this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2024
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Am I the only one who thinks vacuums, washing machines, fridges and so on shouldn't be connected to the internet?
I don't even have a smart tv, I don't want anything other than my phone and laptop connected to the internet.
I’m not super happy about it, but my roomba is absolutely essential now that I’ve been spoiled with it. I don’t like the idea of any of my appliances being online straight tied to a vendor’s app and service - but I’m willing to accept the trade off in this instance. Maybe someday I’ll upgrade to a different robot vac. I know there are FOSS setups to work around some of those challenges and circumvent some of the BS.
As someone who has never felt the need for a roomba
What so you like so much about it?
I dispise vacuuming and sweeping and I have 2 canines, so there’s a lot of fur and grime on the floor that needs regular tending to. I bought the roomba model that is self charging and self emptying, so you can just let it run in a set it and forget it fashion.
Alternatively, it also actually helps motivate me to do other chores as well. I have to pick up everything off the floor before running the vac, and at that point I just start tidying up other things while letting it run.
Oh OK cool I didn't realize they had self cleaning ones now. That does sound really convenient for hairy dogs
Mine also mops, refills the mop water and soap, washes it's own mop, and drains the dirty water down the drain.
I hate lugging around that heavy noisy thing, and I don't have pets. I'm a bit shocked at how much hair two humans drop in a week. The robovac runs twice a week and I empty it once a week, and it keeps the more open/obvious spaces looking pretty pristine. Dust on a shiny floor really shows. There are places where it cannot go and those need to be done by me, but they're less visible areas so no need for frequent vacuuming.
The good news with iRobot is that they actually have pretty solid cybersecurity. They also do a pretty great job of supporting parts for old robots and make them quite easy to repair. For a typical consumer product, I feel like they're far better than most companies in terms of how shitty they could be vs how shitty they actually are.
I don't disagree, but I think automation is cool, especially if you can keep it local (or have the tools to secure it on the internet). Valetudo can help make that possible. My current robot vacuum is pretty crappy, but it doesn't have cameras or mapping. My next will be one that has mapping and can be easily flashed with local hosting.
Flashing a dreame L10s was difficult but worth it. I'd recommend it if you have the expertise. I did end up having to buy a USB breakout board from eBay, though.
I have just enough skill with hardware to get away with it with some swearing.
I keep asking this in comments around this kind of article. People are like, "it's convenient though."
I’d like some of them to connect to my local network, but not the Internet. I’ll work it out myself from there onwards and make some remote control solution myself, thank you.
no you are not. I will not buy an internet connected anything as long as possible.
I've seen tower fans with Wifi. Why on earth does a fan need to contact the internet?
Most smarthome products are only worthwhile if they're coupled with other devices in IFTTT style workflows. Like a morning routine where lights come on, the blinds open, and your playlist starts when you fist bump the air or yell "still alive". A fan is stupid because you can control most fans from a smart plug, but a fan could come in handy for a grow operation, to maintain a level of humidity or whatever; coupled with a smart hygrometer/thermometer, irrigation, and server.
The problem is capitalism — every company tried to create their own walled gardens out of pure greed, so nobody except rich morons were willing to commit to automating their lives with a product/brand/platform that may not exist tomorrow, and won't work with any other brand/platforms products, so all they've done is collectively hamstrung the entire markets growth, and created mountains of e-waste. Things are starting to move in a better direction, but until I can setup a cost-effective smarthome 100% offline, LAN only, managed by my own FOSS home server, I'm not gonna bother with anything more than a few standalone devices (e.g. pet-cam, mood lighting, etc).
I have that for several years now, with Tasmota devices and a Home Assistant server.
I am going one step further even: most of the logic continues to work even if the Home Assistant server is down. I just have less additional control by smartphone then, and less statistics.