Not sure I want my home so connected ...

If the internet goes out you can't access it remotely, but you can still access it as long as you're near it. As for security, HomeKit is the most secure consumer smart home platform available.

 

[sudo1996]

So, as someone who still manually unlocks doors and turns on lights.... What happens when the internet goes out? Can you still unlock your doors? Turn on your lights?

Also, how secure is the system from outside hacking?

Not sure I want my home so connected ...

About the lights: The stupid Philips Hue lights used to turn off during software updates they forcibly pushed. Now you temporarily lose control of them. Speaking from way more experience than I should have, automatic lighting is overrated. Just use the switch, ez.

Dunno about this one, but the older systems I've encountered are ridiculously insecure. Like, I have a network-controlled power switch whose default security mechanism is that you have to send it an exactly 113 byte ping to wake it up. And my security DVR has a backdoor telnet server on port 9000 that gives root access. But those aren't connected to the Internet, only the LAN, and a NAT would help keep intruders out, assuming no UPnP or NAT-PMP (NAT traversal protocols) or whatever is involved.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but HomeKit is only a protocol that vendors implement (EDIT: it involves both hardware and software). I expect that the HomeKit protocol itself is secure and that it relies on secure implementations of technologies like SSL. But regardless, these devices still run whatever (closed source) software the vendor includes. You can bet they're using standard software to support SSL and such, but who knows what unrelated vulnerabilities they'll have? And how quickly will they push updates if necessary? A product like this will have support, but if you're buying dirt cheap stuff from random places that won't provide updates, your "smart home" will probably become part of a botnet.

 

[Val-kyrie]

If the internet goes out you can't access it remotely, but you can still access it as long as you're near it. As for security, HomeKit is the most secure consumer smart home platform available.

I still wonder if it is as reliable and secure as a good lock or what other / additional / different vulnerabilities might be encountered. I do wonder about battery life in cold weather climates (I.e., northeastern US), too.

About the lights: The stupid Philips Hue lights used to turn off during software updates they forcibly pushed. Now you temporarily lose control of them. Speaking from way more experience than I should have, automatic lighting is overrated. Just use the switch, ez.

Dunno about this one, but the older systems I've encountered are ridiculously insecure. Like, I have a network-controlled power switch whose default security mechanism is that you have to send it an exactly 113 byte ping to wake it up. And my security DVR has a backdoor telnet server on port 9000 that gives root access. But those aren't connected to the Internet, only the LAN, and a NAT would help keep intruders out, assuming no UPnP or NAT-PMP (NAT traversal protocols) or whatever is involved.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but HomeKit is only a protocol that vendors implement. I expect that the HomeKit protocol itself is secure and that it relies on secure implementations of technologies like SSL. But regardless, these devices still run whatever (closed source) software the vendor includes. You can bet they're using standard software to support SSL and such, but who knows what unrelated vulnerabilities they'll have? And how quickly will they push updates if necessary? A product like this will have support, but if you're buying dirt cheap stuff from random places that won't provide updates, your "smart home" will probably become part of a botnet.

Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure I'm ready to trust TIoT yet. My home becoming part of a botnet is one of my concerns.

 

[kalex]

I still wonder if it is as reliable and secure as a good lock or what other / additional / different vulnerabilities might be encountered. I do wonder about battery life in cold weather climates (I.e., northeastern US), too.



Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure I'm ready to trust TIoT yet. My home becoming part of a botnet is one of my concerns.

I've been using 2 schlage locks for past 3 years. Zero issues. Batteries last about a year and you get a notification when its running low. I'm in Northeast and winters were no issue for my schlage touchscreen lock.

 

[MrX8503]

About the lights: The stupid Philips Hue lights used to turn off during software updates they forcibly pushed. Now you temporarily lose control of them. Speaking from way more experience than I should have, automatic lighting is overrated. Just use the switch, ez.

Dunno about this one, but the older systems I've encountered are ridiculously insecure. Like, I have a network-controlled power switch whose default security mechanism is that you have to send it an exactly 113 byte ping to wake it up. And my security DVR has a backdoor telnet server on port 9000 that gives root access. But those aren't connected to the Internet, only the LAN, and a NAT would help keep intruders out, assuming no UPnP or NAT-PMP (NAT traversal protocols) or whatever is involved.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but HomeKit is only a protocol that vendors implement. I expect that the HomeKit protocol itself is secure and that it relies on secure implementations of technologies like SSL. But regardless, these devices still run whatever (closed source) software the vendor includes. You can bet they're using standard software to support SSL and such, but who knows what unrelated vulnerabilities they'll have? And how quickly will they push updates if necessary? A product like this will have support, but if you're buying dirt cheap stuff from random places that won't provide updates, your "smart home" will probably become part of a botnet.

HomeKit is hardware based. Meaning that there needs to be a chip for encryption. Apple also has to approve the implementation. That's how I understand it.

I still wonder if it is as reliable and secure as a good lock or what other / additional / different vulnerabilities might be encountered. I do wonder about battery life in cold weather climates (I.e., northeastern US), too.

No one can hack a manual lock, so you have that advantage. If you're concerned with security, I would stick with HomeKit.

 

[justperry]

No one can hack a manual lock, so you have that advantage. If you're concerned with security, I would stick with HomeKit.

Erm, yes you can.... with an axe.

Kidding aside, you actually can "hack" a normal lock, it's called lock picking.

 

[MrX8503]

Erm, yes you can.... with an axe.

Kidding aside, you actually can "hack" a normal lock, it's called lock picking.

Right, what I meant is remotely.

A smart lock you can hack remotely or pick the lock. That's 2 sources of entry vs 1 for the manual lock. I'm hoping that smart locks become reliable enough to where there's no key hole at all.

 

[justperry]

Right, what I meant is remotely.

A smart lock you can hack remotely or pick the lock. That's 2 sources of entry vs 1 for the manual lock. I'm hoping that smart locks become reliable enough to where there's no key hole at all.

Don't think they will be 100% reliable ever, even if it's 99.99% or even 99.999%, this would mean you have to break open the door after 10.000-100.000 times of unlocking.

 

[sudo1996]

HomeKit is hardware based. Meaning that there needs to be a chip for encryption. Apple also has to approve the implementation. That's how I understand it.

Yes, that appears to be correct. So HomeKit itself is probably safe, but I imagine all these systems have other interfaces besides HomeKit.