22july2013

This isn't really about "who makes it," this is really about "who pays the employees." Even if Apple ends up "manufacturing the Apple Car," it will probably still do so outside the USA. Perhaps Mexico or Korea, or perhaps even Canada. (Canada manufactures the Equinox, Chrysler 300, Grand Caravan, Pacifica, Challenger, Charger, Ford GT (!!!!!), Ford Edge, Honda Civic & CR-V, Lexus RX, Lincoln Nautilus, Toyota RAV4. We used to make a lot more than that. Some of the cars we manufacture in Canada are secondary manufacturing locations but some have been exclusive. We used to be the exclusive location for manufacturing all Ford F-150s, if I recall correctly.)

For another example, look at the iPhone. It is physically manufactured in mainland China but the company who pays the employees, Foxconn, is not located in mainland China. (I worded that very carefully for those here who are lovers of the CCP.)

An Apple Car made in Apple's own factory might end up with the following label: "Designed in California. Assembled in Canada." The Apple iPhone probably should say -- unless you are a socialist or communist -- "Designed in California. Assembled in the People's Republic of China by a company located in the Republic of China."

There is a short comparison of Z-Wave to other protocols on wikipedia:
4.5 Comparison to other protocols

There are also longer comparisons on other websites:
https://www.electropages.com/blog/2019/02/smart-homes-explained-smart-home-protocol <--
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/smart-home-wireless-network-primer,news-21085.html <--
https://www.anixter.com/en_us/resources/literature/techbriefs/comparing-wireless-communication-protocols.html <--

I've been unhappy with the reliability of Zigbee (although last month I finally got it working perfectly by assigning a fixed IP to my Hue Hub) so I'm using the above links to decide which protocol I want to use.

I think this new Z-Wave Hub for Homekit is an excellent option for people who are already invested in Z-Wave products. But I'm not sure if that's the protocol I would pick if I were building a new network. Everyone has different requirements, and therefore choose different solutions. The most popular requirements seem to be:

1. What is the speed of the protocol (data rate) and latency (response time)
2. What problems exist with wireless interference in busy areas like cities?
3. What is the maximum range of the protocol
4. What is the maximum number of devices the protocol supports
5. Does it support mesh networks? Or even dual mesh networks for redundancy?
6. Does it use low power, low enough that I can use products that transmit with batteries rather than with wired power
7. What is the number of companies that provide products for that protocol
8. Are there security and privacy issues in terms of data encryption and whether products "phone home to company HQ" to update or even to use the product?
9. Is it compatible with Apple's Homekit? (For people on this website, this is an issue)
10. Is it compatible with Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
11. Is a hub required?
12. What is the cost of a basic smart bulb using this protocol?
13. Does it work in my country? (some countries have different frequencies allotted to the same protocol)

lorca2770 said:

For what I have heard, Tylenol is also partnering with them. Total solutions

That has been the case for me too. A total pain every day since the day I got them.

However this month I was able to fix most of my problems! Someone on the web said (in 2016) that you can get improved results if you go to your wireless hub/router and configure it so that the Hue Bridge has a fixed IP address instead of a dynamic one. And I have to be fair to Philips, that seems to have worked. Changing the Zigbee channel about a year ago helped a small bit, but this new solution helped much more. After two weeks I don't think I have seen any more problems.

So maybe I will consider purchasing more Hue products. But considering how much pain it has been, I still feel like punishing them by staying away.

In the long run this is a huge win for Apple and Google, because they now have the opportunity to pull their business (at least their app store businesses) out of South Korea (the moment the new law takes effect) and show the world the consequences of what happens when governments make a 25% profit level and free enterprise illegal.

Of course, if Apple and Google don't pull out, then it's a loss for them, because their 30% fee (which is probably a 20-25% profit level for that service) on services will collapse worldwide. But Apple and Google need to appear that they aren't happy about this development. And baed on what I read in this article, they appear unhappy.

I don't expect a single human being to see it my way, so I'm not planning to come back here to see everyone calling me a fool. And I don't expect to be hailed as a prophet if Apple and Google do exactly as I'm suggesting. I'm glad Biden and the US government is so anti-big-tech, it means these events are more likely to happen. I am so excited about this news, and I suspect the top people in Apple and Google feel privately the same.

Lawyers aren't the biggest winners when a case is settled.