Comment by monk_e_boy | Hacker News Reader

Comment by monk_e_boy | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

I don't agree. There are plenty of things in my life that could be hooked up to some online AI to make them smarter.

Anything with a lock. Just figure out that I'm me and open. If I leave lock up. Open up for anyone on my authorised list.

More cameras pointed at stuff. Our local club (100 members) purchased a weather station and decent camera and pointed it at the sea so we can all check the wind and surf. Cool. More of these cheaper please.

We have Woo devices that we attach to kiteboards, these measure jump height, duration and G force. These are then synced to a phone and internet, so not quite IoT but close. More of these please. Attach them to anything that moves (shoes, kites, surfboards, swim fins, soccer balls, bike) more data is fun.

GoPros, most people I know have these. They need to be better hooked up to the internet.

I think there are a ton of IoT that will make sense and people will buy. Just because you don't see the value in a toaster hooked up to the 'net, doesn't mean the IoT is dumb. I think it's great.

The big problem I have with IoT is that none of this requires online AI. What part of having an authorized list or identifying you requires internet access?

The IoT will take off when services are run on site. When the processing power is available from a small appliance box and companies advertise security and reliability associated with local processing it will catch on.

What happens to your smart lock of your internet connection goes out? What about if the server that holds your whitelist is compromised?

That's why vanadium exists (and is being invented). Http://v.io

Exactly. If there's one thing I hate about the direction of tech these days, it's this headlong rush to gratuitously shackle all of our previously-independent devices to a mesh of online services. My bike lock (to use this example) should NOT require an internet connection, and should not depend on some web service (run by a super trendoid startup which might not exist in six months time) to fulfill its function.

And don't get me started on phone apps which shift some trivial processing off into "the cloud" as a thinly veiled excuse to upload all of your personal data to the company's servers so they can then flog your details off to some advertising company.

/rant

I can see value in internet access. The lock having internet access means I can be on vacation in Thailand and grant a friend access to my house to drop off the rent check I left on the counter. And later, I can make sure my friend didn't forget. Or, make sure my dog-sitter is showing up. I also can't think of a more convenient way to grant access and identify people off-hand.

As for the connection going out, there are solutions. Redundant cellular connections, maybe? And if you really can't get in, it's not the end of the world. We already have solutions for that: locksmiths. Might be expensive though, and end up destroying the device, or maybe your door.

The data security thing is really bad. Unfortunately, that's a much larger problem though, not really related just to IoT.

Got a nice start reading that comment. A nice amount of good sense. And then...

> We already have solutions for that:

Yes, finally somebody will say "local cache"!

> locksmiths.

Ok. Not yet.

That's a good point!

I guess more broadly, I was thinking about a scenario in which the lock device dies, and making the point that conventional devices aren't foolproof either. In this case, the fool being me, and the proof being locking my keys in the house.

So, any lock can fail, but I'm not really concerned as long as it has a reasonably low failure rate. We've tolerated conventional lock systems failing (via user error mostly) for a long time.

> I don't agree. There are plenty of things in my life that could be hooked up to some online AI to make them smarter.

But "online AI" is just a code-word for "some company, probably the manufacturer, that owns the IP rights". I don't want my household stuff to phone home and report all my actions to Some Company. I think that, for instance, my sandwich toaster thingy should toast sandwiches without reporting the weight or density of them.

>more data is fun.

More data is not fun. More data is Big Brother, particularly when the device itself has a closed-source hardware design, closed-source firmware, closed-source software, and a closed-off "shiny" user interface. More programmability with less phoning home is fun.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Beginning..._Was_the_Co...

Do you know what weather station and camera was used?

I can't remember. Whatever comes top in google I expect.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com