Why do you hate most about smart homes? | Hacker News Reader

Why do you hate most about smart homes?

6 pointsMrirazak118 comments

I’m trying to gauge what area of the problem I am working I should solve. So comment below what problem you have with smart homes (devices etc)

View on HN

If it's smart, it's vulnerable. Many IOT devices are very chatty and phone home. Voice recordings can even be pulled from Alexa with the right tools. And people sometimes don't even change the default password for their devices, meaning anyone can login and see when their house is empty and rob them.

Privacy and security is your concern. It is a big issue and I don’t think matter will solve this as more data can be shared between companies like Google and Amazon.

Since most matter devices seem to primarily work with Thread, I have high hopes that it will somewhat improve the situation. With the devices not being connected directly to WiFi, I would assume that they can’t be as chatty as they are nowadays.

I would love for you to help us shape the future of smart homes, we’re still in the early days and this research will help us understand the problem better. https://forms.gle/PGJRcqyvLQ8wYVscA

Different devices do not talk to each other, subscription models for lots of functionality, no open access to code, no updates, lax security, lax privacy. The list goes on.

Out of these you mentioned, what is the biggest problem you have and why?

Interoperability, security, and privacy. Without all of them, handling a smart home is creating more problems than it solves.

I would love for you to help us shape the future of smart homes, we’re still in the early days and this research will help us understand the problem better. https://forms.gle/PGJRcqyvLQ8wYVscA

Yeah, I want a vendor-agnostic standard for IOT / Smart Home devices.

Needing more than 1 app or a dedicated computer to control your various smart systems isn't a sustainable model, and hanging all of your hopes on Google / Alexa / Apple to be a fallback if your company shuts down their servers isn't a reliable system either.

Alexa slowness/crappyness in understanding/limited functionality is the biggest pain point. Also just got a new Echo Show device as a gift and while it’s a beautiful device it looks crippled by garbageware/lock-in.

Do you feel that devices should just work seamlessly together?

Security and privacy concerns. I know they may not be big/common right now, but the benefits of a smart home to me are even smaller. Not to mention costs (I'm cheap).

I just don't see much need for it. Simple thermostat or timer is really all that I need. And other things where I see use case are out of my reach and control.

Why don’t you feel their is a need for it?

The delay between when you ask “Alexa turn on the light”. Those 1/2 seconds repeated 20/30 times per day is annoying.

This is a common one. The Echo -> light is very quick and easy. The hard part is quickly inferring what action you meant via NLU. There's a hop to cloud, ML, and then a hop back to device. This is being worked on to improve immensely, as it's a core part of every Alexa interaction.

(ex Amazon)

So if I got this right. Performance, privacy and security

I would love for you to help us shape the future of smart homes, we’re still in the early days and this research will help us understand the problem better. https://forms.gle/PGJRcqyvLQ8wYVscA

Reply on news.ycombinator.com