The Internet of Shit is a column about all the shitty things we try to connect to the internet, and what can be done about it. It’s from the anonymous creator of the Internet of Shit Twitter account.
“Earlier this year, I wrote that Apple’s HomeKit was a failure as a standard for the Internet of Things, but since then, Apple has turned around and proven me wrong,” Internet of Shit writes for The Verge. “The company has made major changes to HomeKit that accelerate the standard’s trajectory, making it easier for manufacturers to use while offering a compelling platform for the future of connected devices in the home.”
At WWDC in June, “the biggest change [to HomeKit] was the introduction of software-based authentication,” IoS writes.In other words, you won’t have to replace your stuff to make it Apple-compatible going forward, and you’ll get HomeKit’s lauded security thrown in for free — provided the device maker actually goes in and implements it.”
“There’s one other key feature that makes HomeKit interesting: if device makers want to use it, they’re required to integrate directly with Apple’s Home app and can’t force you to use a third-party app exclusively. That’s huge, simply because it grants you the freedom to avoid touching the device maker’s software on your phone if you don’t want it, and it allows you to interact with the smart home directly through Apple’s app without an intermediary,” IoS writes. “In theory, it means you really own your devices, and they shouldn’t just break if the company that makes them disappears since you’ll still have a direct connection with each device, thanks to HomeKit.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Would that Apple had also required that, in order to gain entry into Apple’s Apple TV App Store, Apple TV content app developers had to integrate with Apple’s TV app without forcing users to use third-party apps exclusively.
As for home automation, smart people go the secure HomeKit route.
SEE ALSO:
Here are all the devices that are compatible with Apple’s HomeKit – May 31, 2017
Wishlist for Apple’s Siri Speaker: Hi-Fi audio, multi-user control, HomeKit, and more – May 8, 2017
How to configure your 4th-gen Apple TV as a HomeKit hub – January 10, 2017
The best products for building a smart home with Apple’s HomeKit – November 10, 2016
DDoS attack: Apple’s HomeKit for a safer smarthome – October 24, 2016
Honeywell unveils Apple HomeKit-compatible Lyric T5 Wi-Fi thermostat – September 27, 2016
Google’s flaky Nest thermostat shakes users’ trust in the Internet of Things – January 19, 2016
Google’s Nest thermostat bug leaves users cold, angry – January 14, 2016
Honeywell announces ‘Lyric Round’ smart thermostat with Apple HomeKit integration – January 5, 2016
Apple HomeKit-compatible thermostat Ecobee closes in on Google’s Nest – September 28, 2015
Apple pulls Google’s Nest thermostat from stores with launch of HomeKit-compatible Ecobee 3 – July 23, 2015
First Apple-certified HomeKit-compliant devices launch – June 2, 2015
Google engineer trashes Tony Fadell’s precious Nest smoke alarm – February 19, 2015
With HomeKit and Honeywell’s Lyric, a Nest acquisition by Apple would have been foolish – June 18, 2014
Will Apple’s Internet of Things vision hurt a beautiful idea? With HomeKit, Apple promises easy home automation – June 6, 2014
Smart thermostat war heats up as Apple-partner Honeywell takes aim at Google’s Nest – June 13, 2014
Honeywell takes dead aim at Google’s Nest with new iPhone-compatible Lyric smart thermostat – June 10, 2014
Google to SEC: We could serve ads on thermostats, refrigerators, car dashboards, and more – May 21, 2014
Dead to me: Apple’s Schiller ‘unfollows’ Tony Fadell and Nest after Google acquisition – January 18, 2014
Experienced this the other day when the crappy WEMO app on my iPhone wouldn’t let me turn off one of their bulbs!! It kept saying it wasn’t connected, yet the HOME app on the same iPhone saw and turned off the light just fine.
I mainly like HomeKit for the Siri interface. There’s a 3rd party module for Indigo which registers all of the Indigo devices through HomeKit, so I can hang virtually anything that Indigo supports onto my home network, and control it with Siri through HomeKit. From the other side of the world, if need be.
Now if there was some way to connect my Nest thermostat with HomeKit. I hate that it sends data to Google. I bought it just before Google bought Nest. I wouldn’t have if I had known what was coming. It was too much money to just throw away. Fooey.
I highly recommend the Ecobee3 thermostat. Total HomeKit integration (which means Siri too) and it also has remote room sensors which I really like. Had might for about 1.5 years. Love it.
Being able to control everything from the one HomeKit app is a really important advantage. Some of the apps created by manufacturers to control their devices are truly dreadful. It always seems silly to need one app to control the lights and another to control the table lamps connected via remote switches simply because the bulbs are from one manufacturer while the remote sockets are from another.
Let’s also do away with the requirement for needing dedicated hubs to control devices. Ideally do without hubs completely, or alternatively make an Apple TV into a universal hub for any hardware from any manufacturer.
I don’t want a cupboard with four different hubs in it and nor do I want a proprietary hub which is unique to a manufacturer who might cease production. A faulty hub would prevent you from using everything it controls if no replacement were available.
I for one would like to see HomeKit work with a Macintosh. Since it has Bluetooth and WiFi and Ethernet there is little excuse for it not being on the bandwagon.
I already use HomeKit and Apple TV, but I spend far more time on Macs than anything with iOS. It is time Apple showed the Mac some love.
Similarly, I’ve never understood why the Apple News app isn’t available for Macs. It’s not as if there is a component missing from a Mac which would be essential for a news reader to operate.
“it means you really own your devices, and they shouldn’t just break if the company that makes them disappears since you’ll still have a direct connection with each device, thanks to HomeKit.”
It also means 3rd parties can decide NOT to develop their own App, thereby leaving ALL your devices at the whim of Apple should they decide NOT to support it in legacy OS versions as they force you to spend upgrade (spend more).
IE: Safari on Leopard is unusable because the most profitable company on earth (Apple) just won’t support it while 3rd party Firefox works great because Mozilla has an interest in keeping customers not forcing upgrades to bolster sales.
I imagine that someday my smart bathroom scale is going to tell my smart kitchen refrigerator to lock me out. Things could get tense.