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How bad business broke the smart home (www.theverge.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Business arrangements and opaque contracts have broken the pitch of the smart home. Better regulation can fix this problem.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The simple issue. Devices to control the home (taps, light switches, physical locks with keys etc) have a half-life in the decades, while smart control systems have a half-life of about 18 months.

Eg: I have been in this house for 5 years, some of the light switches are 50 years old. They still work. While a friend who renovated their home 5 years ago has had to completely replace their smart home system in that time. They gave up on most of the tech and went back to dumb controls as the maintenance overhead was ridiculous.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Same is true for cars. Switches and levers last decades. Those media center things are going to regularly fail in a far shorter time frame.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Completely agreed. This and the privacy concerns surrounding these devices has convinced me to never make my home 'smart'.