Slashdot Mirror
Logitech Aims To Control the Smart Home
An anonymous reader writes: Household devices are getting smarter these days: the so-called internet of things is bringing software-controlled thermostats, lighting, and other appliances into the mainstream. Many companies are fighting for a piece of the pie, but Logitech is taking a different approach. They're mostly known for computer peripherals, but they also make multi-function remote controls, and now they're trying to build remotes that will control all of a home's smart devices. "Logitech doesn't want to own the device, it wants to own the app experience. But to do that, it had to build a software overlay and a controller that would convince people to put it in their homes. So it's offering a $100 hub that combines IR, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and RF that will let you use the Logitech Harmony app to control gear that uses those protocols. This means if you have a SmartThings, a Peq or a Lutron hub, the Wi-Fi in the Logitech device will let you control the others' gear from Logitech, which so far seems to have a much nicer interface." They've worked out partnerships with a lot of companies that are big in the home, like Nest, Honeywell, and Philips, all of whom seem to want this extra layer of control for the user.
I hope their home offering isn't like the TV remotes, where to get it to work, I had to create an account with them (with demands for a lot of personal info), go through their relatively awkward website to find the televisionI was using, have that downloaded to the device via USB, and then add some configuring after that before the remote could be used as a remote.
Heck with that. If a remote can't offer an interface to locate stuff on the device itself, it should at least not require an Internet connection (the application should handle this, perhaps downloading codes for newer items), and definitely not require registration on a website to be used.