This week’s show is live from Dallas as I attend the Parks Associates Connections smart home event, so I start out discussing some of the themes I’ve seen so far, including the growing importance of data privacy, local processing and generative AI. We also talk about the five-year-anniversary of the General Data Protection Regulation in the EU and evaluate its impact so far (it’s not as bad as you think). On the security front, we evaluate Samsung’s plans for IoT security with its Knox Matrix vision and talk about its similarities to the security design for the Matter smart home interoperability standard. Microsoft’s Build event is also this week, and the company’s newly launched Fabric data service and unified data lake products are worth watching for enterprises and industrial customers trying to aggregate and use IoT data. Then we cover some smaller news items such as new Matter products from Yeelight, Govee, and Yale. There’s also a new smart outlet with a sensor-packed outlet cover that has been funded via Kickstarter, which our audience might be interested in. Finally, we answer a listener question about good Zigbee-based light bulbs.
Our guest this week is Paul Williams, chief product officer of Nice North America, who last appeared on the show two and half years ago when he was at Savant. We start off talking about Matter. Williams says that so far the roll out has been slower than expected which has obviously affected adoption, but he hasn’t lost hope for the standard. He also explains how Matter might affect professional integrators. During our conversation on generative AI he discusses how Nice is using AI currently and where he’d like it to go with generative AI. However, he cautions that privacy of consumer data and corporate data is a real concern when using generative AI, so he’s looking for more conversations about how providers deal with that. We close with a discussion about the economy and how it affects professional integrators and the adoption of smart home devices. Enjoy the show.
Quick note on the yeelight pro Matter announcement:
These are NOT the cheap WiFi devices from yeelight that people buy on Amazon.
The pro line are Bluetooth devices designed for commercial spaces like independent restaurants. The device# connect to a yeelight pro “gateway,” end it is actually the gateway that is getting matter support, so it can act as a “matter bridge“ and bring the other devices into other matter compatible platforms.
Only as we’ve been discussing in the comment threads elsewhere on the site, some matter controllers, including smartthings, don’t yet support importing a Matter bridge of any brand. So the news about the light pro is really good for people using Apple home, but may not have much impact beyond that for now until the controllers get more features.
If you want great RGB zigbee, and you have Hue, look at INNR or many of the off brand bulbs. Most will work with your existing Hue Bridge, which will make them Matter certified when the official Hue update comes. I’ve been using multiple brands of Zigbee bulbs with my hue bridge running the Matter firmware. They are all exposed as Matter devices to other Matter controllers supporting Matter Bridges like Apple Home or Home Assistant.
FRIENDS DON’T LET FRIENDS BUY WIFI LIGHTBULBS UNLESS THERE’S ABSOLUTELY NO OTHER CHOICE
it’s very rare that I disagree with Stacey, and then it’s usually on some tiny engineering detail that very few people care about, but this week I have to get out my soapbox, I’m afraid. (And when a guy in a wheelchair gets out a soapbox, you know it’s serious. 😉 )
Ok. Lightbulbs.
Yes, I really like the Hue system with the Hue hub, because what engineer doesn’t? I personally use a mix of Hue brand bulbs, INNR brand bulbs, and Gledopto controllers to help bring some of the cost down. But, yes, very reliable, lots of great features, amazing interoperability, cool apps.
(BTW, Kevin, I know you’re not usually that deep into the hardware side, but I think you were thinking of Lutron. There’s no proprietary hue frequency. The hue bridge/hub is bridging standard Wi-Fi on one side (so it can talk to an app), and standard Zigbee 3.0 on the other. All the interesting proprietary stuff is in the firmware that runs on the Hue hub. Not the messaging to the bulbs.)
If you really really don’t want to get the Hue hub (although personally, I really really recommend it), look at Innr Zigbee bulbs. Vanilla zigbee, good engineering, usually about half the price of hue’s own brand. (Check product descriptions carefully: INNR are usually sold in multi packs of two or four devices.) Available in multiple regions. They work with most home automation Zigbee hubs, and also with the Hue hub.
If you want to add less expensive RGBW LED strips, get dumb strips and connect them to a Gledopto zigbee controller and use that with the hue bridge. ( Gledopto has two model lines. Only the pro will act as Zigbee repeaters if that matters to you.)
Speaking of repeaters… I’m not into the sengled bulbs. The manufacturer made the decision not to have their bulbs be repeaters, so I am all the time hearing from people who find that the Sengled bulbs that are on the other side of the house from whatever Zigbee hub they are using just aren’t reliable. Again, choice is good, and if you’re in a one bedroom apartment, you may be really happy with them. But not my flavor as they say.
Now…WiFi bulbs. Just don’t, in most cases. Why?
First, remember when there was a big push for everybody to stop using incandescents because they could be 30 or 40% of the energy used in a Home? When it wasn’t necessary?
WiFi requires about 10 times as much energy for the radio as Zigbee or Bluetooth. And odds are good You’re going to have a lot of lightbulbs. Zigbee, Thread, or Bluetooth will all be a greener choice than Wi-Fi. Is it a lot of wasted energy? Not when compared to, say, a conventional electric oven. But it’s a completely unnecessary use of excess energy because alternatives are available. Wi-Fi is great for audio and video where you have massively sized data streams. But to send an “on” message to a light switch? Definitely overkill.
Next, many Wi-Fi routers have a limit on the number of devices you can add, and if the one you have doesn’t, your Internet plan may have. 50 is a pretty common max for budget plans. And it’s all too easy to hit that just with lightbulbs and light switches.
Sure, if you have an unlimited gigaspeed data plan and a high end router, you may be able to go up to 150 or so. But why use those slots for lightbulbs? When, again, there are really good alternatives available.
There’s a reason smart bulbs took off when Zigbee devices were introduced, and those reasons haven’t changed.
There are a few exceptions. As I’ve mentioned before, I do like the color changing Meross small WiFi table lamps as alert lights. But you’re only going to have two or three of those in a house, not 40 or 50. And, yes, the Wiz matter over Wi-Fi line is definitely interesting. But just some random Wi-Fi bulb off of Amazon? Unless you live in a college dorm and have no other choice (only you still have another choice, because you could go Bluetooth), I’d just take that off my candidates list.
Ok, rant over, and I’m putting the soapbox away now. Again, choice is good, and if there’s a particular Wi-Fi bulb that you’re just in love with, for whatever reason, of course, go for it. But as a general recommendation, I just think there are much better options.