It bears repeating...

Who are this “we” of whom you speak?

I’m a technological skeptic. I’ve taken years to even come round to the usefulness of smartphones. But I refuse to believe there’s a value in things like an app-controlled toilet.

I will never own an IoT device, even if it means scrounging through thrift shops and antique stores in the future to find a non IoT thermostat or other device. IoT is simply stupid.

No, but my vibrator tracked my usage without my knowledge/permission and stored this information in an unsafe manner, which is pretty unsettling

“We’ve Brought These Stupid ‘Internet of Things’ Hacks Upon Ourselves”

But TRENDY! HIP! TECH!

I don’t want any of this. Controlling my light bulb through an app is a worse experience than a light switch, and it has the side benefit of turning me into a data store that the company can then use to sell me ads.

Besides, it’s not an independent device. Looks like it connects to the phone’s earphone jack, so it doesn’t count as an IoT device. It has no TCP/IP stack. It’s secure. (Whether their app is secure is another matter.)

This is a brilliant connected device that could really enhance some people’s lives, and I’d like to see more thoughtful design like this: http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2016/dot-first-braille-smart-watch/

Can you even buy a 4k TV that doesn’t have smart features (that’s from a decent manufacturer) ???? Im serious because this is what I want, an LG or Samsung 60"+ 4K TV without smart features.

+1 for the Rachio. I used to have a dumb mechanical timer that, every month (because we have odd/even water restrictions) I’d have to manually select the days of the week for it to run. Not to mention, laying in bed at night, listening to it pour down rain, and then having to get up, go to the garage and manually…

What frustrates me is how the companies insert themselves in the middle of your use of the device. That’s bad for privacy AND usability.

It’s increasingly clear to me that we need some kind of concerted effort to educate young people in the etiquette and best practices of being on the internet. Things like “change the username from the default” and “don’t reuse passwords” - just to name two very simple examples - are simply not intuitive, no matter how…

All these smart things are making us dumb.

I’ll stick to my regular door locks and dumb refrigerators, thanks.

You deserve all this and more for buying a wifi enabled lightbulb in the first place.

Man, I think any body who works with computers and has some good etiquette in the use of electronics could’ve tell you this shit was going to happen. People. Are. Stupid. Even before these IoT devices came out they didn’t know how to properly handle their own PC’s and get their identities stolen and viruses up the…

What we need is an open standard for all IoT devices that everyone agrees to use. So Apple, Google & MS can all use it.

I’ve said this here before, but when I needed a new garage door, I had to order one to avoid getting a version that had smart functionality. Every option in local stores was connected. If you need a household product in a pinch, it’s becoming difficult to avoid IoT when purchasing off the shelf.

Our future: