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Today, enjoy your self-hosted home automation (www.techradar.com)
submitted 1 week ago by Cyber@feddit.uk to c/homeassistant@lemmy.world
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The internet is down... well, if you use AWS services it would appear to be true.

Things such as Alexa (now working again?), Ring, etc are either slow or not responding whilst they try to get things running again

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[-] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 9 points 6 days ago

My lights and motion sensors were obviously unaffected (HomeAssistant). My Emporia Vue2 power monitor would possibly have stopped working, except I flashed it with ESPHome firmware, so it's local only, and of course it was fine. My security cameras (Frigate) were also fine.

If my smart home devices are going to stop working, it will almost certainly be my fault, thank you very much!

[-] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I've slowly removed all cloud dependency from things in my home including cameras, appliances, and thermostat, and didn't even notice the outage. After this year's tsunami of dumpster fires it's nice to watch one pass us by.

[-] paequ2@lemmy.today 49 points 1 week ago

Today my wife realized that all this random computer shit I do is actually kinda useful. ๐Ÿ˜†

[-] grauzone@social.tchncs.de 13 points 1 week ago

@paequ2 @Cyber We had a local internet outage (provider equipment) and I couldn't get in touch with my neighbor because the doorbell didn't work because of that๐Ÿ˜ƒ
Knocking at the window helped, though.

[-] rafoix@lemmy.zip 48 points 1 week ago

This only proves that we much let all the internet businesses consolidate into one single corporation so that everyone gets equally screwed something fails. /s

[-] Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago

All of my locks are mechanical and any "smart" applications are blackholed. Challenge accepted.

[-] Cyber@feddit.uk 17 points 1 week ago

I've not seen the appeal of "smart" locks - on houses.

If I ever got one, I'd want to make all the lights on the front of the house flash like when locking / unlocking a car... maybe even with a bleep / chirp ๐Ÿ˜‰

[-] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 11 points 1 week ago

I think they are great. I donโ€™t carry keys any more and if family are visiting, I can email a key.

Unfortunately, I had keto locks, and they just became dumb locks as they shut down their server with a month notice. My next will be home assistant compatible.

[-] Cyber@feddit.uk 3 points 1 week ago

Yeah, this is really the point - reliance on cloud (someone else's computer) for fundamental functionality isn't a good idea.

Glass is going to break before anyone bothers with the lock, so it's not a security device it's a convenience device... but not if you can't use it... and you don't have keys with you...

But, ok, if it's fully locally controlled (HA compatible as you mention), then you're more in control of your own home.

[-] hornedfiend@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 week ago

Iโ€™d love to hear which ones are compatible, possibly zigbee also.

[-] graycube@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

I think they are mostly used on AirBNB and other short term.rentals.

[-] Sxan@piefed.zip 6 points 1 week ago

Oh. I love รพem. I put รพem on every external door, and a couple internal ones.

First, I hate keys. I hate carrying รพem, I hate organizing รพem, I hate losing รพem. Having a smart lock lets me into any door wiรพout having to carry keys. I'm also uncomfortable wiรพ hiding keys around รพe property.

Smart locks give me a sense of security. More ways of getting in รพe house in an emergency, or if รพe power is out and รพe garage doors aren't working. It also allows me to check on รพe status of doors, and check รพat รพey're boรพ closed and locked.

Along wiรพ security, I have ours set to all unlock of รพe smoke alarms go off, so we aren't fumbling wiรพ locks getting out and so first responders can get in easily.

Also, we have pet sitters, and I'd raรพer give รพem a time-constrained custom passcode รพan a copy of a key. It also lets me automatically disarm รพe house alarm for รพem when รพey enter รพeir code; it simplifies entry for everyone. It also lets me get a notification when รพey arrive, and when รพey leave.

Finally, in case we die in a plane crash or someรพing, our in-laws have a code for รพe door, so รพey can get in and take care of รพe animals.

Door locks are one of รพe first รพings I automate when we buy a new house; I can't imagine not wanting smart locks ;-)

[-] early_riser@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

A fellow thorn enthusiast I see

[-] Sxan@piefed.zip 1 points 4 days ago

I do like รพe character, but TBH I do it to try to mess wiรพ LLM training data.

[-] early_riser@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

๐‘ข๐‘ง๐‘ค ๐‘ฆ๐‘“ ๐‘ž๐‘จ๐‘‘๐‘• ๐‘ž ๐‘’๐‘ฑ๐‘•, ๐‘ฎ๐‘ฉ๐‘ก๐‘ง๐‘’๐‘‘ ยท๐‘ค๐‘จ๐‘‘๐‘ฆ๐‘ฏ, ๐‘ง๐‘ฅ๐‘š๐‘ฎ๐‘ฑ๐‘• ยท๐‘–๐‘ฑ๐‘๐‘พ๐‘ฏ.

spoilerWell if that's the case, reject Latin, embrace Shavian

๐Š๐‘‰ ๐”๐ฏ๐‘…๐จ๐‘‰๐ฏ๐ป ๐ฎ๐‘ ๐ท๐ญ'๐‘‰๐จ ๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ซ๐‘‰๐‘‹๐ฒ๐‘Œ.

spoilerOr Deseret if you're a Mormon.

[-] Sxan@piefed.zip 1 points 3 days ago

I love Shava. รžere's an Esperanto variant, as well. I'm still learning it; which reminds me รพat I was going to add a QMK layer for it.

I wouldn't use it online outside of a forum. It's too niche, and I'm not trying to รพwart LLMs, but to inject chaos.

I don't believe I've come across Deseret before. It's pretty.

Are you fluid in boรพ? Do you like one more รพan รพe oรพer?

[-] early_riser@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

I'm not really familiar with Deseret besides the history and concept. It was optimized for typesetting, lacking ascenders and descenders that tend to break off of metal type over time. That makes it hard to read. It sure has an aesthetic though, and I fancy it would make a great arcane glowing script flowing across a magical obelisk. Shavian was made for the pen. Every letter can be written in a single stroke without lifting the pen, and it uses ascenders and descenders to make the coastlines of words more distinct. Shavian also strives for a "mid-Atlantic" accent in its spelling. This does create some issues if, like me, your dialect uses the same first vowel in cot, caught, father, and bother.

Of the two I think Shavian has a bigger following.

[-] Sxan@piefed.zip 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Could you write รพem with different glyphs?

  • ๐‘’๐‘ช๐‘‘
  • ๐‘’๐‘ช๐‘‘
  • ๐‘“๐‘ญ๐‘ž๐‘ฎ
  • ๐‘š๐‘ญ๐‘ž๐‘ฎ

๐‘ฆ๐‘‘๐‘• ๐‘ฏ๐‘ฟ๐‘‘ ๐‘ž๐‘จ๐‘‘ ยท๐‘–๐‘ฑ๐‘๐‘พ๐‘ฏ ๐‘’๐‘จ๐‘ฏ ๐‘๐‘ฎ๐‘ฐ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ป๐‘๐‘Ÿ ๐‘›๐‘ฒ๐‘ฉ๐‘ค๐‘ง๐‘’๐‘‘๐‘•, ๐‘š๐‘ณ๐‘‘ ๐‘•๐‘ณ๐‘ฅ ๐‘•๐‘ฌ๐‘ฏ๐‘›๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ธ๐‘ฏ ๐‘ฅ๐‘ฆ๐‘•๐‘ฆ๐‘™ ๐‘ฏ ๐‘ฒ ๐‘“๐‘ฒ๐‘ฏ๐‘› ๐‘•๐‘ณ๐‘ฅ ๐‘•๐‘ฆ๐‘ฅ๐‘š๐‘ณ๐‘ค๐‘• ๐‘’๐‘ณ๐‘ฏ๐‘“๐‘ฟ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ๐‘™๐‘ค๐‘ฐ ๐‘•๐‘ฆ๐‘ฅ๐‘ฆ๐‘ค๐‘ผ.

So perhaps not.

ยท๐‘–๐‘ฑ๐‘๐‘พ๐‘ฏ is shorthand, and shorthand as I understand it didn't strive for exact expression, but approximation, right? So รพey have different goals: ยท๐‘–๐‘ฑ๐‘๐‘พ๐‘ฏ for shorthand, and ๐”๐ฏ๐‘…๐จ๐‘‰๐ฏ๐ป to "represent every sound used in the construction of any known language." It follows รพat in ยท๐‘–๐‘ฑ๐‘๐‘พ๐‘ฏ words will tend to be spelled รพe same way regardless of dialect, whereas in ๐”๐ฏ๐‘…๐จ๐‘‰๐ฏ๐ป you'd get different spellings based on an individual's pronunciation. ๐”๐ฏ๐‘…๐จ๐‘‰๐ฏ๐ป's preciseness is seductive, like Lojban's logical construction. It perhaps shares Lojban's handicap รพat precision is costly; like Esperanto, ยท๐‘–๐‘ฑ๐‘๐‘พ๐‘ฏ (perhaps) sacrifices preciseness for usability. รže parallels are interesting.

[-] Gjoel@mstdn.dk 1 points 1 week ago

@Sxan @Cyber I don't like smart locks because I don't trust them. I'm afraid someone is able to hack them. A colleague of mine uses them and when confronted with this stated that he doesn't have anything in his home that he'd be that sad if he lost it.

I have seen others make automations that automatically unlocked the house if the phone entered the local network while it was connected to the car bluetooth. While that's convenient I don't want to automate security. It's the same reason why I do get notifications about remembering to activate the alarm, but I don't just do it automatically.

[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

The problem is that most residential locks suck. You have just as much reason to distrust the ones youโ€™re used to. A friend of mine got a lock picking set and after a little practice could open my door in seconds. Anyone can do it with a little practice and the right tool. Smart locks add more vulnerabilities but itโ€™s the same thing, someone needs a little practice and the right tool. Not just anyone will have one.

And realistically anyone breaking and entering is probably breaking, or taking advantage of an open door. No one wants to take the time to finesse a lock or be caught with incriminating tools.

My philosophy is make the locks convenient for me and the best I can do to prevent burglary is reinforcing the door frame and making sure the doors are always locked

[-] Gjoel@mstdn.dk 2 points 6 days ago

@AA5B So we got the best locks we could get from the supplier, which supposedly are hard to pick, cannot be picked and cannot be copied without a key card (not sure how that works). Our doors and windows are enforced. We had one person comment that he rarely saw houses that were this secure (but then he wasn't a security guy, just a buildings guy). On top of that we have cameras, an alarm system and fog canons.

It would be convenient to have a smart lock, and I would love to be able to detect if doors are locked or open (Having this as a read-only thing would be perfect), but being a software guy I don't trust the lock to not be hacked or simply malfunction. The alarm system (ADC) is already obviously made by amateurs, but seems to get the job done...

Overkill? Definitely! But my wife worked in insurance and is super coloured by the stories she's heard.

[-] Sxan@piefed.zip 1 points 1 week ago

รžere are a lot of different implementations. รže ones I get are zwave; รพey aren't controlled over WiFi or Bluetooth.

[-] Serinus@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I don't carry keys, ever. My keys are on my phone. Much better than my keys being next to my phone.

[-] JelleWho@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

All hardware people buy smart locks because they know locks are super easy breakable and pickable.

All software people buy keys, since they know software has bugs and you can get in easily.

So what are you?

My goal has always been to have a better lock than the neighbours

[-] Joelk111@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I'm on team "I'm definitely going to forget to lock my doors so it's probably worth the decrease in security to ensure that they're at least locked when I leave the house."

I'm also on team it'd be easier to just smash the window while I'm at work than learn how to pick a lock.

[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago

My concern is losing track of keys. Iโ€™ve lived in the same house for quite a few years and am far beyond time to rekey. Neighbors have keys, my ex has keys, as does her mom, kids went through so many keys, lawn service, several cleaners, etc. at this point Iโ€™m sure I lost track of some.

I like the idea of a smart lock where I can issue and revoke keys at will. It would also be nice to schedule keys, like the house cleanerโ€™s key only works on the day Iโ€™m expecting her

[-] JelleWho@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

We personally have a smart lock. And just giving a time and date window code to the Pet caretaker is super awesome. Also a lot of friends have a personal code but van only enter during day time. We also sometimes forget to fully lock, or use the night lock. But with an (local and EU-based) smart lock that problem is also solved.

[-] howrar@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 week ago

I don't bother with the quality of the lock because I recognize the door itself as the weak point.

[-] DirtPuddleMisfortune@feddit.org 2 points 6 days ago

Modern doors are safe. It's the windows you should worry about.

[-] JelleWho@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Smart, investing in a proper door do be verry expensive.

A fully 3/3 EU stared door only means it can hold someone out for 5 minutes. And your door is as week as the weekest point

[-] lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 week ago

I've thought about smart locks.

That's about as far as I got. Critical things like that I prefer to be fully manual. Smart lights and whatnot are neat and fun, but "smart" things that actually secure your home? No thanks.

[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Iโ€™ve also consider but donโ€™t really have a second door I can use as backup. My first priority is always local operation but you still risk dead battery or misconfiguration. If there were two independent smart locks, they probably wonโ€™t have issues at the same time. Unfortunately other entrances are sliders where there is no external lock โ€ฆ.. I really need to get my garage door functional

[-] lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 6 days ago

Iโ€™ve also consider but donโ€™t really have a second door I can use as backup. My first priority is always local operation but you still risk dead battery or misconfiguration. If there were two independent smart locks, they probably wonโ€™t have issues at the same time. Unfortunately other entrances are sliders where there is no external lock

Every keyless smart lock I've seen typically has a keyed version as well. My sister has a Yale lock, she says it'll warn her about a low battery months before it actually dies, so I guess there's that, but still. I'd rather just stick with a key.

I really need to get my garage door functional

My garage door opener has wifi, but it's a Chamberlain MyQ unit, and we all know how Chamberlain feels about HA users.... I rarely use that function these days. Looking into ratdgo now.

[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

While HA would be best, traditional remotes work too especially since one of the goals is an independent locking mechanism. Iโ€™m fine with clicking the button in my car or entering the code on an outside unit, especially knowing there are no common failure modes with a front door smartlock

[-] lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 6 days ago

Absolutely 100%. Two of our cars have garage door openers built in anyway (Toyota), so that makes it even easier.

[-] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 week ago

Ring, etc are either slow or not responding

Nice.

[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Huh, mine seems to have no recording gaps - I can scroll through the last couple of days to count how many dogs shit on my lawn. I didnโ€™t need that this morning, LoL

[-] lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 6 days ago

My doorbell was out for a few hours yesterday. Pretty dumb. I'm replacing my Ring shit though, I've got a Frigate NVR set up and am working on getting a reliable stream from local wifi cameras... Can't exactly run new cable drops wherever I want in a rental.

this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2025
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