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Lightbulb DRM: Philips Locks Purchasers Out of 3rd-Party Bulbs With New Firmware (techdirt.com)
sandbagger writes: Purchasers of the Philips Hue 'smart' ambient lighting system are finding out that the new firmware pushed out by the manufacturer has cut off access to previously-supported lightbulbs. Philips contends that this move will help their customers. A statement from the company reads in part: "While the Philips Hue system is based on open technologies we are not able to ensure all products from other brands are tested and fully interoperable with all of our software updates. For guaranteed compatibility you need to use Philips Hue or certified Friends of Hue products."
Keurig tried this crap and it didn't work out well for them.
Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
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My first CD player (purchased in 1985) was a Philps (with a Magnavox nameplate). I've also purchased other Philips products since then.
I will no longer buy Philips products so long as they are aggressively DRM-happy.
Phillips have a very long history if making things as difficult as possible for everyone else. Going right back to their early TVs and radios.
I think Philips forgot the cardinal rule of technological trojan horses: make sure people are actually using your product BEFORE the dick lock-in moves.
We can't guarantee other vendors' bulbs will work so we'll cut the users' suspense and make sure they wont.
Does this really surprise anyone? This is one of the primary features of most IoT type setups - you dont own what you have bought, you are just using a service, and therefore of course they feel free to redefine that service as they wish.
They here of course is not limited to Phillips, but people will continue to be surprised by this.
Until we see some (haha! yeah right) legislation that makes it illegal for terms, level, or functionality of service to not be reduced or removed without agreement from BOTH parties, this is what we will have.
Consumers were enough for a while, but the hunger has increased, and you only paid once then! It is immoral for the middle class to be allowed to save, so more ways must be invented to empty there wallets weekly to fund the top (rulers) and the bottom (troublemakers who must be paid to stay in check)... Welcome to the machine.
This reminds me of the Sony PS3 case, where you could originally install Linux on it (in fact the USAF did just that to create a cheap computational cluster using over a thousand PS3s), but then Sony changed the firmware to prevent it.
In cases like these, are there any laws allowing you to return the product for a full refund? After all you may have bought it under the premise that it could do something. Then the manufacturer altered the product post-purchase to prevent it from doing those things.
If there isn't such a law, it's high time we passed one. I don't own any Phillips Hue lights, but it was on my short list (not anymore). I would imagine anyone who's bought them to use with non-Phillips bulbs will be pissed. This defeats the whole purpose of using a standardized light socket.
buy products from a responsible company that isn't out to screw over their customer base.
Good luck finding one....
THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
Corporate douchebags never learn from history. They think that /they/ are special and are going to be able to pull it off, speculating that nobody will catch on and that their product is /so special/ that it can't be changed out for something else, that their company, and their company alone, is the sole innovator in the market.
It's a blinkered thought process only that sociopaths would find attractive. You know, the Carly Fiorina types.
Meanwhile this brain-dead transparent effort to boost stock price only does the opposite.
--
BMO
Send a packet to your Roomba to roll over to the wall and turn on the light.
How many lightbulb manufacturers does it take to screw up a market?
The Philips Hue devices form a 'network' of devices, with controllers (dimmers, light switches, and the "Hue Bridge" which talks via a Rest API with Philips' Android/iOS apps), and lights. Philips devices are 'ZigBee' devices, and other manufacturers also make ZigBee devices which can interoperate with the Philips ones, joining the same network.
As of this change, ZigBee devices of any sort can still join the network, and non-Philips ZigBee controllers can still steer the entire network (including Philips devices), but now Philips' controllers will not control non-approved devices. They'll just refuse to talk with them altogether, not even making an attempt.
Philips says they'll approve certain third party devices as "Friends of Hue" and let them in, but presumably that will involve paying some amount for the certification.
Philips Hue. I'm not kidding. The ZigBee Light Link protocol that it uses is an open standard. The API that the Bridge uses to communicate via HTTP is also open, published by Philips. A few third parties have even made LightLink-compatible bulbs. They did not reverse-engineer anything. This summary is a little misleading in several ways: first, any third-party devices already joined will stay that way (unless you reset your bridge to defaults with the new firmware on it); second, there actually are problems with some bulbs that were exposed with the new firmware; and third, it's not that they aren't allowing third-party devices but rather that they just want them to be "Friends of Hue" certified first--though in fairness, even though that program has been around for a couple years I don't think anyone besides Philips has created products for it.
Someone could create an open-source ZigBee LightLink "bridge" compatible with Hue that lets you join whatever bulbs you want. It's just that nobody's done this, possibly because Philips' own product has historically been so good. I suspect some third party may create a compatible "bridge" soon, maybe SmartThings since their hub already has a ZigBee-capable radio, if they ever decide its' a good idea, but who knows. You'd probably also lose the Web-based functionality the Philips bridge enables, like scene syncing across devices, control when you're away from your home network (without needing to VPN in), and the ability to also use the website to control your lights.
R.Mo
Because Carly destroyed a company, and Marissa is about to, apparently. Meg, OTOH, seems determined to try to repair some of the damage.
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
Jobs is a much better example of the "we invented it sue everyone else into oblivion lock in our customers" sociopathic CEO though. I would say he's the Alpha Sociopath. Cult leaders took lessons from him.
My LED bulbs all put out nice, pleasant light. The old ones cost $1 to buy and $20 to operate for the year they operated. The new ones (not Hue) cost $5 to buy but last 5 times as long and use only $1 of electricity per year. The new ones screwed into standard sockets, the new ones do too. I use the same dimmer switches and regular switches, no new rules to learn. None of mine need software but you are welcome to buy some that do. Now head back outside and tell the kids to stay off your lawn.
Folks, take a couple of minutes and add a review of the Hue products you own on Amazon. A naive buyer will think that he/she can use it with the LED lights from Cree, for example, because there are websites showing this pairing -- we need to inform buyers that this will not work.
It's a service we owe other consumers.
Hue hubs currently enjoy an average of approximately 4 stars. That number seems overly high.
Carly Fiorina is not, and never has been, the CEO of Yahoo. I guess all blonde female CEOs look the same to you? ;-)
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.