Has anyone seen this?
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/smartthings/smartthings-make-your-world-smarter
- Garrett
Interesting. Hopefully they have a solid Z-Wave engine. It would be great to have a set of solid alternatives.
There seem to be a lot of new things like this.
This one looks pretty interesting as it has multiple radios (z-wave, zigbee, etc). They are also opening their api’s and heavily promoting to the developer community. I may consider backing them up to see what the fuse is about.
- Garrett
It’s not really clear why you’d charge developers more for this device. Seems odd.
I’m watching SmartThings with a great deal of interest. Not as useful here in 240-volt land yet, so I’ll sit out this kickstart, but it’s really encouraging to see these smart-home projects for the masses finally start to appear.
I’ve been watching them as well. Sounds interesting, but I’m not yet ready to commit.
I like the idea of multiple radios and the open API. I just don’t want to get involved with an upstart company that might end up promising more than what they can deliver. (sound familiar?) 
This is simply evil.
Just taking the money from stupid people.
Acting like they’ve created the system when everything in their video already exists.
[quote=“electricessence, post:8, topic:172702”]This is simply evil.
Just taking the money from stupid people.
Acting like they’ve created the system when everything in their video already exists.[/quote]
I am sorry you feel this way and feel that you have to call people stupid for backing a company that might have something good to offer. Yes, there are many systems that already exists. Vera is one of them. Will I give up my Vera? Not a chance. I am always interested in other options and if I can integrate those options into my system, then I will. Your entitled to your opinion, but your comment is unnecessary.
- Garrett
I’m saying what I said for a reason. Kickstarter is an amazing way to do exactly what it says. But it’s also reached a point where it crosses the line into an easy con. Kickstarter admittedly doesn’t have a plan for reconciling failed or fraudulent projects. It hasn’t become an issue yet. But it is ripe for it.
The SmartThings project bothers me mainly because it “pretends” to be that easy and that they’re innovating it as if it was never done. SmartThings may be a great brand and looks like its getting the funding it needs. But if it were that impressive why arent they funded outside of Kickstarter?
Want to see an even more impressive project? (that may or may not succeed) Look at Ouya.
I’ve had the misfortune of having to deal with venture capitalists, so I can appreciate why someone would go to Kickstarter instead of finding more established backers for a new product. 
You’re right though; Kickstarter and the people who pledge their money give far less scrutiny to a product, to the fledgling company making it, and to its leadership (not unimportant!) than a VC company will. The possibility for fraud is there, as is the possibility of failure to produce the promised product, or failure to properly support it. But the latter is no different from a traditionally funded new venture. I’d be very much interested to see the figures comparing the success rate of Kickstarter projects versus VC-funded ones.
In this case, I share some of your scepticism. There is a huge opportunity to improve the usability of home control software and hardware, but it is by no means an easy task! I for one will wait and see what these guys come up with instead of jumping in now, but I agree with Garrett as well: it would be great to see some competition in this space.
Agree with competition. And their page says they’ll be zwave compatible.
But again, very skeptical.
[quote=“electricessence, post:10, topic:172702”]I’m saying what I said for a reason. Kickstarter is an amazing way to do exactly what it says. But it’s also reached a point where it crosses the line into an easy con. Kickstarter admittedly doesn’t have a plan for reconciling failed or fraudulent projects. It hasn’t become an issue yet. But it is ripe for it.
The SmartThings project bothers me mainly because it “pretends” to be that easy and that they’re innovating it as if it was never done. SmartThings may be a great brand and looks like its getting the funding it needs. But if it were that impressive why arent they funded outside of Kickstarter?
Want to see an even more impressive project? (that may or may not succeed) Look at Ouya.[/quote]
Is it possible this is a scam? Absolutely. I would also mention that I don’t believe people should get their money back from a failed kickstarter project. Kickstarter to me is going to regular joes for venture capital. You take a gamble when you back a company there. Not every company will be successful.
I backed smarthings for a few reasons and I think they will be successful. Do you know who Kevin Rose is? He created Digg.com and works at google now. Before Smartthings went public on kickstarter, he had an inside look it appears. He is openly supporting it.
It appears that they have working prototypes. They seem to have every bit of evidence that they will be successful.
I like what I see but at the same time I am a bit weary to sink money into it at this time as they don’t provide much detail about their smartthings. However, they may be able to provide options I cannot currently do with Vera or provide them at a lower price.
I’m definitely interested in their smartthingy for my 3 dogs. Although they know better than to escape, it would be a good safety net. However, it would depend on the sturdiness of that tag. It sure beats some of the other options that come with a hefty fee. I’m also interested in their open/close and moisture sensors as again, they seem cheaper than the z-wave alternatives I looked at.
From what I saw in the video, their conditions setting for certain events/alerts seems very intuitive. However, no real detail so it’s hard to determine the flexibility of the system.
Since Garrett is interested I am fervently hoping Authomation would end up being able to handle both Vera and Smarthub and act as a control for both. Now that would definitely cause me to switch from iPhone to an Android one.
did you check out their latest update? sounds like they will have international support…
Huh, look at that, so they do. But without smart outlets. If they are just going to bundle locally-available Z-Wave outlets, well, I already have Vera.
What I find interesting is that HA is really trending on kickstarter… in addition to the smart things, there are a few other projects relevant to HA:
LIFX, http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/limemouse/lifx-the-light-bulb-reinvented?ref=category
Ubi, http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/607691307/ubi-the-ubiquitous-computer-voice-activated-and-al-0?ref=card
The Luminode http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/787856320/the-luminode-an-evolutionary-leap-in-smart-home-te
interesting times
[quote=“electricessence, post:10, topic:172702”]I’m saying what I said for a reason. Kickstarter is an amazing way to do exactly what it says. But it’s also reached a point where it crosses the line into an easy con. Kickstarter admittedly doesn’t have a plan for reconciling failed or fraudulent projects. It hasn’t become an issue yet. But it is ripe for it.
The SmartThings project bothers me mainly because it “pretends” to be that easy and that they’re innovating it as if it was never done. SmartThings may be a great brand and looks like its getting the funding it needs. But if it were that impressive why arent they funded outside of Kickstarter?
Want to see an even more impressive project? (that may or may not succeed) Look at Ouya.[/quote]
I have two questions for you. Would you rather live in a world where only Microsoft wrote computer OSes? And would you rather pitch a VC before or after a successful KS campaign? Yeesh.
Nice troll question. Sheesh.
I’d like to live in a world of honesty. Where instead of preying on people’s ignorance claims are made based on merit. If you’re an iPhone user like me, you might get excited to see words like “iPhone” or “apps” but in reality these are just market speak. Buzzwords.
There is already plenty of competition in this space. Real innovation will come at a hefty price to the brand and the consumer. What I’d like to see is a brand that really no BS delivers usefulness. Having an app on your phone that turns lights on and off is a gimmick versus having a service or device that makes your life easier, has real value. Selling on a gimmick bothers me.
If they were more straight about what they were doing: “we hope to do it better” versus “we’re doing it” (kind of like Apple’s BS most of the time) I’d be more supportive. To be blunt, their video makes my skin crawl. Like the guy is spewing so much BS out of his mouth it makes me sick. “Watch me build a better mousetrap.” Oh wait, aren’t there plenty of mousetraps already? Oh, wait do I even really have a rodent problem? Oh wait, what risks come with this new (open platform) mousetrap?
He acts like it’s easy. All you have to do is buy our unit. Support us and life will be a panacea of automation. NOT TRUE. Truth is, it will be expensive. As us Vera/Z-wave users know, it costs money per device! Will the remote service be free like Mios or will it cost a monthly fee like others. For existing HA consumers, will this simply replace our Vera and simply work better? Or for new HA users, how much will an average home cost? They’re not saying this because less people would commit to their project.
Ultimately, I foresee a lot of pissed off pledge consumers (aka early adopters) who painfully will end up beta testers for this ambitious project. In time, if SmartThings can overcome the challenges that we all know they have to face (but don’t discuss) then they may really become a competitor and possibly a leader in the space. But that is all in the future. Will I support them? Sure, I’ll buy their product when it’s proven and is clearly better than the alternative.
@BOFH:
I also have a dog and did some research recently on GPS tracking and other similar collar attachments.
There is very little existing already that really meets my needs. For those willing to spend $7/month every month, Tagg is probably the best for many reasons. I wanted a device that I didn’t have to pay a monthly fee and only needed to be active some of the time. Again, these devices exist, but they may not work well as a collar attachment, and even Tagg users complain about it coming off the collar.
This example of a SmartThing device is exactly why SmartThings bothers me. It’s like saying, “SmartThings, it dices, it slices, it mows the lawn, walks the dog, and cleans the kitchen while you’re away!” (The old, ‘What if’ selling point.) It doesn’t say, “If fido get’s out, we only tell you he gets out, and that’s only if his collar is still on.” A pet tracker device is what it is and lives in an entirely different market space of competition and innovation. Why does it need to live in a SmartThing universe? Is the SmartThing hub the only way I can receive information or keep an eye on my dog? This is just silly… It doesn’t even make sense for pet-tracker product development to isolate itself to relying on a separate independent device.