Why do I need an account for a light bulb?
this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2023
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First time buying an IoT device I take it?
If it’s proprietary, it’ll be enshittified as soon as shareholder value demands.
Can we stop the overuse and over-generalization of "enshitification" which Doctorow had given very explicit meaning to in regards to social networks? It does not simply mean commoditization which is not quite the same but almost synonymous with 'race to the bottom's in regards of trying to increase revenue while simultaneously decreasing costs.
Edit: I'll admit narrowing to "social networks" is a bit too narrow, but the point still stands that it's for two way platforms where there are "two markets." Phillips Hue does not have a two sided market.
The enshitification of enshitification
There is still value in calling out the exploitation. It might not be as shitty as leveraging different customer pools, but it absolutely is the same exact business mindset that creates enshittification.
I don't think it's wrong to at least associate the two things even if "enshittification" remains more about gearing systems to exploit customers vs basic direct exploitation of customers.
But their entirely different processes. One is exploiting one market vs the other. Here it wouldn't necessarily be exploiting a market, but destroying value of a free service. If you're worried about personal info being the exploitation, it's going to be very limited and likely already in place. An account structure is usually more the first move toward monetizing the service directly and enabling the ability between free and premium services. That's still shitty, but for entirely different reasons. So I just don't like seeing the original word lose all meaning whatsoever beyond its root word. It basically guts it of all of its nuance and importance and just turns it into a noun form of taking something and making it shitty. We don't need to do that.
I don't think they're entirely different. Enshittification is just a specific type. Yes, of course it has distinguishing qualities or we'd be having a totally different convo.
IMO, it's more important to realize enshittification is not a new development! It's just way, WAY more obvious now that the ruling class has allowed effective monopolies to rise again. When only one or two companies control an entire market, their shitty tactics become way, way more obvious and painful for consumers.
The general driving force is different though. It's a process that involves devaluing a service by basically commoditizing two forces against each other. Simply dropping value-added features to save money is just the race to the bottom.
Dropping a feature is the equivalent of charging for extra BBQ sauce packets. It's not the same driving force like Instagram where they play two forces against each other. Like the way Google has been going with shoving way too many ads in there. That is a different motivation because it's valuing one customer at the expense of another. Something like dropping free service XYZ is just cutting costs.
The word is getting overplayed and it feels like everyone has the same word-a-day calendar and are now trying to use it as much as possible.
It's more impactful and retains meaning if we keep it succinct instead of just the equivalent of "an unpopular decision that saves money to increase shareholder value". It's all about recognizing you are a product as well as a user. It's that the services don't have an incentive to serve you. Its just so much more meaningful as long as we don't remove all of that meaning to just show we don't like corporatism.
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Nah. He called it that, but the word follows grammatical* structure well enough that it can be easily understood and used in a more general sense. "the gradual increase in which something is shit" = "enshitification".
Fits for what he wanted to use it for. Fits for a whole lot more. One cannot gatekeep language. Whatever is the most effective way to transfer a concept from one mind as to be similarly understood in someone else's, ultimately is language.
* maybe not grammar, but you get what I mean
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Words change. He came up with a really good one and people ran with it. It no longer means what he initially made it to mean. That's how all language in all of the world works.
You're saying that if someone wants to descibe enshittification they need to invent a word for it?
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Lol next step it will demand your WiFi password to always be online, because why not.
The step afterward you ll have 5 "room light subscription options, offering different service for high demanding customers"
Didn't amazon want to be able to secretly piggiback on other known WiFi networks of other wifis known to amazon through connected devices, when some users would refuse to connect their decides to their WiFi? I think I remember something like that, but don't know what came of it. Might have just been a nightmare.
It’s called Amazon Sidewalk and it’s still a thing. When you set up any Amazon device, it defaults to on unless you click it off.
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I don't even know why people still use Hue anymore. It's overpriced and zigbee and matter exist.
Hue uses Zigbee though, doesn't it? In my experience they're the most reliable Zigbee lights with the most consistent light output, and work very well as routers.
I bought 8 hue bulbs for $12 each like 6 years ago and every one of those suckers still work to this day. And the bridge came with the bundle. I just looked up a replacement bulb and its $20 per bulb. If those still last as long as my originals I will happily keep using them. They have worked flawlessly on my homekit schedule and they turn off at 1am and turn on at dusk every day without fail.
I agree that Hue bulbs are expensive compared to others but they generally are considered some of the best bulbs for color accuracy and build quality. I've considered getting Hue bulbs before but definitely wont be now.
Can someone recommend some good alternative zigbee bulbs? I started using sengled but it seems they stopped making zigbee bulbs so they could work closer with Amazon and their ecosystem…
I’ve been using ikea bulbs since I started with home automation and have had no issues. Some I connect directly to my Zigbee receiver and others I connect to the dirigera hub which home assistant sees through HomeKit.
Yeah, ikea lights have been working great for me as well
I replaced my light switches with ZigBee light switches and just use ordinary light bulbs instead. Obviously no dimming or changing color possible, but that's what the nightlights and led strips are for.
It sucks. Any other compatible app, free or paid, that let you set routines like alarm clocks and that worth it?
Probably home assistant? Thats what I use.
(this is the homeassistant community)
Whoops. In this case I don’t understand the question.
The old Hue app still works and I'm also using Hue Essentials, both without any account.
I have a Hue bridge of the 1st generation and a few years ago, the original app was showing pop-ups, that I need to get a new bridge because of the new app that will no longer support my old bridge. So I just kept the old app and the old bridge. Works like a charm all offline.
When I added a motion detector two years ago, the old app didn't find it for setup. That's when I tested the alternative app Hue Essentials and it works just fine offline.
Good that I didn't buy, then.
Since the Hue bulbs are using the Zigbee standard, you can still safely buy them in the foreseeable future and just connect it with something like SkyConnect, zzh!, Conbee, etc. and use it with Home Assistant
I was under the impression that the v2 Hue Zigbee was encrypted, and hadn't yet been broken.
Is this still the case?
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Are phillips things reflashable with esphome/tasmota? I'm not a huge fan of tuya, but so fari have been able to reflash/rebrain everything i gave bought from them. It should be a lot easier though :/
There is no need to reflash them. Thy're zigbee, you can just connect them to a different hub or to a zigbee dongle.
Wait, all of them? Noice.
Though I do have one that’s running a “candle” hue labs program, I wonder if I can replicate that outside the Hue environment.
The special features are hard to replicate. Hue sync won't work for example. That's why I still use the hue hub in addition to a zigbee stick for non-hue lights and switches. But if they want a login I'd rather drop hue sync and just add the lamps to my zigbee stick.
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