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Philips hue good sign or bad?
- Thread starter Zxxv
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Hmm - I sent this tweet two weeks ago
@username: @tweethue. Will the current generation be compatible with Apple Homekit to control via Siri in the future?
And got this reply
@tweethue: @username Sure will Kiran, hue gets it's updates through software so your system evolves through time.
I've got a Hue set in the living room waiting to be unpacked. If we don't get home kit support I will be very unhappy!
@username: @tweethue. Will the current generation be compatible with Apple Homekit to control via Siri in the future?
And got this reply
@tweethue: @username Sure will Kiran, hue gets it's updates through software so your system evolves through time.
I've got a Hue set in the living room waiting to be unpacked. If we don't get home kit support I will be very unhappy!
SIDE RANT/QUESTION:
LED lights are made to last many decades. How will you control your LED lights using iOS in 2030?
We won't. The government will
haha
SIDE RANT/QUESTION:
LED lights are made to last many decades. How will you control your LED lights using iOS in 2030?
My guess is we won't - automated intelligent sensors and whole home voice control will instead. Walk in the house and the hallway lights illuminate, turn on the TV and the lights dim, natural lighting in your office goes dim at 5 and the lights turn on automatically.
All those things are possible now...but would require a lot of custom software to integrate. The problem with home automation right now is that everything is a separate system, separate app, separate controller, etc.
Completely agree but what I'm getting at is the Hue's (or any other controllable LED light) will not be compatible or supported by future systems (any more than a serial port device or 8 track tape is today) even though they will still have decades of life left in them.
But they know people are "worried" yet they choose to not put those "fears" to rest and reassure people. Which seems to me like "we have all this old stock we need to shift. Keep quite and shift it and hope we shift it all before we introduce the new one with all the cool features people want"
Yeah. I think we don't need new hardware. Hue uses ZigBe which apparently is 1 of the 3 standards (other being wifi and Bluetooth) that will give devices "Made for iPhone" (includes homekit) certification by Apple. http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322557&
Also there are the rumors that the new Apple TV will act as homekit station for older devices that don't support homekit directly, which I don't think Hue is anyway. I also read somewhere that Homekit is not yet officially launched by apple although it's about time.
No need to panic just yet
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I'm not sure how saying "we are working on it" or "stay tuned" is something bad. It's not really giving away much or going out of their way to cuddle the users, but it's along the lines with what most especially larger companies often do in situations like that. It's not to say there might be something else going on there too, but at the same time it seems like fairly typical (almost standard) responses like that aren't all that unusual and/or indicative of something in particular one way or another.
Who cares if it doesnt work in the future. It works now, and it works perfectly now. If apple somehow monopolized home automation..it would still be 5-10 years before it became worth it to purchase(it would be buggy, limited in function, and expensive).
Based on your logic to not invest in controllable LED light is like saying don't buy a car, because one day all cars will be electric.
So we're now into 2015 and post CES and still no word from Philips one whether the Hue sets we have will be software upgradable to support HomeKit... How much longer can this take?! No whispers about HomeKit launch events or anything like that. I wonder if the Apple Watch/Apple Home Hub (ATV 4), Homekit and 12" MBA will share an event in March.
I asked them on twitter about it and yeah seems we just have to wait
@tweethue: Hi' This is still in development and will be published when ready. Keep an eye on this feed for latest news. Thx ^SC
@tweethue: Hi' This is still in development and will be published when ready. Keep an eye on this feed for latest news. Thx ^SC
Meaning keep buying the current gear as we have a shed load to shift before we release the updated model?
Hue are VERY slow on app development. Slower than many other app developers.
Yeah basically but to be honest it's not like every smart home maker already supports it. Belkin just announced support for their WEMO devices but nothing specific as well.
The hue bulb and bridge firmware can be updated and if it comes worst to worst we might have to buy a new bridge, although Apple TV will possible act as a hub. I highly doubt that we have to buy all new gear to support homekit.
I agree with you tho that hue are slow on app updates although to be honest they updated the app for iPhone 6 fairly quickly, especially compared to other developers (looking at you eBay and LinkedIn). They also gave us widget support and finally fixed the lag and geofence issue with a recent bulb and bridge firmware update.
I also asked them on Twitter in regards to bulb updates since I have to basically restart my bridge to force the bulb firmware on bulbs that were turned off. This is a hassle and it should be easier since I'm sure loads of people will miss bulb firmware updates due to this. Their response was well...
@ME Hey, is there an official way to upgrade the bulb firmware? Bulbs turned off don't update the fw. until I turn bridge off/on. Thx
@tweethue: Hi, Yes, move bulbs closer to bridge, recycle bridge and launch Hue app. Update should be quicker now! Thx ^SC
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geo fencing doesn't work if wifi is off. I've often come home to a dark house and swore ****ing wanking ****ing **** piece of expensive crap.
SIDE RANT/QUESTION:
LED lights are made to last many decades. How will you control your LED lights using iOS in 2030?
The protocol used to talk to the lights themselves (ZigBee) is already over a decade old at this point, and work on it started over 15 years ago. Since Hue uses a hub to bridge that protocol with TCP/IP, you really just need newer bridges to support whatever replaces Ethernet and 802.11n in 15 years (if anything, Ethernet is from the 80s and still the best option for wired LANs you want to run cheaply).
I'm more specifically referring to the iOS App that controls all the color combinations. While you may be able to use future hardware to control on/off, you would need some type of software to control the colors.
Why would they create new hardware and not software to control it?
(On the software front I despise the app - its a cluster of old UI and its not thought out well at all)