The "couple a stepper motor to a shaft" API is so much better than any "smart" appliance API.
Speaking more seriously, I wish classes of appliances would expose some simple analog and digital interface pins in a standardized configuration to let users choose whatever automation or monitoring hardware they want. HVAC equipment does this with standardized thermostat terminals. I'd love to see that on other types of appliances, too.
The manufacturer's crappy "app" that will inevitably be abandoned and require keeping some old phone / tablet in good "health" lest you lose the "smart" functionality (or worse, any use of) the appliance.
Then current way of putting the "smarts" inside the appliance is just planned obsolescence and a recipe for all of us being eyeball deep in ewaste.
It always kind of blows my mind that I keep seeing "smart TVs" which have a bunch of integration options for high-end AV installations (rich people's houses, etc.) but no API that you can integrate with to just handle toggling channels/inputs/power states/volumes.
(I did get my last Sony Bravia integrated with Homekit so that I could control inputs, volume, etc. via the Home app, but that's not really what I'm looking for).
Give me an HTTPS API, require me to authenticate devices on the TV itself before it accepts their commands, and just let me do whatever. Default it to off and make it a hidden setting, but yeah just let me do the thing without having to pay tens of thousands of dollars for some professional installation to integrate with hardware I don't have and can't afford.
I think the standard control for TV is the RS-232C port on the TV.
https://community.home-assistant.io/t/serial-projector-contr... from a quick search.
In the professional A/V integration world, it's normal for displays and projectors to have serial port interfaces that can be driven by commands from e.g. a Crestron controller or video switcher. Just not as much of a home/consumer thing.
Smart TVs don't exist for your convenience. They exist to track your behavior and serve you ads. If they happen to have some hackability, it's an accident or happy coincidence.
It always blows my mind why those rich people even bother with TVs. I'm not rich by any measure, but still I can afford a projector, a screen and a couple KRK monitors.
Truly rich people do not have TVs.
Or if they do own a ultra high end TV like a C Seed N1 they hide them away inconspicuously.
https://www.cseed.com/en/indoor-tv/c-seed-n1-tv.html
It is like eating cheap and nasty junk. If you are rich you avoid it or eat it discreetly...Or your acquaintances laugh at you.
Multi use rooms require TVs.
Projectors cannot handle ambient light without being a fire hazard.
>Multi use rooms require TVs
That seems an overstatement. I now have one in my entire house (don't have kids).
There's a fairly large TV panel on one wall in basically a sitting room. Otherwise I just use a computer. A relative basically has TVs in every room. I guess it maybe made sense when he was rebuilding anyway but it still seems excessive to me who might sit down to watch a movie or show but doesn't have live TV.
But, then, I don't have AC either in Massachusetts.
You misunderstood that sentence. They're talking purely about TV versus projector, not TV versus no big screen.
If you are rich you have single-use rooms. Hell, even I have a sleeping room, a cat room and a hacking room. It's not that expensive. The cat room doubles as a mini-cinema.
Ambient light is dealt with having nice thick blackout drapes.
This is not some rocket science, it was done for like a hundred years.
edit: actually in my former apartment I just bought a roll-down projector screen that completely covered the window. pull down - zero ambient light even in full sunshine.
Lots of people (even exceptionally wealthy ones) don't want to always have to go to the theater room to go watch something. Lots of people like having the TV on in the same way one might think about having a radio on, its not necessarily a thing they're exclusively focused on.
Take a look at this house:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5619-Walnut-Hill-Ln-Dalla...?
Sure, it has a theater room with probably an incredible projector I'd imagine. It also has a bar with a big TV behind it. It also has a game room with several TVs mounted on the walls. In both of those situations, you wouldn't really want a projection setup. A brighter TV wins out in the end.
I've seen lots of TVs mounted in outdoor living room/kitchen arrangements. They're common to find in living rooms even for people who have separate theater rooms. I've seen them mounted in garages. TVs have uses other than just pure cinematic experiences. And I say that as someone who has personally pushed TV watching to an exclusive space in my home and made a point to not have TVs everywhere. Other people like different things.
A relative likes to have TV on as ambient background. Drives me a bit crazy but, hey, I'm a guest. Also used to drive me nuts when I was on group trips with a roommate and their first reaction on entering a room was to turn the TV on.
Many smart meters have an LED that blinks every time you consume a watt-hour.
When I had a kitchen fire, I told my electrician "no smart stuff" and he was happy to go along. (I had very little previously.) He did simplify and updated my electrical panel and switches which sort of accreted over time.
Nowadays it's surprisingly easy to vibecode replacements to some shitty OEM apps (and fix bugs while you're at it). I've had pretty good luck with BT devices, even ones that dont use standard GATTs
Exactly.
I don't want a "smart" washer / dryer / fridge / toaster. I want a standard interface I can build my own system around, or use someone else's that they've already built.
I wish lock-in was as taboo as medieval Christian attitudes towards usury.
But weren't medieval Christian attitudes towards usury a good thing?