Mainstream tech advice treats cheap Wi-Fi smart plugs as harmless convenience, totally glossing over how much telemetry leaks out to overseas cloud servers by default.

Expecting casual users to set up VLANs and firewall drop rules just to stop a £10 light bulb from phoning home is a bit of a joke.

True privacy means local control without corporate middlemen.


Original content by The Unknown Universe, written by a human and not AI generated!

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[–] 3 points 1 day ago

I was always tempted by the idea of controlling my house in a more convenient way. But every time I try and plan all the things I'd make smart, I always end up not doing anything because it's either all or nothing: when I imagine something I use regularly at home that is not "connected" while other stuff is, it frustrates me immensely.

There are some use cases for accessibility or for making a "dumb" appliance piece a bit smarter (like turning on an espresso machine to pre-heat it every workday morning). Or, like others noticed, fixing a very particular problem like turning on only one light bulb from a row at night.

Good to see some progress in this area though, but it's still the same shit most people don't really need. At least in a way it's implemented today. I want my stuff stupid and reliable.

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