15% off a logitech device purchase for the complete removal of a 100$ smart switch. that’s a slap to the face “Thank’s for being a customer here’s a coupon you can only use if you continue being a customer”
Logitech will brick its $100 Pop smart home buttons on October 15 - Ars Technica
Submitted 2 weeks ago by otters_raft@lemmy.ca [bot] to selfhosted@lemmy.world
Comments
Pika@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Wispy2891@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
And can only use that 15% off in their boutique store where stuff is more expensive than other outlets
quokka1@mastodon.au 2 weeks ago
@Wispy2891 just wanting to say, best avatar i've seen for a while. love it.
wirebeads@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Remember when the stuff we bought actually used to be owned by us, to be used by us, was able to be repaired by us? Now everything is scamware, licenses, and utter crap with threats of legal retaliation if you open, manipulate, or in any way change the product you “bought” from them.
So basically, Logitech sold these devices, decided nah, we’re done, and has given you garbage, while your ROI will never be captured.
Boycotting Logitech is easy moving forward; Don’t buy their crap.
Vote with your wallet.
BlueLineBae@midwest.social 2 weeks ago
Honestly, I think if companies were forced to deal with the electronic waste they create, they wouldn’t be so chill about bricking devices like this. I really wish there was a law that dictated any electronics you output, you are required to take back. Then maybe we wouldn’t have as many situations like this today.
Anivia@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
Germany has that law and it doesn’t change anything
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Boycotting Logitech is easy moving forward; Don’t buy their crap.
You’re like 5 years too late on that for me. I bought a mouse in 2019. And in 2020 the mouse died. Wouldn’t even turn on. Wouldn’t charge. Dead.
I call up logitech, and ask what my options are. Basically my options are “fuck you”. Couldn’t even send it in for repair at all.
Compare this to 2005. I had a mouse in those days I paid $200 for. Which in those days was quite a bit. My then girlfriend broke my mouse. So I called logitech to ask how much it cost to fix. I had the mouse about 2-3 years at that point. So I knew it wasn’t under warrenty, but I figure maybe repair is cheaper than buying a new one.
Guy on the phone says “Nah, I’ll just ship you one”. And I was confused. I asked “Oh. How much is that?” And he says “Don’t even worry about it. Lets just send you a replacement.”
Week later I had a free replacement on my doorstep. Instant recurring customer.
But now? Between deminishing product quality, disappearing customer service, and enshitified policies, I no longer feel like I’m a logictech customer for the past 5 years. This after being a huge cheerleader of theirs since the early 2000s. Maybe late 90s.
These companies do not seem to get that the easiest way to generate consistant revenue is with repeat business. I’m no longer a logitech customer, but I still have a lot of logitech products. Whenever they die, they’ll be replaced with something else.
metaStatic@kbin.earth 2 weeks ago
I would buy a G5 every few years until the end of time if they still made them. Profit clearly isn't the driving motivator of the post capitalist world we inhabit.
And what exactly will you replace your logitech stuff with? they're all going down this path now.
honestly if they still make the only mice that don't look like a gaming router they might still have me ... on the second hand market at least.
A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
how many times does logitech specifically, and these companies in general, have to do this before idiots stop buying this shit?
Doomsider@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
There need to be strong regulations to prevent this sort of Ewaste. As long as companies can get away with this they will.
And no, voting with your pocket book isn’t going to change their behavior.
A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
if idiots stop buying this shit, they wont keep making it.
the problem is the idiots keep buying
nosuchanon@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
We agree that something needs to be done. Stronger regulations will just be in an added requirement for the development of these devices, which will make it more expensive. You can’t have fast development, cheap things and longevity. Companies will not invest in making those products because they’ll be out of business by the time their market is saturated.
dangercake@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
You don’t even have to, squeezebox owners never got a choice. It was cool that a hacker community built it even better after logi abandoned it 😁
spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
[deleted]tomkatt@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
This is why it’s a great idea to refuse to install everything that’s possible, including smart switches, cameras, lights etc. that rely on the good will of some company to keep running.
Even then you can get fucked over. I’ve used Hue lights for years, and back when I bought them, you didn’t need an account to use them, just an app and network connection. Years later, they forced an online login for the app, requiring you to be online to interface with the bulbs. You can kind of work around it with Home Assistant, but you still need the account now to add the bulbs, and I don’t think scenes work without an account either now.
B0rax@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
But you can buy a 10-20€ zigbee stick and connect them directly to home assistant. No hue bridge or account required.
spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
When I was in the market for bulbs Hue was just starting that BS. They lost that sale and I’ve been in the process of removing network access for everything possible and severely restricting it when not. My old Honeywell wifi thermostat is gone, smart appliances are disconnected from wifi, and TVs are blocked by my firewall when they aren’t actually being used. Next up, Graphene OS.
Sometimes I’d like to move to a tropical island with no news or Internet at all.
aoude@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Not to be pedantic, but you mean TP-Link (Kasa) smart lights right? I have these but haven’t bothered to block any sort of telemetry with my adguard home server. I see several domains queried that match .tplink.com but I wouldn’t want to reduce functionality as you mentioned
spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Yes. I had them blocked via my firewall because of the constant traffic they generated and blocking Internet access causes constant bulb resets. The resets are known to TP-Link and according to a couple of sources they created a private firmware release that fixed it. TP-Link failed to publically release that firmware, and last time I checked deny it ever existed. I replaced the bulbs with 3rd Reality Zigbee bulbs that work perfectly.
metaStatic@kbin.earth 2 weeks ago
Plex wants us to log into their servers to watch content we're hosting ourselves.
I hate Plex as much as the next Jellyfin user but you can just whitelist your local network, although people who understand that aren't the target audience are they? ...
spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
I didn’t get that far. When they demanded I log in I just removed it. Jellyfin is working OK without having to figure out how to bypass defaults.
thegreekgeek@midwest.social 2 weeks ago
See it’s shit like this that makes me want to set up a trebuchet just out of line of sight of their corporate HQ and return the bricked hardware with prejudice.
Rcklsabndn@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Unfortunately, Logitech ended support for their T1432 modal trebuchet last year.
Bennyboybumberchums@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Ive hated logitech for a while. Looks like my opinion of them wont be changing any time soon. I get no longer supporting products, but bricking them? And then giving a 15% off coupon for some products that they could later brick as well? Youd have to be a right fucking mug to buy anything logitech after this.
aesthelete@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I get no longer supporting products, but bricking them?
I think what’s happening in the background here is these “Internet of Trash” devices hook to cloud infrastructure for which the business no longer wants to pay.
If they were interested in actually building something useful, they would open up their API layers and add a way to link them to different services. But since they don’t give a fuck about you as a customer, and they plan poorly as a business, instead they code everything so that it is hopelessly coupled (probably through hard-coded things up to and including certificates) with specific garbage they made, and impossible to move to anything else, and then they brick your shit.
Auli@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Fine then it’s easy everything has to have a local API. One of the reasons I got an ecobee thermostat is the local control through homekit.
BanMe@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Nest bricked my security system (after magically installing Assistant on it [oh by the way it has an undocumented microphone]), at least they gave you $100… in gift cards to the fucking google store. Logitech isn’t even that smart.
Dozzi92@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Can’t brick my G500 and my Z5500s. Best in class, approaching decades old at this point.
But as with every company, profits over quality. Fuck em.
Matty_r@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
I had the Z680s, they were amazing. Easily had them for like 15 years or something
Netrunner@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
There’s a good reason all stuff you buy is zigbee or zwave.
SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
or Matter
WbrJr@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Isn’t matter just a standard, that runs on multiple Protokolls like ZigBee or wifi?
Auli@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Not true if it has local control.
ramenshaman@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Looking forward to Louis Rossmann’s inevitable video on this.
ramble81@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
And this is why i stick with Z-Wave/Insteon/etc. I have a local hardware controller that doesn’t have to be connected to the internet to work. It can be cloud controlled remotely, but if their service shut down tomorrow, it’d still be fully functional locally or if I exposed the server endpoint myself.
fakeplastic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
[deleted]Zak@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
How? Is the mouse reliant on their servers to operate?
crank0271@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
How are they bricking it? Is that something that other Logitech vertical mouse owners need to worry about?
dubyakay@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Ploopy time!
BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
Logitech used actually be good at this. Look at their squeezebox software and Logitech media server, they were open sourced, released to the public and are still under active development and in widespread use.
ToiletFlushShowerScream@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
So not further developed, but remotely turning them off because the Logitech board members each want a new yacht? Never again Logitech, your company is poison to me, my family, and my friends now.
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Who needs any of this digital feces? Not want, but need? I don’t have a single problem that can be solved with technology these days.
Auli@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
I mean your on the internet.
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
*you’re
And the internet was once simply a handful of interconnected university mainframes transferring text. What are we doing right now?
DieserTypMatthias@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
A certain operating system whose name I won’t mention is ending support a day before and now this? WTF is wrong with this world?
winkerjadams@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
I think that was the operating system they told us was going to be the last version of that operating system ever. And then they released another one. Weird
herrvogel@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
That was said by one random, rather insignificant Microsoft employee who had no capacity to make such a claim. Not in a position to even have that kind of information on the company’s future plans.
And even if they did have the capacity, if you actually go look at what really was said, it’s reasonably clear that they wanted to say latest version but fucked up the sentence. I hate defending Microsoft but that thing has become a meme at this point.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 2 weeks ago
An operating ending support isn’t in any way the same as bricking a product.
ChairmanMeow@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
Well, unless some exploit is discovered that doesn’t require user interaction. Then merely being connected puts your device at risk.
And given historical precedent, it’s going to be a matter of time until one is discovered.
Ledivin@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
People can safely use Windows 10 online for the next decade as long as they follow basic online safety.
This is a fucking braindead take. A few months, a year, maaaybe? But a decade? No chance in hell.
pogmommy@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Basic online safety to you and me can be a bit high-level for many, disproportionately so for those who are going to remain on Windows 10. I don’t like Windows, either 10 or 11, but most of the hardware losing support with 10’s EOL can run a secure and modern operating system just fine, and Windows 11 could have been that if not for the overhead of Microsoft’s telemetry and other bloat. Home users lacking computer proficiency are being thrown under the bus so that Microsoft can generate metric tons of ewaste as they force their enterprise customers to purchase new hardware. With fresh new license keys.
Wispy2891@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I read the title as "Logitech will bring new smart home buttons on October 15” and I thought “hmm new proprietary iot shit, I wonder when they’re going to brick them”
mhague@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I don’t get it. Little “drivers” that provide functionality, and then the ability to link button presses to those drivers. And I guess some meta knowledge of ports, standard addresses?
Where is the “requirement” for edge computing? Where is the need for their continuous services?
I thought that most companies doing this at least tacked on extraneous features that then justified their subscription. You’re supposed to pretend it’s necessary! Did they skip that step?
nameisnotimportant@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Sad news, I’m still impressed that they didn’t kill their Harmony servers though, fingers crossed !
Quexotic@infosec.pub 2 weeks ago
I don’t have one, but maybe sue for source code?
Treczoks@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
That’s why I never went serious into home automation. Because any affordable system is based on cloud shit beyond my control. Cloud goes belly-up, and thousands invested ins such a system are suddenly scrap? Not with me.
HiTekRedNek@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
You didn’t look very hard.
Cheap zigbee stuff exists everywhere. And zigbee is an open standard, so if it works, it will work until the equipment breaks.
Treczoks@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yes, but a lot of ZigBee stuff ends up in environments that use a cloud-connected “smart” hub.
muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
That’s always how this rug pull works. Build a dependency than when it’s. It making you rich, kill everything that has that dependency.
I wonder if these could just be flashed with something that uses MQTT.
jol@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
That’s the reason why I never buy a smart device I don’t control.
saltesc@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
That’s any smart device. Unless you’re the one.doimg the updates.yoirself, they will all become obsolete as technology evolves. This is the case here too; sounds they just don’t have enough people using them to justify figuring out how to keep them working as new devices and platforms roll on. 9.5 years is an alright run, comparatively.
AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
Depends on your definition of "smart’ I guess. ZigBee stuff like buttons and the like probably won’t become obsolete for a long time. I guess you could argue that ZigBee protocol updates could eventually brick them though
WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
9.5 years is ancient in smart home devices.
Though, any company that stops supporting a device should be legally required to open source all dependencies required to operate it, or provide a full refund.
HurlingDurling@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Not true, zwave and ZigBee are not required to use the manufacturers apps and you can setup a home assistant server on a raspberry pi in about 20 minutes and never worry about planned obsolescence like this. This is why I never buy WiFi only smart devices that need internet access and an account on an app to control.
Creat@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
Just because it’s a “smart” service doesn’t mean it has to connect to the Internet or a server or the manufacturer. If it does neither, it can’t be turned off by them.
All my devices run local-only protocols. Nothing leaves my house. The devices that would be proprietary were reflashed to tasmota (fully open source, local only). Others are either Zigbee or Shelly. While Shelly has a cloud connection, it’s fully optional and disabled by default (including automatic updates). The hardware is also supported by tasmota, and reflashing is always just 5 minutes of effort away.
There is absolutely nothing that any manufacturer has to do to keep my stuff working. I have to do a little something (keep my tiny server on, basically). But more importantly there is nothing any manufacturer can do to stop my stuff from working.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
9.5 years is pretty good if you think of it as tech, but the problem is that smart home products are often home appliances. Some are even home fixtures. So yeah people feel cheated when something like a light switch gets dropped from service or demands a subscription
jol@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
It’s one thing to become obsolete because a new technology appears. It’s another thing for the rug to pulled from under you. You can still use old tech just fine, but not if the publisher decides to brick all your devices.
cynar@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
That’s exactly what I do. I also have IoT devices that are still trucking along a decade later. I fully expect them to likely do a decade more.
Both Tasmota and ESPhome provide open source firmware for many IoT devices. They throw up a local API interface that other systems can talk to. Providing legacy support is as hard as using HTML put and get commands.