• @Corngood@lemmy.ml
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    1845 months ago

    My non-expert take on this:

    Haier claims these plugins cause the firm significant financial damage

    Don’t care. Competition is not damage.

    violate copyright laws

    Prove it.

    plug-ins developed by you […] that are in violation of our terms of service

    The plug-ins never agreed to your ToS. Better sue your customers instead.

  • @corroded@lemmy.world
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    1485 months ago

    If any appliance manufacturer says that accessing your own appliance (that you own) outside their software ecosystem is financially “damaging” to them, they might as well be saying “Hey, just so you know, we’re collecting and selling your data.” If you have already purchased the appliance and their software is free, there is absolutely no other way that using a 3rd-party application could damage their bottom line.

    Thanks, Haier, for letting me know never to purchase your products.

    • @dev_null@lemmy.ml
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      175 months ago

      The project was accessing Haiers cloud API, not just your appliance. Not that that it makes this any less shitty, but there is a difference. They aren’t saying you aren’t allowed to access a product you own, they are saying you aren’t allowed to access their servers.

    • Thorned_Rose
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      4 months ago

      I’m so sad about Fisher & Paykel. It was a local (New Zealand) manufacturer that prided itself on quality. It had such a great reputation for quality it eventually took that great quality internationally. And then capitalism and enshittification got its grubby hands on it and turned it into another trash brand. Yet another quality local company disappearing off overseas, screwing over local workers and trashing the quality in favour of profit.

        • Dave.
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          5 months ago

          It’s a perfectly cromulent word that describes the process that happens across nearly all consumer corporate endeavours, online included.

        • @systemglitch@lemmy.world
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          45 months ago

          I disagree and so do others, so you will have to face the fact it will be used in this context going forward.

          No sense wasting effort fighting it.

        • @psud@lemmy.world
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          15 months ago

          Enshittification is clearest in online, but even Doctorow uses the word to describe the behaviour of all companies.

    • @wikibot@lemmy.worldB
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      115 months ago

      Here’s the summary for the wikipedia article you mentioned in your comment:

      GE Appliances is an American home appliance manufacturer based in Louisville, Kentucky. It has been majority owned by Chinese multinational home appliances company Haier since 2016. It is one of the largest appliance companies in the United States and manufactures appliances under several brands, including GE, GE Profile, Café, Monogram, Haier and Hotpoint (Americas only, European rights held by Whirlpool Corporation). The company also owns FirstBuild, a co-creation community and micro-factory on the University of Louisville’s campus in Louisville, Kentucky. Another FirstBuild location is in South Korea, and a FirstBuild location in India opened its doors in 2019.

      to opt out, pm me ‘optout’. article | about

    • trevor
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      345 months ago

      The mistake is forking and hosting it on GitHub. If Haier sends GitHub a DMCA takedown notice, they will comply, and the forks will be deleted too. Use other hosting services for redundancy and keep a local copy.

      • @psud@lemmy.world
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        15 months ago

        I don’t think there’s a copyright component to this. DMCA isn’t on the table

        Haier were implying that they might sue if the developer didn’t take it down

        • trevor
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          15 months ago

          Good point. Nothing in the article explicitly states that it’s a copyright claim, but they do mention “protecting… [their] intellectual property”. In any case, it’s always easier for the website host to fold to cover their own asses than to continue hosting the content.

          • @psud@lemmy.world
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            15 months ago

            The letter from haier says it is a beach of TOS. It’s directly a “take it down or we’ll delete your account” letter

  • @QHC@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I don’t use Haier products but a similar thing happened with Chamberlain when they blocked the MyQ integration even though it was using the legitimate API and not breaking any rules. No attempt to work with anyone in the HA community at all, just shut everything down.

    On one hand, this means projects like Home Assistant are getting popular enough to have enough usage to effect these companies. So that’s great! In the long term, we’ll all figure out solutions, but in the short term it feels like an increasing fight between corporate and open-source control over smart devices.

  • @APassenger@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Matter. Get it adopted. Buy and implement only Matter devices in the future.

    Needs a year or two, but if we can get that tech widespread, this cloud stuff will be less essential.

    • @vividspecter@lemm.ee
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      175 months ago

      Buy Zigbee in cases where there isn’t a Matter alternative. It’s not quite as interoperable as Matter but it’s fully offline once setup (and some newer coordinators have dual zigbee/Matter support). Avoid cloud connected WiFi devices like the plague.

    • @iturnedintoanewt@lemm.ee
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      85 months ago

      Not sure why I’d want some private cloud system when HA can work on its own. I’d go zigbee, which doesn’t require any cloud.

      • @APassenger@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Matter works with HA and HA works with matter, keeping it local and easier (is the hope).

        Edit to add: it’s not really a private cloud. It’s a mesh/WiFi network that transfers data based on the item type.

        • @iturnedintoanewt@lemm.ee
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          15 months ago

          Matte

          Well the link went straight to a Google page. Many people here is trying to avoid Google services/products, so it made me suspicious.

    • @A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Or, you know, just don’t buy smart devices. They are pointless wastes of money and don’t solve any problem but the imaginary problem their marketing made you think actually exists.

      But they do create a whole lot of actual problems by having them in your home, and on your network.

      Which is better than just supporting something that google, amazon, and apple have developed. Which makes it inherently suspect and suspicious, and anyone with a brain should have an intense primal need to avoid anything being pushed by those 3 individually… much less working together as one.

      • @APassenger@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Matter, if implemented correctly, would save them all money and allow the privacy conscious to drop the cloud.

        They are losing money on their voice assistants, so they want out of the business of being the voice part of the central hub.

        They’ll find ways to monetize the users who are less privacy concerned, but that’s not me and I think it’s not a lot of people who are here.

        Ediit: I didn’t downvote you. I’m here for discourse and have found down votes don’t help that.

        • @A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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          -15 months ago

          I don’t care if you did down or up vote me.

          Being upvoted doesnt make someone right, and being downvoted doesnt make someone wrong. Its just empty, addiction-driven gamification of human interaction that is completely devoid of any legitimate or good or purpose.

          • Cosmic Cleric
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            15 months ago

            Its just empty, addiction-driven gamification of human interaction that is completely devoid of any legitimate or good or purpose.

            Or, you know, just maybe, it’s another form of communication, and does have some use.

            • @A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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              -15 months ago

              No, its a parasite thats been added to communication, to its great detriment, to trick fools into fighting for points in a dopamine driven addiction scam and is directly responsible for the polarized and extreme direction human interaction has taken online.

              It is literally destroying communication. Not enhancing it. not providing another form.

              • Cosmic Cleric
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                05 months ago

                No, its a parasite thats been added to communication, to its great detriment, to trick fools into fighting for points in a dopamine driven addiction scam and is directly responsible for the polarized and extreme direction human interaction has taken online.

                It is literally destroying communication. Not enhancing it. not providing another form.

                Wonder if you still feel this way when a comment of yours gets many upvotes, instead of downvotes?

      • @wigit
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        55 months ago

        Username checks out…

      • @Emma_Gold_Man@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        5 months ago

        There are problems they can actually solve, mostly heating and power related:

        • In summer, lower the blinds on south facing windows when the sun comes up to reduce solar heating, then raise them in the evening to increase air flow against the window panes. This reduces the need for air conditioning, resulting in a surprising amount of power saved.

        • On a home solar system, start the washing machine, dishwasher, and dryer that were loaded in the morning when the batteries reach 80% charge. Allow them to run off the inverter rather than taking the charge/discharge losses involved in battery storage, reducing the size of both battery bank and solar array needed.

        • Lower the freezer temperature when there is a power surplus, and raise it back to normal when not so that cooling energy is used when it’s cheapest/most available

        If you don’t work from home, you can’t do the second two yourself. They require automation. Reducing baseload requirements and battery storage needs can make a transition to renewable power much cheaper and more efficient. With mass adoption, that extends to power grids and not just off-grid homes, and has significant effects on things like the amount of lithium that needs to be mined or the number of coal and LNG power plants that are needed for times that are off-peak for wind and solar generation.

        • @A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          On a home solar system, start the washing machine, dishwasher, and dryer that were loaded in the morning when the batteries reach 80% charge. Allow them to run off the inverter rather than taking the charge/discharge losses involved in battery storage, reducing the size of both battery bank and solar array needed.

          If thats such a world ending colossal issue for you (hint. its not. literally no one will ever have that problem, but lets humor your ridiculous made up bullshit), then https://www.amazon.com/TiFFCOFiO-Mechanical-Electrical-Outlets-Repeating/dp/B0BCKDTS1G. Cheaper, more reliable, and doesnt open your asshole to the internet for fucking.

          Lower the freezer temperature when there is a power surplus, and raise it back to normal when not so that cooling energy is used when it’s cheapest/most available

          Literally a waste of money and power to buy a thing thats even capable of playing that stupid game with temperature digitally. Set your freezer to -18c/0f and leave it the fuck alone. If you want to save power and be more efficient, get a chest freezer, and make a diagram of whats where inside it so you can grab it easily without fucking around. Anything else is just a completely made up solution in desperate search for a made up problem to justify it, by and for people who have far to much money and far to little common sense.

          Your ridiculous stretching to try to justify smart bullshit is doing nothing but showing how useless and how much of a waste of time, energy, and effort it is.

          • @Emma_Gold_Man@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            5 months ago

            literally no one will ever have that problem, but lets humor your ridiculous made up bullshit

            Wow, your username really fits.

            Actually, it’s a description of some of the issues I’m dealing with right now. And yes, we’re DIYing it with RJ45 wired switching outlets on a separate vlan and subnet. And yes, we use a chest freezer.

            And yes, there are more automatic and passive ways to do some of these things, like planting deciduous trees to shade your south wall in summer but not winter. Not everyone owns their home and land though.

    • @Kidplayer_666@lemm.ee
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      235 months ago

      That would be illegal, and you should absolutely not do that. Just like you shouldn’t clone the invidious repos just in case (/s)

      • Dr. Wesker
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        225 months ago

        It may or may not be illegal, they’re just throwing their weight around under the suggestion that it’s illegal. Knowing well that a single dev working on a plugin in their freetime isn’t likely to want to invest in legal proceedings.

        Which is even more reason to do the above, to stick it to them.

      • mrbubblesort
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        85 months ago

        Why would it be illegal? A cease and desist is just a fancy letter saying do what we want or else we’ll go crying to a judge. If the original dev hasn’t done anything wrong (I’m not familiar with the project but I’d still say that’s highly likely to be the case) then there’s nothing to worry about. So make all the clones you want, and watch a dumbass company Streisand itself

      • @dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world
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        25 months ago

        It wouldn’t be illegal if you hosted it in a country where there is no law against such a thing, and/or Haier does not have any presence which would grant them legal standing. Is anyone running a server farm in Sealand yet?

      • @Dozzi92@lemmy.world
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        55 months ago

        No opinion on Haier but I also like the design. I appreciate an architect who designs something outaide of the literal box.

        • Tlaloc_Temporal
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          15 months ago

          I can give them props for trying something, sure. Too bad that something looks like it was left in the sun next to a mirror.

          I think it would be a lot better if the layers matched, instead of being kinda random.

  • @ExLisper@linux.community
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    5 months ago

    There’s so many issues with all the smart/IOT devices that it’s just not worth getting into. Few if any manufacturers offer proper, open integrations and when it comes to home appliance there are more important features than that. Just get up to turn off your AC, that’s still the best solution.

    • @psud@lemmy.world
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      45 months ago

      Getting up to turn on or off the aircon doesn’t allow for turning it on to make the house the right temperature by the time you get home

      • @ExLisper@linux.community
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        -25 months ago

        My heat pump has a timer setting. I can tell it when to start heating water or when to start AC. If your weekly schedule doesn’t vary widely it should be enough. I have it set up to heat the water during the nigh and heat up my apartment a little bit right before I get out of bed. I never needed anything more.

    • @RazorsLedge@lemmy.world
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      25 months ago

      The Lennox s30 integration works pretty great. It hits a local api hosted on the thermostat, and my thermostat is blocked from internet access.

  • @SteveDinn@lemmy.ca
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    145 months ago

    The first thing I do when researching a new electronic thing is to search “[brand] home assistant” to see if there is already an integration for their stuff. If not, I usually keep looking.

  • KᑌᔕᕼIᗩ
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    95 months ago

    Last Haier appliance I had was a heap of shit anyway so no great loss avoiding their garbage in the future.

    • @theangryseal@lemmy.world
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      35 months ago

      I was under the impression they were dead and gone for about 20 years.

      The tv I had 20 years ago was garbage and I assumed they were just some shitty knockoff brand. Surprises me that they own GE.

      • KᑌᔕᕼIᗩ
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        15 months ago

        Last thing I had was a dishwasher by them a couple of years ago. Seals leaked about 6 months out of warranty and it cost about as much as a new one to replace them.

  • Rentlar
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    75 months ago

    Good news is there is a lot of forks that were made by various users. I have a copy of the source…

    Unfortunate news is that development is likely stopping so if they change the API I don’t know if there are any fellas that will come around to fix it…

  • @trackcharlie@lemmynsfw.com
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    5 months ago

    Anyone know how the plugin developer responded?

    Would be dope if the response was ‘Fuck you, prove it’

    e. Well, the response was in the article, big disappointment “gotta take down the plugin”.

    It’s haier’s responsibility to prove damages

    • @misanthropy@lemm.ee
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      125 months ago

      Would you risk going into massive legal debt for project you make no money from? Or would you continue to develop it for yourself and no longer post it publicly.

        • @misanthropy@lemm.ee
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          15 months ago

          And the dev might have to pay a lawyer to defend himself in court while the company tries to prove their point.

          Sure, he might get it back. Maybe. But he also would likely end up in debt defending himself, even if there’s no real merit to the case.

          • @trackcharlie@lemmynsfw.com
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            5 months ago

            taking pro se forces the company to provide evidence and pay for lawyers while you just wait for their case to build, if they don’t have a case, then there’s no problem, if it gets to trial they have to prove damages, since there aren’t any, that will be difficult to prove.

            Taking pro se is not recommended in most situations but in this one, where the damages are entirely made up, taking pro se would not be overly tumultuous

    • @Wispy2891@lemmy.world
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      45 months ago

      From the article a screenshot shows that the project is going to be discontinued with immediate effect