Is there a list somewhere of IoT/home automation products that donât rely on a central server? Or at least, a server that I myself can setup and run indefinitely?
I know I could put together my own system, but it never seems like I have enough time to dedicate to doing so.
Crap. I have one of these.
To be honest, I was never a big fan of it. It seemed to suck down battery juice like crazy, and I had to leave my camera on while it uploaded.
I never updated it to my home WiFi networkâs new password.
I suppose I should do that before September. Local mode would be better than nothing.
The insertion of an unnecessary middleman in all these products makes them undesirable to me, but I guess many donât care as much.
Thankfully, when the WiFi function got integrated into the camera it functions in direct communication with the destination device (I can speak for Canon and Fuji).
I donât want another account. I donât want to require Internet access to move something across the room. If Iâm in a remote location, I should still be able to use my device for non-internet functions.
I have one of these too. It seemed like a cool idea, but the bandwidth was terrible, as you say, the hit on the battery was bad, and since Iâm mostly either going out to shoot or shooting at a setup, then going back to computer to edit/etc., there wasnât really much point. Swapping the card sped things up by so much in terms of transfer that I havenât pulled it out in years. If youâre shooting in a studio with an editing station there having the images trickle over would probably be nice, but that wasnât my workflow.
When business school teaches rent-seeking strategies for new businesses, we get this as a result. Iâll stick to my sell-the-hardware model, thank you.
Itâs not just centralized servers susceptible to this kind of shit. When Microsoft recently said they would no longer support Skype for TVâthe app that allows smart TVs to use SkypeâSamsung responded by, at the beginning of this month, âupdatingâ every Samsung with Skype by quietly removing the app, leaving all those relying on itâand who had bought cameras for the purpose â without the ability to use their TV to Skype anymore.
Evidently (judging by the huge threads on the Skype and Samsung sites) a lot of overseas people without smart phonesâand elderlyâdepended on that ability and are now left without an important method of communication that was a touted feature of the TV, with no warning. Surprised this hasnât gotten more coverage â it likely affects WAY more people in a serious way than disabling functionality in some older Eye-fi cards.
I have one that Iâm disappointed wonât work anymore. I used it with my small Doxie scanner to make it a cheap upgrade to the wireless version.
Iâve had one of these for years and never used the server/online mode, just seems idiotic to me. In local mode I can start the app on my laptop and it will sync all the new pictures from the cameta via a short range wifi hot spot created by the card. Transfer rate is in the megs per second range, usually faster than me removing the card. Great idea but the online service seemed pointless.
I love their defense of the shutdown: "The last version produced by the company were sold through authorized channels in the United States in March, 2015. " Gosh, we gave you a whole year to use your product (assuming you didnât buy it from an âunauthorizedâ channel, which continue to sell it), what more did you want, ungrateful wretches?
OpenHAB is a good candidate, in my opinion. It can talk to just about everything, including those that are gated through the internet (like Nest).
Itâs way more difficult to configure, but getting set up is pretty straightforward on a Raspberry Pi.
Iâve got it set up with a simple Z-Wave thermostat right now, as my ambitions outstrip my budget at the moment. Smart light switches are expensive.
Could you not use this product to get the photos on to a phone for uploading to 'social" sites? Or perhaps onto a tablet for previewing or something?
Thereâs a client for phones/tablets with FB/Twitter/Flickr support, but I didnât use it since I import to a laptop and edit then transfer to the phone/table. That could be useful for some, though. With more recent cameras supporting wifi either directly or with attachments, there are better ways to manage wireless transfers now.
Thatâs too bad. it was a ground breaking product from a new company. I know they have other models, but instead of doing a smart thing and updating firmware so you can change configuration from your own PC, they are telling any future customer âwe will fuck your product up if and when we want toâ. Thatâs a very stupid business practice. Thatâs also the reason I prefer to keep as little as possible on cloud services, and nothing Iâm worried about losing. People should steer clear of companies who take this kind of steps as well as those who utilize a subscription based model where there is no real need for one - other than making more and more money. Sell you bloody product! if itâs good it will continue selling, and if you donât tie them up to a server theyâll appreciate you more.
âI am altering the deal. Pray I donât alter it any further.â
On the bright side, Eye-Fiâs competitors have some neat 3rd party firmware hacking, if you donât mind getting your hands dirty.
The unfortunate thing is that, at least in some areas of hardware, there appears to be a sort of lemon market effect where the initially attractive offers made possible by the expectation of profits gouged out of the user over time tend to crowd out the stuff that is honest enough to just charge you what it costs, up front.
That is what makes me more nervous than any specific -as-a-service outfit springing their sudden-but-inevitable-betrayal:
Thatâs a somewhat gutsy move on Samsungâs part. Sony recently faced(shocking, I know) small but nonzero penalties for retroactively removing Linux support from the PS3.
That said, when you have two vendors in the picture things just get uglier: If your transaction was with Samsung, you donât have much leverage with Microsoft; but Samsung can argue(not entirely without justification) that it is Microsoft that makes continuing to provide Skype support either impossible(if MS is actively killing logins/server interaction for TV clients) or unacceptably risky(if theyâve just announced that all bugs will remain unfixed from here on out) to continue to support the software on their devices.
Doesnât make it suck any less for the user; but makes it harder to assign a guilty party who they deserve redress from.
(This is, of course, hardly ideal; but those little android âstick PCsâ that plug into HDMI ports are cheap and common; should support Skype and a wide variety of other clients, and UVC webcams: since âsmartâ TVs are such a disaster, probably best to keep your TVâs brain external to at least make swapping the brain without trashing the display easier when The Cloud breaks things again.)
Thatâs what I use mine for. I donât use the cloud services at all. Disappointing - sure not going to buy the newer version of the card. Iâd easily rather just use the card reader.
Yep. I do understand Samsungâs motivationâespecially, if over time, âsecurityâ (what there is of it) is compromised in the communications via un-updated software (much like the rationale with these old Eye-Fi cards) and they are exposed to lawsuits. Still sucks though, and is a pretty blatant example of how, in the corporationâs mind, the consumer doesnât own anything digital. If they can, theyâll yank it away if it advantages them to do so.
Other smart TV makers that include Skype havenât (far as I know) done the same thing, though itâs probably coming.
It sucks, because the comments in the Skype forum are so sadâlots and lots of people saying this is the only way they are able to communicate with their families and they had no idea why their cameras no longer worked. Considering only a fraction of the affected users take the time or figure out how to comment, Iâm thinking a LOT of people were affected, probably mostly older folks, or the non-tech savvy, or those just without dependable phones or computers who now have to figure out how to connect another way or do without.
The good news is these will all be available soon from Boing Boing Store, at discount pricing!! (All sales finalâŚ) Theyâll work great in your ânewâ Lytro camera 
