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Comment by candiodari | Hacker News Reader

I've wondered for a while. What would you do with IoT ? The only applications that are somewhat desirable I've seen so far are wifi lightbulbs.

Given that LEDs are getting pretty hard to beat, both on price and possibilities, when it comes to lighting design and usually come with some sort of remote control, it's almost becoming the default.

But aside from that, what would you do ? Remote control doorknobs were popular for a while but didn't last at all. Anything else ?

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I've started getting interested in hardware for the past half-year or so. Thus far I've built a few projects that are generally useful and have lasted for a while - most of my projects are for learning so they get assembled, played with, then recycled for parts.

Things that I've kept have been:

* A system which sends me a text-message when the washing machine cycle is complete.

* A device that displays the departure times of the trams from the stop at the end of my street.

* A button that you can press which does "something" on the PC - generally plays "alarm.mp3".

* A bunch of temperature sensors which submit their data to a central service on my PC - so I can measure heat/humidity on my balcony, in my bathroom, and elsewhere nearby.

None of these projects are earth-shattering, but they are small enough to be useful. They all use WiFi to fetch data, or submit it. And should be hacker-proof ;)

I think most of the uses of the consumer IOT add small value, so in order for them to see demand, they needs to have very low costs, both monetarily, and otherwise(0 install, extremely easy usability- not sure if smartphone is easy enough - maybe voice , interoperability between devices,no security fears or spying issues, no bugs ) combined with really tight UX design.

And there's no technical reason why this couldn't be achievable(maybe with some collaboration). But the companies view IOT differently - as a giant purse, as a lock-in mechanism, as a way to spy on customers, and as a way to do half-work - on UI,security, etc.

I'd argue that Roku/Amazon Echo/Nest thermostat/dropcam are the most successful IoT things, but we don't necessarily think of them as "IoT" and they stand alone as their own product categories, but in the more canonical IoT categories:

Things I've bought:

- Cheap Wifi bulb from TP-Link that I can turn on/off w/ voice to avoid stumbling around in the dark

- Harmony Hub so that I can tell my Google Home to turn on the tv/change the hdmi input/etc

- Temperature sensor

Things I want:

- Air conditioner w/ intelligent control. Besides voice-activated laziness there's probably energy savings to be had with better control algorithms, eg incorporating WiFi sensors or weather predictions.

- Actually wireless meat thermometer. I'm waiting for the MEATER kickstarter to ship and read reviews.

- I'll buy an IoT lock once the price comes down to about $50.

Things I want someone else to do:

- My subway line to have real-time tracking of trains. It really shouldn't be as hard as the MTA folks try to make it sound.

Consumer applications seem weak, but business uses abound. Think Google Analytics for factories or equipment deployments. GE collects gigabytes of data each time a plane lands with GE engines, for example.

There's a huge demand for attaching remote reporting (sounds more sensible than "IoT") to legacy devices and equipment.

What the market needs is a gateway unit that goes for sub-$100 with a boatload of I/O plus a net-connected radio.

Isn't a raspberry pi, or an esp-32s exactly that ?

I'm working for an insurance startup where our main selling point is giving customers a load of sensors which allow us to give lower premiums, similar to the motor insurance with a black box.

We ship a camera, door, motion, flood, and smoke sensors. We're also trailing water valves that will let us kill the water supply if a flood starts.

That sort of thing is where the real value is. While being able to turn the lights on and off with your phone is kind of neat being able to detect and respond to your house flooding before everything needs replacing is a big deal.

Wow - that actually makes a hell of a lot of sense - I thought that invalidated a startup :-) I like the combination of interests, I would believe if my homeowners ins co is running my monitoring and alarm systems, they do have a vested interest to try and do a good job. Good luck to you!

I've assumed it really means Internet of Sensors, and that the appeal will largely be commercial or industrial. I imagine tiles that can report if they're wet and need mopping, toilet roll dispensers that know how full they are, toilets that know if they're blocked, sections of shelving that know if they need restocking, containers of parts that know if they're getting empty.

Can't see much use for internet toasters, but smart fridges that can help reduce food waste would be great.

IoT doesn't have to be on the public Internet. It can be hardware that gets data and streams on local wifi. My project[1] does that - streams guitar to a phone via wifi. It uses standard iot hardware - this has been a revelation, we did zero hardware design and just used off the shelf dev boards and custom firmware to get a prototype done.

[1] www.riffpod.io

> What would you do with IoT

I'm working on wifi-connected flower pot monitoring. It is very useful (to me) to get notified when my plants need water and/or nutrition. However, the BOM is nearly $20 right now. I want to get it down to $2 for it to be possible to sell. Anyone with ideas?

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