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Comment by FussyZeus | Hacker News Reader

There's so much potential in the market for proper, well made IoT devices that would bring around the hardcore skeptics like myself. I mean really well made products, properly encrypted with well made API endpoints that come with good apps for the uninitiated -AND- the ability to be scripted and automated by the techies. (You can do both, there's no reason why you can't and I don't understand why everyone refuses to). Oh, and not having them phone home to who-knows-where-istan around Australia, or at the very least, having the ability to TURN THAT OFF.

Seriously why have NO companies come forward with products like this. I'd buy a house worth if someone did.

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The commercial side of building automation is robust, but the components are pricey, the platforms proprietary* and end-user aavailibility seems to be limited. The beauty of the other side is every switch, sensor & controller's first objective is not to monetize the user but rather to simply do it's intended job. Look into building automation controls and you will find what you yearn for; Siemens, Johnson Controls, Honeywell/Novar, BAS... However, retail/public access, setup & end-user friendliness will still be significant hurdles outside of hiring a pricey, authorized contractor.

*The components are simple & generic, the interface & controls are mostly based on a universal framework w/ their proprietary gui/front-end locked on.

That's what I'm getting at though, there is clearly a market for consumer ready devices that don't cost what solutions like that do and don't need a contractor to install them. I mean you can't tell me that in today's world we couldn't manufacture an outlet with electronic control of the flow of current out of it's outlets, and do it in such a way that uses proper SSL and endpoints, without having to price it so high? I don't believe it.

I totally agree, the demand & the means exist. However, the intent of retail providers is anything but enabling simple, automated controls. Everything is about grabbing the data cash bag and, as an afterthought, let's personalize your experience. I have been pondering this and the only conclusion I can come up with is the market controllers(more than mere "forces") have much to gain by selling the perception instead of reality and their treasure troves of patents(from commercial side) allow them to maintain this position. IMO, the digital revolution of ours has transformed sharing into one way collecting and the consumers into commodities. Both of which I find quite offensive, and sometimes, outright hostile. Alas, our money is our only true vote. Vote accordingly.

I suppose but it still seems like a copout (not on you of course, on them) to play the brand lock-in game. You don't need a centralized server to personalize and operating those servers, even on something like AWS, costs money. Why not put that on the consumer instead? Many consumers I know would prefer the roll-your-own solution and it saves the manufacturer money.

Thanks for your manners, but it is probably a copout on my part. I have the wherewithal(-money) to build something like this in my own home but I believe most of these controls are over-engineered progress for progress' sake... for anything less than a few thousand square foot structures. All I really need is a programmable thermostat, a couple timer plugs & my 'routine'. As always, YMMV.

As for the providers, I have to admit, a service economy cannot sustain itself using only transactional relations. In order to ensure future revenues, a contracted service agreement &/or proprietary walled garden approach is the only sustainable model they have come up with. I am a 'break-fix' geezer stuck in my ways and don't subject my clients to lock-in, but my widely varying income from month to month can make affording life difficult at times.

edit: +&/or proprietary walled garden approach

But this is assuming that I expect something beyond the transaction. I don't. I expressly DON'T want a continuing relationship where Nest decides my perfectly functional thermostat no longer works or that Phillips decides their controller is only going to work with Phillips light bulbs.

I want them to sell me the product and then politely f*ck off so it keeps working. :)

Well, we are on a something.ycombinator.com website right now... why don't you throw together a prototype, register a company, and present to ycombinator?

Well primarily because I wouldn't take VC money anyway, too much pressure to grow too fast. I'd rather have a company that lives and dies on it's own.

Second because I'm not at all a hardware guy.

Thirdly I'm not at a point where I feel entrepreneurial yet, I don't have enough experience.

Lastly I'm incredibly lazy.

Which problems do you want to solve with these IoT devices? What should they do? In my opinion existing IoT devices generally replace simple, proven systems with complex and abstruse ones.

A good example would be the smart outlet ones, so I could for example setup one to automatically power cycle my cable modem and router, or even one that could handle the load of a space heater I keep in my office during the winter months and switch it on 15 minutes before I get home. I don't even need the ability to manage it over the WAN, I'd be fine with just something my linux boxes at home could handle with cron jobs.

  > I could for example setup one to automatically
  > power cycle my cable modem and router

It's turtles all the way down.

http://resetplug.com/ among others.

Or you could -- in theory -- just buy a router that doesn't leak memory. Finding one -- aye there's the rub.

Hey if you've got suggestions. :)

Previously I had an Airport Extreme that was fantastic but didn't have UPnP which is more or less required to make our two XBoxes work. Right now I have a DD-WRT Buffalo N300 in front, with the Airport running most of the network and the wifi behind it. So far that's been the best solution.

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