Christmas may be the best time of year to find flashy gadgets you wouldn't consider at any other time and home appliances may be best of all. They were they used as the base to attack various web sites in a recent attack poses something of a problem for Christmas shoppers. (Scientific American: IoT Growing Faster Than the Ability to Defend It)
As seen in a previous article, there is little attention paid to the security on these devices and some don't have a provision for changing password settings anyway. (Ithaka: When the Internet of Things Ate Itself)
Maybe Biff Bonehead thinks, 'Shucks, I just like the use the things. I don't know how to program them.'
Judging by the recent attacks, there are battalions of Biff Boneheads out there. In a small way he's right that even changing a password is a light form of programming and the problem is the same computers have always had; they're too fucking hard to use.
This stink bomb of an attack raised some curiosity about just what these Internet of Things devices do and it turns out they're surprisingly primitive. (PC: The Best Smart Home Devices of 2016)
Controller Devices
Units which can control other units, by voice command or other.
Surveillance Cameras
Nothing new here except better resolution, etc. These apparently were the hackers choice for the recent attacks. You really need 24-hour monitoring of your dog? Really?
Security Systems
These devices are almost comical relative to the widespread hacks. They manage locking doors, setting alarms, etc.
Heating and Cooling
What possible use there may be for control of a thermostat when you're not at home is for you to imagine. If the devices had any real intelligence then they would know already when to turn up or turn down.
Lighting
Turn on/off the lights and use when The Clapper just isn't flashy enough.
Cooking
Assist with preparing flawless recipes. Perhaps some coolness.
Cleaning
Connect vacuuming robos, lawn moving robos, etc.
Fitness
A scale which transmits your statistics to a server or some such for a longer view.
Outdoor Management
Activate a sprinkler system, etc.
Most of them lump into the category of controlling functions the way it's often done currently with infrared devices. Line of sight won't matter with these ones but they don't generally go much beyond that.
Maybe you're flying in from Europe and you have changed your schedule so you're arriving unexpectedly. Your residence has been quiesced to save energy in your absence but you can contact it remotely to tell it to start powering up so it's all comfy when you get there.
Are you really flying in unexpectedly from Europe all that much? Most of these applications seem like manufactured needs which don't require much anyway. The vacuuming robos and mowing robos could save a lot of time but whether they're smart enough or powerful enough to be much more than expensive idiosyncratic acquisitions remains to be seen.
As seen in a previous article, there is little attention paid to the security on these devices and some don't have a provision for changing password settings anyway. (Ithaka: When the Internet of Things Ate Itself)
Maybe Biff Bonehead thinks, 'Shucks, I just like the use the things. I don't know how to program them.'
Judging by the recent attacks, there are battalions of Biff Boneheads out there. In a small way he's right that even changing a password is a light form of programming and the problem is the same computers have always had; they're too fucking hard to use.
This stink bomb of an attack raised some curiosity about just what these Internet of Things devices do and it turns out they're surprisingly primitive. (PC: The Best Smart Home Devices of 2016)
Controller Devices
Units which can control other units, by voice command or other.
Surveillance Cameras
Nothing new here except better resolution, etc. These apparently were the hackers choice for the recent attacks. You really need 24-hour monitoring of your dog? Really?
Security Systems
These devices are almost comical relative to the widespread hacks. They manage locking doors, setting alarms, etc.
Heating and Cooling
What possible use there may be for control of a thermostat when you're not at home is for you to imagine. If the devices had any real intelligence then they would know already when to turn up or turn down.
Lighting
Turn on/off the lights and use when The Clapper just isn't flashy enough.
Cooking
Assist with preparing flawless recipes. Perhaps some coolness.
Cleaning
Connect vacuuming robos, lawn moving robos, etc.
Fitness
A scale which transmits your statistics to a server or some such for a longer view.
Outdoor Management
Activate a sprinkler system, etc.
Most of them lump into the category of controlling functions the way it's often done currently with infrared devices. Line of sight won't matter with these ones but they don't generally go much beyond that.
Maybe you're flying in from Europe and you have changed your schedule so you're arriving unexpectedly. Your residence has been quiesced to save energy in your absence but you can contact it remotely to tell it to start powering up so it's all comfy when you get there.
Are you really flying in unexpectedly from Europe all that much? Most of these applications seem like manufactured needs which don't require much anyway. The vacuuming robos and mowing robos could save a lot of time but whether they're smart enough or powerful enough to be much more than expensive idiosyncratic acquisitions remains to be seen.
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