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Apple HomeKit?


seendbl

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Posted

Hello seendbl,

 

We really do not know what it all means yet! We have perused their documentation and it seems to be quite rudimentary and not addressing major communication questions.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

  • 3 months later...
Posted

Did U see Apple announcement yesterday? Seems they're going to bet on this integration with 3rd parters home automation developers... 

 

I hope Universal Devices is going to get on that too...

Posted

Did U see Apple announcement yesterday? Seems they're going to bet on this integration with 3rd parters home automation developers...

 

I hope Universal Devices is going to get on that too...

No doubt they will. It's just that few people know what HomeKit is capable of, or what role it can/will play in any serious HA system.

 

It's tough to rely on Apple for anything. They make great stuff, but there's no product roadmap. Features come and go without warning. Compatibility is at Apple's sole discretion. I'm really hoping for good stuff with HomeKit, but even if all goes well, I think it will be several years before it's ready for prime time.

 

We should start to learn more on the 17th when iOS 8 goes public. Fingers crossed.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Waiting on third parties to build a device integration for your product. Not likely to happen. Unlike normal app development for IOS. This requires code/service on the isy. And requires a apple made for ios license. Who's is $5000 a year. So not likely to happen. If others build it will be for thief product not yours. You could get a big win with integration here zwave insteion and homekit.

Posted

Hi Dpd,

 

Thank you. We are following Apple HomeKit closely. At the moment, I am just not sure how we would fit in their ecosystem which is very much Apple oriented (not standard). For instance, we will have to support bonjour for discovery. Who uses bonjour except for Apple?

 

Also, the way they have categorized objects is not very conducive to integration. It seems as thought it's merely a specification for a Remote Control.

 

And, finally, we do need to assign resources for projects. We have 5.0 on our roadmap + a lot more exciting integration features. Should we abandon all and spend all our focus on Apple (which is a huge project)?

 

All this said, again, we are already signed up as developers and closely monitor all the changes to specs as they arrive.

 

with kind regards,

Michel

Posted

I have found Bonjour to be supported in many devices recently.  Printers, copiers, PC's and media devices.  It may be an Apple designed protocol but it seems to have been adopted as a standard fairly widely.

 

-Xathros

Posted

Bonjour is the name used on the mac. ZeroConfig used elsewhere. Like iBeacons with apple or just beacons everywhere else. Same technology.

Posted

In thirty plus years in the industry I have never seen one single person use the Bonjour protocol, over TCP/IP. This is like the Fire Wire 800 that Apple insists upon pushing out.

 

No one uses it and pretty much is a dead standard.

 

Now, with their Thunderbolt protocol being supported by Intel that is probably the only thing that has legs. But, since the new USB 3+ is being ratified, Thunderbolt will see the same adoption rate as Fire Wire.

Posted

Bonjour is implemented in MythTV (within mythfrontend) to allow the system to 'look' like an AppleTV to IOS devices - allowing airplay to work.

 

Its only needed to support Apple devices, but fairly easy to implement.

Posted

There is a lot to consider in the expanding market being established by Apple, Amazon and google, whether its bonjour, HA device control or even media control. The big players will establish greater standards, and to a certain degree we'll have to find a way to fit into it.

 

I don't believe Apple, Amazon or google will go down the Insteon or Zwave (or wifi or zigbee) path directly. Insteon is a very captured market, and it wouldn't surprise me to see smarthome create a homekit compatible hub, or provide cabilities for it via their cloud service for web / mobile devices. The ever expanding  world of zwave products will be more than the big players want to get involved with and support.

 

The big players will want a third party to plug in to. Some incumbents (HS, Smarthome and UD) will be able to be that 3rd party.  Also I'm sure the newer players, Vera, revolv, etc.will be vying for a spot. Alternatively its possible a big player does an acquisition of some of them.

Posted

Hi Dpd,

 

Thank you. We are following Apple HomeKit closely. At the moment, I am just not sure how we would fit in their ecosystem which is very much Apple oriented (not standard). For instance, we will have to support bonjour for discovery. Who uses bonjour except for Apple?

 

Also, the way they have categorized objects is not very conducive to integration. It seems as thought it's merely a specification for a Remote Control.

 

And, finally, we do need to assign resources for projects. We have 5.0 on our roadmap + a lot more exciting integration features. Should we abandon all and spend all our focus on Apple (which is a huge project)?

 

All this said, again, we are already signed up as developers and closely monitor all the changes to specs as they arrive.

 

with kind regards,

Michel

Provide feedback to Apple if you'd like to see changes or additions.

 

Perhaps 3rd parties like MobiLinc would be the glue between the ISY/Insteon and HomeKit? Or perhaps a module that runs directly on the ISY itself? However it happens, I'd personally like to see it :)

Posted

What will HomeKit even do? Honestly, I'm still confused about what it will do, and who is likely to see the most benefit from it. It looks to just be a framework for improving access to / integration between different products. Like a dashboard where you could adjust your Hue lights and Nest t'stat from the same place. Easier than going to individual apps, sure, but nothing useful to the more dedicated HA crowd. The whole point is not to have to whip my phone out every time I want to change something, right? Mobilinc already has geofencing and notifications covered.

 

I'm basically an Apple fanboy, but I'm thinking it will be years before HomeKit is useful to me, if ever.

 

The game changer will be if Apple puts a refined and robust HomeKit on the AppleTV or right on their router. I could see that being a serious HA product (theoretically replacing a controller like the Hub or ISY). Unless / until then, I think it will be something of a sideshow. The caveat is I don't think they ever will, due to the necessary complexity of the scheduling / triggering scripts that we all love to play with here . It's not very Apple-like. Unless they could release a HA system that was capable of learning from your actions. But that seems like a massive engineering feat.

Posted

Don't know much about it yet but if it's anything like HealthKit would it be a place to aggregate data and allow interapp communications?

 

I have no idea what I'm doing.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  • 3 months later...
Posted

Any updates on this?

I would quite simply love to be able to give a couple simple voice controls on my phone to turn my ISY controlled insteon hardware stuff on/off  whether an individual unit (turn pond pump on/off) or scene (turn driveway lights on/off)

 

You know, versus unlocking the phone, switching apps,  opening a browser, logging on to the ISY (I have an extra browser dedicated to the ISY but always have to switch and submit log on),,, pick devices or scenes, hunting through the alphabetic list of toggles. 

 

Just like you tell your phone to set the alarm clock.

 

Do we need some kind of UDI ISY app on the phone/tablet as a go-between? Where iOS will recognize voice commands for stuff in the "ISY app"? 

 

Anything beyond that with "smarts" I'd consider down the road, where it may recognize two phones left the house on a work day, so no lights should be left on ...

 

But, having some basic voice control would be a great start. 

Posted

+1 for home kit support. This would allow anyone to create an App Store app that can leverage the ISY out of the box by standardizing the API (not to mention connecting it with Siri).

 

It will take some time for the API to become settled and to spread, but interoperability will improve dramatically if all home automation device manufactures start implementing support for it.

Posted

Interesting indeed. The more stories that surface, the more I appreciate UDI's hesitation on Homekit. It would be very disappointing to have a lot of resources thrown at homekit in its half-baked state, for only the harvest of giving siri commands. (Do I have to get an AppleTV too???)

 

I became a UDI customer because of solution depth. Release 5 is where its at for me. Please keep swimming in the deep end UDI.

 

Thanks for sharing builderb

 

Paul

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Posted

Most of the devices I saw at the CES was half baked. I believe its prudent to see who, where, and what is being provided by Apple and the rest of the industry. Since this is literally at ground zero and in its infant stage I expect lots of improvements and advances in this area.

 

I believe it comes down to who has staying power and the willingness to stay around. I for shadow lots of *wannabe's* that are going to be rushing to market but none of them will stick it out past the two year mark.

 

We saw this will 3D TV's, and now the silly aszz curved TV's.

 

Most of this is a fad which is either going to stick around or not. Apple has historically either been on the mark or completely alone in its drive for standards or protocols. They were the first to champion the USB standard in a mass scale for computers, yet on the other hand their complete fail for apple protocol.

 

They have been pushing for years for fire wire, where is that now?

 

No where . . .

 

Now, their push has been Thunderport which on spec is impressive as hell and faster than anything out there. But the reality is with out Intels support (they have failed many times too) you do not see Thunderport being adopted enmass when compared to USB.

 

Now they (Apple) are pushing for the new USB 3.1 Type C standard. Their iTunes software has been a complete POS since launch and still is in pretty much every way a person can think about it. They are and were the primary driver in pushing computers in not having any ability to replace HDD, Memory, and Batteries.

 

They have literally convinced and brain washed the general (sheeple) dumb public that its OK to not have the ability to upgrade or replace the above components???

 

Because they perpetuated stupid on such a mass scale all of the copy cats (really just cheap [censored]) decided to follow too in not allowing the average person to replace memory, HDD, batteries.

 

So, where are we now??

 

We have a whole bunch of *Wannabe's* who believe Apple can do no harm and if they follow this path. Riches will come streaming down from the Heavens for all.

 

Ultimately, in the end its more prudent to see how this shakes out and what is left standing. Supporting a so called unified standard which ultimately may not be around is just asking for trouble. 

Posted

Engineering is about trade offs. Apple hasn't brainwashed anyone, they've offered lighter and thinner computers than anyone else. To do that, they needed to use adhesives, non-upgradableable custom parts, etc. Consumers can choose the solution that best meets their budget and needs. It's not like there aren't a shortage of boxy laptops you can buy that have replaceable components. If upgradability is more important to you than portability, that's a totally valid reason to look at other manufacturers. If you treat your computer like a gear head treats a muscle car, Apple won't be your best option.

 

Re connectors, Apple has long pushed the boundaries of what is capable. Back when FireWire debuted, it could offer video transfer without dropped frames, because FW had its own controller chip, unlike USB, which was dependent on the CPU, which could get bogged down. It filled a need at that time.

 

Same with Thunderbolt. It allows Apple to do things other standards cannot, and it's been commercially available for a couple years already. If/when it is subsumed by other protocols, Apple will ditch it. In the meantime, they get to push the envelope.

 

Apple stuff isn't for everyone. Lots of people are better served by other hardware and OSes, by more predictable product road maps, more stable hardware and software features, and plenty of other reasons. I'm certainty not trying to suggest either that Apple is perfect, or even better than others. And while choice of computer isn't in any way indicative of intelligence, not everyone who buys an Apple product does so because of Apple's magical brainwashing powers, or because everyone else is doing it.

 

Just my $0.02.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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