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Comment by cascom | Hacker News Reader

100% so annoying - going to have to throw out my fitbit stuff if this goes through

And this is exactly why any consumer device that relies on the cloud is a bad idea. I would never buy a Ring doorbell or Nest camera for the same reason - I'd always look for a version that can be used locally so I can host the software myself and don't need to depend on a third party that may go bust, or get aquihired and shutdown.

Especially one that I'd have to install into a wall. I mean, I was always thinking that the whole "IOT lightbulbs" were at the wrong spot - that an IOT lightswitch would make more sense - you get all the lights on that circuit in one go, and you don't have the "is the light off because it's set off or is the switch off" thing.

But IOT device lifespan is way too short to be installed into a wall, even something as easy to DIY as a lightswitch.

I think Lutron Caseta is what you want for that.

No personal experience but I know people who have some and I haven't heard complaints.

GE makes in-wall Z-wave light switches that work wonderfully. No cloud dependency, and you can control them with open source software like HomeAssistant.

Insteon has no cloud dependency and has been producing hardware compatible with the ones sold today since 2005, and it used to be backwards compatible with X10, which is from 1975. They use powerline and RF transmission, and interface with computers or hub devices usually via a transceiver.

I would actually recommend a more open standard today, such as Z-Wave or ZigBee, but the point is, plenty of IoT hardware is long-lived, it just isn't as trendy as what's marketed by Amazon or Google.

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