Real talk: nobody should use these things. Not Google’s, not Amazon’s, not Apple’s… They are all capable of spying on you, and also being compromised by hackers.
Every time I see this comment I make the point that, from a privacy perspective, they are likely better than average consumer, non-rooted, non-linux* phones, laptops, desktops.
They give back one geographic position - your house, and you don’t give them credit card, social security, Healthcare or other personal information like you frequently use your phone and computer for.
You don’t even use them to search for porn (cue one guy saying he does)
- please feel free to bicker about what counts as a “Linux phone” but I won’t join in.
HomeAssistant is FOSS and apparently capable.
And also a pita to actually become a useful gadget. Sadly.
Yeah, there was a lot of pain and learning involved but you know what: I can do that, and not having Megacorp listening devices at home was the hill I decided to spend some time on.
And it works fine for me now, so I’m happy.
Apple says that all your data is private. So I extra don’t trust them.
At least Google and Amazon are up front about the fact they spy on you
I used to be one of those uneducated tech enthusiasts that wanted IOT for everything. Now that has been unplugged for about a year and I find no discernible difference in ease of daily tasks.
That did happen from time to time though. Ghosts can communicate with me in the inconsistent and short videos I record like all the others.
The smartest device in my house is the cat.
3:33AM
It’s ok; it’s only a half-evil entity. Now, if it happened at 6:66AM, that’s when you’ve really gotta worry!
My sleep paralysis demon wanted to know how much two and a half cups was in liters, but whispered it too quietly.
