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Startup set to brick $800 kids robot is trying to open source it first
(arstechnica.com)
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this post was submitted on 21 Dec 2024
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I just don't get it with these proprietary cloud connected devices. Do people just not realize that keeping server infrastructure running for free after a product is sold is not in a company's best profit-seeking interests (maybe they don't even think about how things on the Internet actually work, I dunno)? I thought of this almost fifteen years ago when I started seeing smart thermostats. There should always be an option to go local, even if it requires the consumer to acquire a skillset in IT. Maybe we can start working things like that into right to repair legislation if it isn't already.
I once had a tech support ticket for a computer not turning on. When I checked it out, they had connected a power bar to itself. This 40yr old man genuinely didn't understand why that wouldn't work.
Electric companies hate this one simple trick for unlimited free electricity!
Did they grow up in an Amish house? How is that possible
I really don't know. All I can say was he was one of the lucky 10,000 that day.
Most people don't think about how things work. I'd guess that most customers thought all the smart features were internal and the Internet connection was just an arbitrary requirement
Exactly. Another example of people who are on forums like this are worlds apart from people who know quite literally less than nothing about computers.
For home stuff, look for the tech "Matter over Thread". They're protocols* designed to allow your stuff to work with any ecosystem, including local.
It's been slow to roll out, largely, imo, because companies would prefer to lock people into their own ecosystems and apps. Apple, Google, and Samsung do have some motivations to be interoperable though, and Matter/Thread is that effort. Consider looking at Home Assistant if you want to know more about this ecosystem and local, open control.
I could go into more detail, but this is already a tangent.
bingo! that's the reason behind most of their illogical decisions
just ask around, and you'll find that they want things to just work without understanding how they work