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Comment by IshKebab | Hacker News Reader

A smart thermostat is useful. I would also like smart curtains (I made a prototype that I hooked up to Google Home ok - "Hey Google open the curtains" works, but the actual physical bit is tricky).

A smart lock would be very useful too, e.g. for granting temporary timed access to cleaners etc. But there's no way I trust any of the smart locks on the market with my home security.

I have some smart scales too. They are pretty great.

It isn't the concept that is the problem. It's the lack of standards and long term support. Non-smart curtains, scales, lights, locks, etc. essentially work forever, whereas I'd give smart versions 10 years tops. And I don't really want to lock my house into 5 different vendors' proprietary systems.

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> But there's no way I trust any of the smart locks on the market with my home security.

The security provided by most door locks is completely illusory. You can break into most homes very easily. Most people have unsecured windows on the ground floor.

Most locks are there as a way to signal that this door shouldn't be opened. It's mostly a psychological detterent. As long as your insurance is fine with your smart lock, it's probably not much worth than a dumb lock.

The exception is of course the upper floors of apartment complex in large city in which case the five points locking system on your door is there to signal that it will me more time effective to break into your neighbor place.

> It's the lack of standards and long term support

Completely agree with that. All companies want to build a locked plateform. That's hindering the market growth a lot.

> The security provided by most door locks is completely illusory. You can break into most homes very easily. Most people have unsecured windows on the ground floor.

Maybe in America but that's definitely not true in the UK. Modern windows, doors and locks are really quite secure. It's definitely not completely illusory security.

If you watch LPL's videos many smart locks are designed with very little consideration for physical security. Exploits are often as easy as drilling a hole in a zinc casting and pressing a reset button, or even just removing screws.

That's way easier than drilling or snapping a lock with drill/snap protection or trying to lever open a composite door with multipoint locking, or even breaking through a toughened glass window, all of which my house has (and it's not at all an outlier).

Yeah I feel the plugs are a good enough thing for now. If they are duff in ten years? So what - it was a £7 plug and I’ll get some more with a hopefully open standard by then. I’d never go all-in the way things currently are.

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