THE latest and surely the greatest .......

[California]

Besides being unreliable the Phillips Hue were also notorious for terrible network security.

I work in tech. I won't have any appliances or devices that send data to the cloud or to an external server. Wifi is fine if it's purely local to my network and under my control. There aren't many devices like that though.

I bought a few Tuya / Smart Home controllers that go between a lamp and the wall socket. They are in various parts of the barn - the washing machine room, pathway overhead floodlight, etc. No cameras or microphones. Nothing in the house. I thought that's harmless from a security perspective.

Then later it occurred to me - a command on my phone goes up to a Chinese-owned site in the cloud then down to the device. And my wifi password was needed to set up each one. So the wifi password is out there to be misused or hacked by a third party.

Aside from the risk that international tensions increase and the Chinese, or hackers, decide to turn off that control link (unlikely) and everyone's devices, is there any other exposure risk here? I see that the Tuya ap on the phone to control the devices, can accept voice commands. I never enabled that. Could that capability be turned on remotely?

There's an alternate ap to control Tuya devices entirely within the home wifi network. Recommended? Reliable?

 

[kthompson]

I may be wrong in some of my thoughts here and if so correct please.

I understand some refrigerators have cameras that take pictures and maybe even live feeds on them. Know have heard they will record a person also and warnings about don't go to the fridge if not properly clothed. If I have to worry about such privacy issue with any appliance and I am sure I do will do my best to block it. Some laughed at my sticky note on my computer camera but I was not worried about it showing anything in my business. I LIKE MY PRIVACY and respect yours.

 

[Frankenkubota]

A while back there was a brew ha ha about all the connected toys.

Their security was not poor. It was non existent.

 

[grsthegreat]

i dont have any smart devices in my house. no smart appliances either. i dont want my refrigerator talking to my toaster. you know refrigerators are notorious lairs.

that , or they will refuse to open the door cause theres a slice of chocolate cake in there and it doesnt want me to have it.

no ring doorbells, no ring thermostats, none of that junk.

 

[Torvy]

Mine is obviously a lesser model. It was $99. That price is bad enough. $300 would have been insane. For $300 it probably came with an operator.

Did you get the low HP, emissions-free model or the high HP diesel with DEF?

 

[Rustyiron]

Gimmicks and gadgets always sell but used to be the **** in dollar type stores.
The price has apparently gone wild with little change in usefulness.

 

[oosik]

Torvy - the model I got tends to give me gas. So ..... it's probably NOT the emissions-free unit.

 

[bigtiller]

I have been using the Braun Oral-B tooth brush for a few years on my dentist recommendation. I wish they would make one with a longer lasting battery.

 

[ponytug]

I have been using the Braun Oral-B tooth brush for a few years on my dentist recommendation. I wish they would make one with a longer lasting battery.

Long lasting how? We have had our latest ones for over five years, the ones before that lasted ten-ish years. We do have one person for travel reasons.

And yes, as @Frankenkubota points out all the "Internet of Things" gizmos (Alexa, Ring, security cameras, etc.) are a security nightmare. If you have them, I really think they should be on their own segregated VLAN that is different from your "normal" home network, and preferably also separate from any guest network(s) that you have. The IoT gizmos are too inexpensive for much in the way of security to begin with and there is no recurring revenue to support patching and fixing them going forward.

Personally, I think that if you have IoT gizmos, you probably need to upgrade to a more fully featured router and WiFi access points. At the very least, it is cheap insurance. As they say about hiking in the woods with grizzly bears- "You don't have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun at least one other person." You are just trying to make your home/finances/bank hard enough to access that you won't be the low hanging fruit in some attack. And long, unique, passwords, please!

Stay safe out there.

All the best,

Peter

 

[bigtiller]

Long lasting how? We have had our latest ones for over five years, the ones before that lasted ten-ish years. We do have one person for travel reasons.

When new, I can brush 16 times before it needs recharging. As it ages the number of uses per charge drops. Right now I can use it 6 times and it will stop working on the seventh brushing. FYI, I brush my teeth with it 4 times a day.