this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2026
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I'm not opposed to the concept of smart appliances. Getting a phone notification when my load of laundry is done. Remotely starting the oven preheat. Having the humidifier interact with the thermostat automatically. Blinds that open on a schedule to gently wake you with natural light.
For the record, I don't have any of these things, but I like the ideas of them. It's the kind of stuff I was wide eyed and hopeful about as a sci fi loving kid.
The problem with ask these things is not the connectivity ideas, imho; it's pretty much capitalism. These things can't exist in a way that doesn't also spy on you, build a profile that knows you better than yourself, and sells every last morsel of information to not just the highest bidder, but every bidder.
And to be clear, I don't mean can't on a technical level.
you can do this with home assistant and z-wave / zigbee sensors. but you have to do it yourself and this takes time and knowledge.
Commercial products can't do this from a business case level. There are ways you can achieve this on a technical level, but it is very much DIY at this point. I hope to slowly implement this over the next while until I have a system that works for me, uses no cloud or corporate servers, and is possibly accessible from outside my home (that's a security challenge and I may not be up to it).
Use a VPN to access outside the home.
And make it wireguard