Startup remotely 'bricks' grumpy bloke's IoT car garage door – then hits reverse gear An Internet of Things maker has just had first-hand experience of the Streisand effect – after remotely killing a customer's Wi-Fi garage door for being rude. Garadget builds and sells a so-called smart door opener that can be operated remotely from a smartphone app. Once installed, Garadget's $99 gizmo wirelessly connects to …
Third party services are controlled by third parties.
Stop using them if this is unacceptable.
Nothing left? Yeah, that's because you guys didn't do this but instead bought into that kind of junk.
To be honest, nowadays, can't you just buy a garage door opener kit and stick any kind of remote Wifi/GSM-activated thing on it? Why do you need the intermediate server, which is just another thing to go wrong?
Why indeed? But my housemate wanted to be able to control the central heating from her smartphone, and when I looked into it the options seemed to be either having both the device and the phone talking out through the firewall onto some suppliers server, or else custom building a load of hardware myself.
The first is unacceptable to me on security grounds, and the second is more hassle than I want to get into. Just seems damn silly to me. But the end result: I get a text to go and turn the central heating down...
when I looked into it the options seemed to be either having both the device and the phone talking out through the firewall onto some suppliers server, or else custom building a load of hardware myself.
Why not just isolate the thermostat into its own VLAN?
> when I looked into it the options seemed to be either having both the device and the phone talking out through the firewall onto some suppliers server, or else custom building a load of hardware myself.
There are a number of options which require neither, starting at around £200 for the cheap consumer-level stuff from manufacturers in France and Poland and going all the way to £4,000+ for industrial systems, depending on the level of reliability you require.
> the desire was to control the central heating using the smart phone
> " But the end result: I get a text to go and turn the central heating down..." mission achieved
I used to have a developer like that: he made sure to take the most literalistic interpretation possible (just barely) for any requirement, completely untainted by common sense (or aesthetics).
my housemate wanted to be able to control the central heating from her smartphone
Sounds completely - completely - pointless. If you need to change your heating settings more than a few times a year it's probably set wrong or you don't understand how timers and thermostats work and probably shouldn't be allowed near an app anyway.. Just throwing that out there.
"Sounds completely - completely - pointless. If you need to change your heating settings more than a few times a year it's probably set wrong or you don't understand how timers and thermostats work and probably shouldn't be allowed near an app anyway.. Just throwing that out there."
Where the hell do you live? Season's don't just change overnight and go from hot to cold...
"Where the hell do you live? Season's don't just change overnight and go from hot to cold..."
Well they do here in the East Midlands, especially at this time of year. Last week we had to keep bumping the thermostat manually up a degree. A few weeks before that the heating never came on because the house was at 19 degrees for several days.
Last week we had to keep bumping the thermostat manually up a degree. A few weeks before that the heating never came on because the house was at 19 degrees for several days.
Why did you have to alter the thermostat when it was cold? Isn't the point of a thermostat to maintain a constant temperature by switching the heating (or individual radiators) off and on? The fact that your heating didn't come on when the weather was warm suggests that the thermostat is working as expected.
Doesn't matter where you live or how rapidly the season - or the weather - changes, if you set your thermostat to maintain your desired minimum internal temperature then you can leave your heating enabled all the time and it will only come on if the temperature drops below whatever value you set.
If you set your thermostat way high and then rely on timers or switching your boiler on and off by the time of year to limit how long your heating should run for then you are definitely in the "box it up and send it back, you obviously don't have a clue how to use it" category.
Well, the user requirement is to turn the heating down when she goes to bed, which is randomly any time from 10:30 pm to 1:30 am, so its kinda tricky to schedule on a timer. You may think that's an odd requirement, but trust me, you don't want to argue the point.
"But IMHO if you are stationary on public road with the handbrake on you can operate the phone as you see fit."
You would think so but not always the case. You are still in control of the vehicle whilst you are "driving". The definition of driving can also mean when the engine is running (and some people have been booked even with the engine off, handbrake on and parked up because the keys were in the ignition!). Even on your own driveway, supermarket car park, national trust land - whatever, if the keys are in the ignition and you are fiddling on your phone then plod can have a go (you might have a better defence if the engine wasn't running). If plod want to book you then they WILL book you and magistrates tend to side with the plod in either case.
Oddly enough, a standalone satnav, bluetooth garage dongle etc would have to fall under driving without due care and attention, this would need a much higher benchmark or proof. The phone though, much lower burden of proof. Shitty I know but that is how stupid the law is.
"You may think that's an odd requirement, but trust me, you don't want to argue the point."
I'll take your word for the last bit. But if I wanted to turn off the heating at some random time, after racking my brains for a while, I think I'd come up with the idea of just pushing the switch.
Well, the user requirement is to turn the heating down when she goes to bed, which is randomly any time from 10:30 pm to 1:30 am, so its kinda tricky to schedule on a timer.
As well as the options mentioned already, there are also thermostats with a PIR sensor, so that it stays at the high preset as long as it detects a body*.
* Doesn't work for people huddled in a blanket and stiff from the cold due to an improperly set thermostat.
On the other side of it...if one can't be bothered to get up and walk to the thermostat to change it digitally (ie, with your digits, your *fingers*) then its not a comfort thing as much as one simply wanting something to fidget with.
You just assumed the household has a regular occupancy pattern. That's not true for all households, and those with irregular patterns do have a use for "warm up the house, I've arrived back from the sales trip" functionality.
"But my housemate wanted to be able to control the central heating from her smartphone"
Pick up phone.
walk over to the heating control
use corner of phone to poke the up/down arrow on the control
mission accomplished
either having both the device and the phone talking out through the firewall onto some suppliers server, or else custom building a load of hardware myself.
The first is unacceptable to me on security grounds, and the second is more hassle than I want to get into.
Sounds like a business opportunity for someone who can package the home automation server into a device for installing at your own location easily!
Same reason my friend's Honeywell Wi-Fi thermostat "needed" a cloud server. Because Honeywell WANTS it that way.
Since the thing's totally unencrypted, I found I could send simple JSON commands directly to it. No "server" needed.
When I wanted a remote garage door so I could just ride up on my motorcycle, I couldn't find "any kind of remote Wifi/GSM-activated thing" so I have a Raspberry Pi that my phone talks to over the cell connection when the GPS says I'm near home. I made damned sure to make it TLS-encrypted though, so no-one can snoop my fairly simple protocol, and my phone presents the certificate for authorization.
"When I wanted a remote garage door so I could just ride up on my motorcycle, I couldn't find "any kind of remote Wifi/GSM-activated thing" so I have a Raspberry Pi that my phone talks to over the cell connection when the GPS says I'm near home. I made damned sure to make it TLS-encrypted though, so no-one can snoop my fairly simple protocol, and my phone presents the certificate for authorization."
Patented that? Sounds like you actually have a good idea for Kickstarter, or at least a good opportunity for some karma points by publishing the instructions...
Hang on. Someone steals your phone and your motorcycle, then they drive to your home and the garage automatically opens itself for them? Then they ride off on your precious lawnmower?
Well done, Anonymous of Symonds Yat, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, known to his neighbours as "Ali Baba with the motorcycle".
Devils advocate.....
Not sure if that's true. I think if you haven't completed your journey (and are still on a public road) you are still driving, despite been parked with handbrake on. I'm assuming engine still running etc.
The police will prosecute you or give you a ticket if you're using your mobile while stationary with handbrake on, at red traffic lights for example. They say you're still driving, despite not moving, and so can't be distracted by the mobile phone.
I know the chances of getting a ticket while operating your garage doors (from the public road) with an app is practically nil, but I've got my pedants head on. :-)
I can't understand why they don't just get out of the car and open the garage by hand. Oh, it's too low tech, you say? I understand now.
I remember a news item about a woman who did that ON HER OWN DRIVEWAY and some passing youth jumped in the car and drove off. So as well as getting out (possibly in pouring rain) you'd have to take the key out of the ignition.
(All that said, I've always had only manual opening garage doors, but not lived in areas where the bad stuff happens)
"But I don't believe the Police are in the habit of lurking outside your house hoping to catch you using a door app on your phone"
Prime example of missing the issue here. The reason the police could trap you is because it's illegal to do so whilst driving. The reason it's illegal is because it's dangerous. This is one instance where "think of the children" is relevant. They might even be the driver's own children.
As well as 6 points on your licence in the UK unless you stop the car and turn off the engine before operating the phone.
Only on public property. n your drive no problem - although if you run over your stooping granny it might be taken into account when sentencing.
And of course if your app uses GPS location....
"P.S. They have actually existed since 1950s, also if you are IN the car, needing to use a phone app is a retrograde step from models fitted on a car."
Back in the day, 1982 or 1983, my dad fitted an opener for our garage(1), remotely triggered by a short-range radio widget clipped on the driver's side sun visor. No third-party servers (FFS the ARPANET had only just switched to TCP/IP), no WiFi, nothing like that.
(1) The less said about the placement of this garage the better, mostly because sane people would use highly bleepable language. A previous owner of the house had demolished a ground-level garage beside the house in favour of digging a hole in the ground, knocking a hole in the side of the house, and converting that end of the basement into a garage. The result was that in heavy rain conditions, the drywell under the lowest part of the drive backed up and the drive flooded. My parents bought a submersible pump for it, but even with that, on one memorable occasion we baled it out because the pump wasn't able to keep up.
You're kidding right?
GSM, Wifi and Bluetooth controlled relays are everywhere. You can pick them up in Maplin's if you want.
And, no, we're not just talking solder-together kits but proper pre-built and support modules where you just power the thing, and then put the "button" wires through the relay. Job done.
Hell, for £10 on Amazon, I bought a GSM-controlled device that monitors GPS (even when the car is off), texts me if the car moves, tracks the car in real-time, alerts on overspeed, etc. as well as allows me to listen in to a microphone in the car, text the car and cut off the fuel pump, etc. by relay (included in the box!). It was literally cheap Amazon junk that can do exactly what you're asking.
I also have an house alarm that does the same (text it to activate a relay as a side-effect of it's 8-zone PIR / reed switch, battery backed house alarm functionality).
There are also bluetooth sensors that can activate when a particular bluetooth device comes in range / leaves range - sounds ideal for that purpose, no messing about with apps, just driving up to the garage with your phone switched on and it opens up.
Hell, my garden gate is maglock with an RFID reader and my girlfriend and I both have RFID tags. She uses it from her bike (push bike, mind) so that she can cycle up, fob the reader without having to get off, then ride into the alleyway directly. It cost me £10 on Amazon too, and came with a bag of fobs. If she loses the fob (like if your phone app doesn't work!), she just types in a code instead.
There's no need for poking holes in firewalls or other junk if you buy the right stuff. Which is often the cheapest junk because it has no subscription or dependence on a massive server infrastructure to do a simple job.
To be honest, nowadays, can't you just buy a garage door opener kit and stick any kind of remote Wifi/GSM-activated thing on it? Why do you need the intermediate server, which is just another thing to go wrong?
The key problem is that you hand off control to a third party (who, in this case, could also have a rogue insider opening doors when they shouldn't). Unfortunately, I would guess that a rather large part of the people who buy such gadgets don't realise this. For people like me, the mention of a "free account" is enough warning to avoid the product altogether.
I also wonder what your insurance will do when you have a burglary stolen and they discover you have this installed. That could make it all a lot more costly than just the initial purchase..
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