It’s great that you have the skills to do that, but we both know that most people buying smart home gadgets don’t have those skills. I’d prefer those people to have a safe by default setup, which is why I advocate for Zigbee and Z-Wave.
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One thing I like about Z-Wave and Zigbee devices is that they can’t connect to the internet no matter what, because they don’t have the hardware for it.
- This means you don’t need to worry about them phoning home with usage data. (privacy)
- It means you don’t need to worry about them being used by a hacker to penetrate your network. (security)
- It means you don’t need to worry about them being a node in some botnet mining crypto for someone else with your electricity. (resource usage)
You’ve already got HomeAssistant to connect them to your Google Home or HomeKit account, so you can still turn on your closet light from the bar or whatever. You’re not losing anything by them not being connected to the internet directly. You just never have to worry about that stuff. Instead of having to keep 40 devices that were sold by some company that no longer exists up to date on their firmware, you just need to keep HA up to date.
All it costs is one $30 usb dongle.
phughes@lemmy.cato
Selfhosted@lemmy.world•What is your self-hosting setup for home thermostat?English
10·11 months agoI have a homeassistant instance connected to a no-name Z-wave thermostat. It’s been flawless for almost 10 years.
phughes@lemmy.cato
World News@lemmy.ml•They’re Still Slaughtering Civilians in GazaEnglish
20·11 months agoWell, no shit. Who actually expected the Israelis to stop killing people?
Fascism. That’s what’s going on.
phughes@lemmy.cato
The Onion@midwest.social•Billionaire known for stealing people’s ideas debuts totally new, original saluteEnglish
16·11 months agoToday is a good day (for him) to die.
phughes@lemmy.cato
Technology@lemmy.world•Hobbyist Builds AI-Assisted Rifle Robot Using ChatGPT: "We're under attack from the front left and front right. Respond accordingly"English
3·11 months agoI was thinking about this movie just the other day. I had no idea that was Jack Black.
phughes@lemmy.cato
Technology@lemmy.world•What are devs displaced by AI going to do in the future? Is there an actual plan?English
153·11 months agoThis thread is full of people comparing OPs hypothetical about 10 years from now with last year’s capability.
Will AI progress that fast? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It probably won’t get that good, but it doesn’t matter. If it gets as good as your average junior that’s going to mean something like 100% increase in productivity, which means 50% as many jobs and that’s going to be a BIG FUCKING DEAL.
Especially when it’s going to be replacing a lot of other types of office workers. What kind of job is your average software dev going to transition to? Tech support? Not anymore. UI Designer? LOL. Manager? And who are you going to be managing?
If the US doesn’t hit 15-20% unemployment in the next 10 years I’ll eat my hat. I’ll be eating it either way because I’ll be starving to death.
phughes@lemmy.cato
Memes@lemmy.ml•Gonna be as rad as possible till the day I die.English
91·11 months agoPeople who were 10 when Self Esteem came out probably think that, yeah.
phughes@lemmy.cato
Asklemmy@lemmy.ml•What TV shows are you watching and would recommend?English
7·1 year agoI started watching Scavengers Reign recently on a suggestion from a friend. I normally don’t go for animated shows, but this one is really enjoyable for me. Calm & explorative.
phughes@lemmy.cato
Showerthoughts@lemmy.world•The best “I told you so”s are the ones where you never have to say “I told you so” because the other person clearly knows you told them soEnglish
5·1 year agoI realized I’d inadvertently crossed into Switzerland due to a wrong turn when my rental car’s navigation system alerted me to the fact. Whoops.
phughes@lemmy.cato
World News@lemmy.ml•Lavrov Says Russia's 'Not Satisfied' With Proposals From Trump Team To End Ukraine WarEnglish
2411·1 year agoTrump: Ok, how about Ukraine declares unconditional surrender and Zelensky is hung in Red Square.
Putin: No, not got good enough.
phughes@lemmy.cato
memes@lemmy.world•Do I have to build my own touchscreen thermostat?English
4·1 year agoIf my choices are a z-wave/zigbee thermostat that connects to my HomeAssistant instance and a Raspberry Pi that I have to maintain, I’ll pick the z-wave one (and I did, 10 years ago. It’s been rock solid.)
For my smart devices I prefer devices that can’t send information over the internet no matter what. I don’t want to worry about my thermostat mining bitcoin for some dude in China.
phughes@lemmy.cato
Technology@lemmy.world•Apple might be working on a smart doorbell | TechCrunchEnglish
2·1 year agoThe ones that support HomeKit do record to the cloud, but it’s at least encrypted. There’s failure points, so it’s not a fool-proof system, but it’s considerably better system than most cloud camera systems that will joyfully hand over your videos to the police without a warrant or store it in some S3 bucket that doesn’t even have user level access controls.

I made his lamb shank recipe a couple years ago and it was incredibly flavorful. About as subtle as a brick to the head, but still insanely delicious.