AlanWynn

DAalseth said:

You see right there is a good example. This sounds like a good air cleaner. My question is why have it connected to HomeKit? Why have it connected to your phone? Why have it connected to anything at all? What on earth could I ask Siri to do with an air purifier? 

Like many Smart Home devices I just wonder WHY? What is the benefit? This device runs, it cleans the air. You change the filter periodically. That’s it.

They give several reasons and benefits right in the article: Its air quality sensor can be used in scenes (shut one’s Vellux skylights or vents when the air gets bad), turn on the purifier when one starts to head home from work, so that the air is clear when one arrives (rather than leaving it running all the time), turning it down to a quieter setting when one is heading to bed.

None of these may matter to you, but, in the same way, there are people who do not need a smart phone or watch. If you are not interested, do not buy it.

Let us be clear, Matter (the standard about to be adopted by most vendors), is at its core HomeKit. It requires that devices be locally controllable (unlike many current Google Home and Alexa gear), specifically to prevent the problems we have seen with multiple vendors leaving the market and leaving their devices non-functional as a result.  The new standard adopts HomeKit’s crypto system, ensuring security. Those who have HomeKit only gear will be able to continue using it with their HomeKit controls, while many of the old devices that were not hub based will cease to function when the vendors device they no longer want to support the cloud infrastructure needed to keep them working.

prismatics said:

viclauyyc said:

They have “so many” companies join the group now. They should be ready to start their own OS without rely on IOS. 

How do you install a third party operating system on iPhone

You buy a product that supports it. People pick iOS/iPadOS systems in a large part because of this walled garden. Those that do not want this have other choices.

robin huber said:

The first rule of Apple Negotiation Club is don’t talk about Apple Negotiation Club. 

Sun Microsystems’ Jonathan Schwartz found this out the hard way when he pre-announced an agreement between Sun and Apple to use ZFS as the new filesystem for Mac OS X before Steve Jobs did at WWDC. Jobs killed the announcement and the project as a result.

iqatedo said:

Shortly after I had purchased a series 4, my wife received around 27 emergency calls notifying her of me possibly having fallen. I was on a long bicycle ride. 'Find My' allowed her to see that I was moving through it all.

Really? How did that happen? The watch calls emergency services (911 in the U.S.) and then sends a text message to the emergency contacts.