Technology

It actually is, if done right. But doing it right means you have to do things properly and care about doing them properly. In general data collection about various things can be useful, from optimizing energy consumption of your home to making your own life a tiny bit easier.

The problem is, manufacturers saw the potential and rushed in to be the first on the market and forgot that online things need maintenance and patching. Goes to show how selfless the admin job is. As long as things keep working properly no one even knows they exist.

I have wifi cameras which were never allowed online from first second they were connected to my network. But on the other hand I have few air filters that I do allow to send data so I can contribute to global statistics on air quality and similar.

IoT doesn't have to mean controlled by someone else. It's the "cloud" part that breaks the concept, not the networking part.

Most of these products are adding features that are nice to have. (And security cameras don't really count; being networked is their core functionality.) If you actually owned them, so you could hook them into an arbitrary hub (preferably with some sort of certificate system), those features add value.

They just don't add enough value to let someone else use them to spy on you and be able remotely shut down your property.

I guess I'm the odd one out. I quite enjoy my Arlec / grid connect stuff for simple things that could be done with wires, timers and the like.

Tasks include: Controlling the aircon and a basic heater with Universal IR. Running ventilation fans to force air through the house when the missus opens a door for a smoke. Letting the goats out on schedule when they were young. Enabling different banks of batteries to run or charge for the inverter circuit by schedule or sunlight amount. Monitor power usage on the chargers and output to the inverter circuit. Charge the battery mower to 80% only, roughly. Charge my phone to 80% only, roughly. Power up the office lighting / TV / monitors / amp etc when I enter, off when I leave. Keep my dog cool at night but not too cold. (fan control)

Granted I'm not looking forward to the day that grid connect dies, but I belive I can convert to Tuya locally hosted if that happens.

None of these need a subscription.

Likewise my outdoor Reolink camera has free cloud storage but only if you renew it every month, which is a pain.

All right smart guy, explain to me how else I'd know if I'm out of ketchup if I can't use an app to access the remote camera in my fridge? Can't do it can ya? Yeah that's what I thought

I remember some years ago, per-pandemic, when my coworkers and friends were getting hyped up about this stuff. I was the Luddite who they mocked for not being excited about it.

But I knew it was just more data gathering (spying) tech, and I knew the products would be made with planned obsolescence in mind, and I knew they would require subscriptions for cloud services. It doesn't take any super power or precognition to know these things, it just requires paying a modicum of attention to trends and past performance from these corporations.

It's discouraging how many otherwise smart people I know who are absolute suckers for tech bro marketing.

Don't have FOMO (fear of missing out), cultivate FOBAD (fear of being a dumbass).