Insteon - IFTTT coming soon

[Teken]

As many users of the HUB II have been asking for a very long time. Smartlabs is currently upgrading their cloud hosted portal service infrastructure to allow IFTTT integration.

 

This was seen in this Insteon forum reply by Isaac: http://forum.insteon.com/forum/main-category/new-insteon-device-wish-list/19545-ifttt-channel/page3

 

I have to say the vulnerable HUB II has slowly become a very good value - low budget controller for those seeking basic control. In addition Smartlabs has now enabled Stringify support to the HUB II which again offers more conditional logic and integration with other third party hardware / cloud hosted services.

 

Well done Smartlabs . . .

[paulbates]

Thanks Teken

It does fill in the functionality edges a little for the hub, but does not close the gap significantly with the ISY for deeper integration.  Personally I've found IFTTT a little exhausting to "develop" with, and the delays, depending on the channel, can be brutal.

 

To your point, it is a step forward

 

Paul

[larryllix]

These public cloud services seem, in principle to be too slow. If they are good services then they will eventually be overused and too slow for HA.

 

In the beginning people were ranting how fast ITTT was. In the end I doubt cloud stuff will work much for HA.

 

I wonder how many server rooms Amazon has in the works right now for the Echo. Will we all be enjoying it right up until the monthly charges start or when it is too slow to be useful? Logic dictates it will happen.

[Teken]

Thanks Teken

It does fill in the functionality edges a little for the hub, but does not close the gap significantly with the ISY for deeper integration. Personally I've found IFTTT a little exhausting to "develop" with, and the delays, depending on the channel, can be brutal.

 

To your point, it is a step forward

 

Paul

I agree this doesn't narrow the gap between the ISY Series Controller. But to be fair there is quite a bit of price disparity between the two products. My hopes is Smartlabs will see the value in creating a new HUB that incorporates conditional logic and network access in future products.

 

Considering they have invested so heavily in their cloud infrastructure this may not be the case. But then again merging the two products isn't so different than what UDI did with their portal and the ISY.

 

These public cloud services seem, in principle to be too slow. If they are good services then they will eventually be overused and too slow for HA.

 

In the beginning people were ranting how fast ITTT was. In the end I doubt cloud stuff will work much for HA.

 

I wonder how many server rooms Amazon has in the works right now for the Echo. Will we all be enjoying it right up until the monthly charges start or when it is too slow to be useful? Logic dictates it will happen.

I agree speed of access and reaction when IFTTT was first launched was much quicker. Now with the massive influx of other channels and user base things have become delayed. I also have to agree at some point a fee may be seen in the channels people have come to enjoy.

 

Whether it be a one time vendor fee vs user monthly fee who knows . . .

 

I believe the market is too accustomed to seeing free services and those that start to charge for a service ultimately see a drop in users. The only time I've seen this pan out is when the company has a monopoly on a service / product that other companies can't match.

 

With the advent of Stringify I see the IFTTT gap closing while offering the public more options. Whether or not they have staying power will be seen as most things do. My over all intention of this thread was to acknowledge that the humble Insteon HUB II and the developers have really shown the masses what can be done when the cloud is harnessed correctly.

 

It doesn't address the fact most of this stuff is pure fluff or that your eggs are literally in one (cloud) basket. But have to give them credit that their efforts are really helping those on a limited budget.

[lilyoyo1]

Thanks Teken

It does fill in the functionality edges a little for the hub, but does not close the gap significantly with the ISY for deeper integration.  Personally I've found IFTTT a little exhausting to "develop" with, and the delays, depending on the channel, can be brutal.

 

To your point, it is a step forward

 

Paul

The hub was never designed to be like the ISY or have its capabilities. The ISY is a Mercedes while the hub is a civic. No matter how much a person adds to a civic, the Mercedes will always be ahead (in price as well).

 

The hub is great for those who do not wish to pay for an ISY for whatever reason as well as those who want some smarthome capabilities without the time/financial investment. With the features they are adding, someone could (to a certain degree) achieve somewhat of an automated home (though highly inferior to ISY) as a weekend project.

[stusviews]

And nothing between entry level or advanced, a niche that was filled by HL

[Teken]

And nothing between entry level or advanced, a niche that was filled by HL

 

I agree with this statement and must also say it frustrates me that Smartlabs (Joe Dadda) doesn't see the value of opening up the House Linc (HL2) software to the public. Letting the public to continue holding the torch in development of HL2 will only help foster growth and interest in the Insteon hardware.

 

Nobody develops better than everybody . . .

 

Even in the worst case scenario if Smartlabs said *We don't have time to break it all down* how about they simply offer the source code along with all the relevant e-docs?

 

Put it out on GitHub leaving a massive caveat (legalese) stating you take on all risks and liabilities etc. In my time in home automation I have seen so many smart and talented people do more with less! Just imagine if just the source code was offered to the masses and what possibilities could be seen.