this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2025
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I'm convinced someone had this fetish fantasy.
Stops being a fantasy when your dick rots off. Or does it? 
Good.
"Smart home" is just IoT treats, right? So like 99% of it is so chuds can activate their sprinklers over WiFi, hit "movie mode" to lower the blinds or start the coffee maker via Alexa. You know, useless nonsense so it feels like they're living in the future.
In capitalism, yea, most of it is a scam. Especially the manufacturer-specific cloud service stuff (basically everything that tells you to download their app to use it). I won't get anything that needs an internet connection to install or use.
Constant light control, automatic blinds that assist heating/cooling, and demand-based heating/cooling control saves energy and will be mandatory after the revolution.
I was in the middle of writing a rebuttal, adding that you can have outlets on remote switches to give you easy access to lights in the room… thankfully I watched the video before showing my whole ass. WTF they’re bricking devices that didn’t need a subscription when you bought them if you don’t pay up??? That is so back asswards it sounds like a joke
Back to your rebuttal though, this is why when I was doing the smart home thing, all the stuff I got was easily installed and can be easily uninstalled.
But honestly, the only useful thing I have is my door bell. It's nice to be able to check in on my house when I'm at work and stuff. Being able to dim my lights because shit's too bright is nice too. And a voice activated kitchen timer(Google Display - literally the only thing I use it for). But yeah, bricking shit that isn't even subscription-based is fucking whack.
This is why Home Assistant will keep winning. I don't even have the time or energy to engage with smart home shit but have the itch to run Home Assistant. With esp modules you can build your own smart home bullshit and add it to home assistant pretty easily. That, though, would require futurist treatlerites to have a single molecule of desire to make something instead of simply consuming. So its never going to have mass appeal.
I have to imagine when these futurist treatlerites think about "home automation" they subconsciously want to recreate the experience of having a slave. When I think about home automation I consciously want to recreate the experience of being the dad from Honey I Shrunk The Kids. We're not the same.
Home Assistant is great. If i had more time I'd set up some ESP modules (cost is not an issue, they are very cheap).
It runs on a raspberry pi 3 or newer or a docker container on an existing server, plus a zigbee or zwave usb device that can be bought off AliExpress.
I would like to get a weather sensor or non-cloud doorbell camera working with it, but for now i have cheap zigbee lights and switches.
For less than the cost of a few philips hue bulbs and bridge, I put in some cheap floor, ceiling, and wall lamps and smart bulbs - my old house has very few ceiling lights. I can see better and they automatically dim and get warmer at night.
As someone woefully interested in smarthome tech, never use the cloud stuff. Ever.
Someday the landlords are going to start forcing people to live in vibe houses (smarthomes with AI, cameras and speakers that constantly sell your data while making you pay extra for it) The cheaper option being the same thing in a cramped up chamber designed by Dahir Insaat with a lot of quirks.
Wait, so I get to live in a Dahir Insaat house? Hell yeah
shortly after I moved into my apartment they rekeyed all the doors with "smartlocks" presumably so they can just reset the code instead of having to change the locks between tenants but I still don't like it.
I know some Airbnbs run by apartments or property management companies have noise sensors in them that automatically snitch on you. It wouldn't surprise me if landlords started doing this or installed doorbell cameras, etc.
You fail to pay your rent on time and the walls start moving in like a trash compactor
love to hear how more of our cyberpunk dystopia is slowly being built
I found a YouTube link in your post. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy: