Top 3 Mobile Technology Trend, You Can’t Miss In 2018.

Top 3 Mobile Technology Trend, You Can’t Miss In 2018.

Hardik Gandhi   January 04, 2018

Credit: BOD

Before I kick-start this article, please allow me to wish

“ A Very Very Very… Happy New Year 2018” To all you lovely readers and my well wishers.

It has been an amazing journey so far being a part of this mobile app revolution since 2006, I feel blessed to see both pre & post smartphone evolution era and having experienced the change myself being the developer, leader and now a father of my own mobility startup. So thought to analyze the trend setters which kind of will rule this new year.

So here is my Top three technology trends you all should look out for in your endeavors in this new year 2018, which as always, will offer you loads of new opportunities to rock this world. Being a part of this mobile app ecosystem I feel immense pride while writing this piece of article for all you visionaries and future mobile apprenuer.

1. Augmented Reality/ Virtual Reality:

Wiki Defines AR as :

Augmented reality (AR) is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are “augmented” by computer-generated or extracted real-world sensory input such as sound, video, graphics, haptics or GPS data.

As per Wiki VR is :

Virtual reality (VR) is a computer technology that uses virtual reality headsets or multi-projected environments, sometimes in combination with physical environments or props, to generate realistic images, sounds and other sensations that simulate a user’s physical presence in a virtual or imaginary environment.

As Per Digi-Capital New Report in 2017:

Mobile AR could become the primary driver of a $108 billion VR/AR market by 2021 (underperform $94 billion, outperform $122 billion) with AR taking the lion’s share of $83 billion and VR $25 billion.

In 2017 a lot has happened in this AR where Google & Apple invested heavily to harness the true potential of it. Apple has launched ARKit & Google has come up with ARCore, for developer to innovate and create some meaningful mobile solutions for the smartphone users.

source

As AR helps in adding a digital layer over virtual information to give a more realistic and unambiguous outlook. AR intertwined apps will gradually empower retail, life science, manufacturing, and many other domains through a wide range AR apps being developed to cater these sectors.

I Feel :

AR will take a huge leap forward to further revolutionize the ever progressing gaming industry and will stretch beyond it to empower the digital marketing world where gamification will be employed to attract & acquire new consumer for brands . All marketers need to adopt this tool to target their customers beyond conventional physical marketing. With most of the marketers seeing augmented reality as a way to provide a compelling user experience, we will soon be seeing a plethora of creative AR apps alluring consumers to buy their customized offerings

Virtual Reality technologies will be more focused on the game and events sphere as it is already doing so in 2017 and will go beyond to add more evolved app usage experience to offer an elevated dose of entertainment for the gaming user.

I find:

With iPhone X, Apple is trying to change the face of AR by making it a common use case for masses. Also A whole bunch of top tech players think this technology which is also called a mixed reality or immersive environments — is all set to create a truly digital-physical blended environment for the people who are majorly consuming digital world through their mobile power house

Some of The Popular AR/VR Companies(As reported by Fast Company):

1. Google: is using VR to analyse your your living room
2. Snapchat: Helping their app suer to control of their own augmented reality
3. FACEBOOK: For gathering IRL friends in VR
4. NVIDIA: For providing the power to process VR

& Many More …..

source: statista

2. Internet Of Things: A Connected World Of H/w & Software:

source

With Gartner predicting 26 bn connected devices by 2020 which ranges from LEDs, Toys, Sports equipment, medical equipment, to controllable power sockets.We will be privileged to witness the world where everything will connected with these small devices thereby bringing information right where you are standing. Also these information will be tapped right were it is being generated to empower the data centre using Edge Computing tech.

The smart objects will be interacting with our smartphone/tablets which will eventually function like our TV remort displaying and analyzing data, interfacing with social networks to monitor “things” that can tweet or post, paying for subscription services, ordering replacement consumables and updating object firmware.

Big Tech Gaints Are Already Bullish On IoT Connected World:

• Microsoft is powering their popular IIS(Intelligent Systems Service) by integrating IoT capabilities to their enterprise service offerings.
• Some of the known communication technology powering IoT concept is RFID, WIFI, EnOcean, RiotOS etc….
• Google is working on two of its ambitious project called Nest & Brillo which is circled around usage of IoT to fuel your home automation needs. Brillo is an IoT OS which enables Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy, and other Android stuffs.

Established companies such as Microsoft, with its Intelligent Systems Service, and enterprise software vendors likes SAP, with its Internet of Things Solutions, are also adding Internet of Things capabilities to their offerings.

• Amazon launched ‘Amazon Echo’ a amazing tech which works on your voice command to answer your queries, play songs and control smart devices within certain range.

I Feel:

IoT & IoT Based Apps:

Is here to stay and will be playing a very crucial rule in helping you navigate this world with more ease & comfort, making your commuting safe, your communication smart, your shopping productive, your learning more engaging and much more.. to make your living effective and efficient. In fact, IoT is slowly becoming part of every aspect of our lives. Not only will IoT apps augment our comfort, but they will also extend us more control to simplify routine work life and personal tasks.

Internet Of Things Evolution:

source: aig

Most of IoT powered devices are already relying on mobile devices to syndicate data, especially in case of consumer IoT. With the surge in overall uses of Internet of Things , I feel more mobile apps will be developed for management of these smart devices.

3. Blockchain: Powering the World Of Cryptos:

As Per Investopedia:

A blockchain is a digitized, decentralized, public ledger of all cryptocurrency transactions. Constantly growing as ‘completed’ blocks (the most recent transactions) are recorded and added to it in chronological order, it allows market participants to keep track of digital currency transactions without central recordkeeping. Each node (a computer connected to the network) gets a copy of the blockchain, which is downloaded automatically.

To know more about blockchain, please refer

1. Blockchain Technology Part 1 : What and Why ?
2. Smart Contract A Blockchain Innovation for Non-Techies

source

As per recent study by IBM

9 in 10 government firms are planning to invest in blockchain for financial transaction management, asset management, contract management and regulatory compliance purposes.

Another research by Infosys says:

One-third of banks are expected to adopt commercial blockchain in 2018.

So it is quite clear that secured transactions based mobility solution will rule the fin-tech & other industry where security lies at the core. App developers will have a crucial role to play where they will be expected to develop more innovative app solutions to cater the need for secure & connected world. Your mobile phones are generating lots of confidential informations which needs to be secured from the third party breaches. So techies gear up and pull up your socks as, I feel Blockchain-based security mechanism are expected to be developed on mobile apps in the coming years and will needed in all kinds of industries ranging from fin-tech, eCommerce, Insurance tech etc….

Blockchain powered cryptos like bitcoin, ripple, Ethereum is already a rage in the technology & investment world. It has fascinated the imagination of many tech innovators leading them to adopt blockchain tech to develop wallets & currencies and most of them are being developed on mobile devices & computer systems, thereby offerings lots of opportunities for techies to adopt it as futuristic career options.

Using the blockchain tech entrepreneurs will be developing a solutions mostly over mobile to validate transactions securely, manage contracts smartly, store digital currencies(like bitcoins ,XRP etc), manage voting, secure hassle free shopping, powering banking transactions and many more innovative solutions which will be targeted towards making consumers life more resourceful and productive eventually.

Blockchain Use Case By R3:

source

There are many more trends which will be disrupting the mobility world like

• Artificial Intelligence : Where Machine learning , Deep Learning all will play a crucial role in fueling intelligence to the machines to help them make smart decisions without human interventions. Mobile chatbots is one of the prime example of one such use case of AI. Apps like Siri, Google Now are already harnessing AI technology and will be inspiring many more voice based and Images based AI innovations to be made by mobile appreneurs. Mobile data will be tapped giving it more intelligent forms by app developers to make our life smarter with time.
• Mobile computing/Cloud computing :Based mobility solutions will be in high demand specially for big enterprises where business decisions are made based on intelligent data analytics . All these will be stored over the cloud and mobile will play a major role in harnessing the power of those data to serve consumer in real time.

Some of My Other Relevant Tech Article Which Can be Useful:

1. All About Edge Computing- How It Is Changing The Present Past & Future Of IoT?
2. Top 3 Technology Trends For 2018, Which Will Be A Game Changer !
3. All You Wanted To Know About BitCoin?
4. NLP Fundamentals: Where Humans Team Up With Machines To Help It Speak

Summary:

Having seen the world of mobility, changing from feature phone to a smartphone era I feel amazed how it has transformed the life of humans. Now we can communicate in split seconds, transact in no time, buy what we need with one touch, get entertained when & where we want, shower our love to our closed ones without being physically present and do many more things which one can imagine just over this tiny powerful device.

So as a developer and as a tech visionary you have, the greater responsibility to make sure that you are creating tools which complements user needs and impacts them deeply. It’s your duty to entertain them, educate them, and to make them feel safe & secure on the go.

Ending by, extending my sincere gratitude to all you awesome readers for showering all your love & constantly inspiring me to write more & learn more eventually.

The Best Electric Skateboard of 2017

The Best Electric Skateboard of 2017

Hardik Gandhi   January 04, 2018

The people have spoken! (But let’s run the numbers anyway).

Is the Enertion Raptor 2 the best electric skateboard of 2017? | Follow me on Instagram

On the 19th of December 2017, Jay Boston hosted his own electric skateboard awards initiative. A cool little idea, particularly considering it was the electric skateboard community itself deciding who would receive the honors.

1,387 people participated in an online survey that decided the winners in each category. Granted, I’m sure a lot of the respondents were Australian, hence the results seemed a little top heavy towards boards that are easily accessible to us here downunder. Hopefully the event garners a little more international participation each year to help even out the results a bit. There were categories where such boards as Metroboard, Carvon and Trampa should have been mentioned, but they were no where to be seen! Nevertheless, it’s a great initiative and will hopefully grow from strength to strength in the coming years. A quick shout-out to Jay for having me on as a guest — cheers mate!

The Enertion Raptor 2 was crowned the overall winner of the best electric skateboard of 2017 — as voted for by the people.

You can check out the video of the live event below:

Go to 1:10.38 to see the Raptor 2 announced as the best electric skateboard of 2017

Nominations were only open to boards that had actually delivered production units to customers in 2017. Enertion, with just under a couple of hundred Raptor 2 units in the field at the time the awards were streamed, got in by the skin of their teeth. However, the fact that the Raptor 2 won tells us that those people who have a Raptor 2, as well as the multitude of people who have tested the board on ride days and events, are clearly very, VERY impressed with Enertion’s end result.

I thought it might be interesting to compare the peoples choice with something a little more academic, finishing off with a bit of commentary regarding the results and any differences between them.

Below I’ve selected what are arguably the 10 most popular production boards of 2017.

(Boards selected are single and dual drive boards in street configuration only. This analysis is focused on the upper end of the market towards boards that might be considered “premium” or “top-tier” by companies owned and operated from such places as the United States, Australia and Europe).

Boosted Board Gen2 Dual+

Top Speed: 22mph (35kph)| Range: 7 miles (11 kms)| Hills: 25% | RRP: $1758.90 USD

Carvon EVO V4 Dual

Top Speed: 40mph (64kph)| Range: 25 miles (40km)| Hills: 15% | RRP: $1999 USD

Enertion Raptor 2

Top Speed: 30.5mph (49kph)| Range: 25 miles (40km)| Hills: 30% | RRP: $1759.18 USD

Evolve Bamboo GT

Top Speed: 26mph (42kph)| Range: 19 miles (30km)| Hills: 25% | RRP: $1459.98 USD

Evolve Carbon GT

Top Speed: 26mph (42kph)| Range: 31 miles (50km)| Hills: 25% | RRP: $2069.98 USD

Evolve GTX

Top Speed: 26mph (42kph)| Range: 31 miles (50km)| Hills: 25% | RRP: $1728.99 USD

Inboard M1

Top Speed: 22mph (35kph)| Range: 7 miles (11km)| Hills: 17% | RRP: $1399 USD

Mellow Board (drive only)

Top Speed: 25mph (40kph)| Range: 8.5 miles (13km)| Hills: 20% | RRP: $1694.53 USD*

Metroboard 41" Slim Stealth Edition (Single)

Top Speed: 24mph (38kph)| Range: 40 miles (64km)| Hills: 25% | RRP: $1649 USD

Metroboard 41" Stealth Dual

Top Speed: 24mph (38kph)| Range: 25 miles (40km)| Hills: 30% | RRP: $1899 USD

A couple of notes on the above: All prices are RRP in USD (specials, sales, shipping, taxes and other fluctuations are not taken into consideration). All specs are taken directly from the US or international websites of the board manufacturers themselves (correct as of December 2017). Boosted finally announced the release of their extended range battery in late 2017, which “doubles the range”. However, not only is the extended range battery not a standard item, I don’t think anyone outside of a few YouTubers actually got their batteries in 2017. It should be noted that Carvon have a second EVO V4 Dual model called the ‘XL’, which has the same range, a lower top speed of 35mph, but a much higher hill climbing capacity of 25%, which rivals many of the other boards on this list. It comes at a cost of $100 more than the standard EVO V4 Dual at $2099 USD. The ‘XL’ was not included in this comparison as to my knowledge no (or very few) units made it into the hands of the public in 2017. I even debated on whether or not to include the regular EVO (known as the R-Spec), as there’s barely any units in public hands, but they are out there. The listed top speed of the Evolve boards is taken from the known achievable top speed on 97mm wheels, the most popular wheel choice for Evolve riders and the standard wheel size on the GTX. As the Bamboo GT and Carbon GT come with 83mm wheels as standard, the RRP has been adjusted to include a set of ABEC11 97mm Flywheels as priced on the Evolve USA website (109.99 USD) in both circumstances. The Mellow Board lists a range bracket between 7.5 and 10 miles on their website. For the sake of simplicity I chose 8.5 miles as somewhere in the middle. Like Evolve, the top speed spec of the Metroboards is based on the 97mm wheel option in both circumstances. Both Metroboards in this comparison have been tricked out — 97mm wheels for both, 10 watt lights for both and the single drive has the biggest battery available included in the comparison. Metroboard hill climbing specs are estimates as they’re not included on the Metroboard website. The single drive is known to rival Boosted’s and Evolve’s (25%), so by virtue of that knowledge the dual drive must exceed this (30% or more).

*Please see further notes about Mellow Board pricing in the ‘Pricing’ section of this article.

Ranking System Used

In each category (top speed, range, hills and RRP) each board is given a number from lowest to highest based on a best-to-worst order: 1 being the best/cheapest then ascending in score until we get to the worst/most expensive.

The board with the lowest scores are the best in each category and overall (avg).

Top Speed

The Carvon EVO V4 Dual. 2017’s fastest production board! | Source: carvonskates.com

The Carvon EVO V4 Dual is the king of speed in 2017. There’s then quite a drop down to the Enertion Raptor 2 in second place, which is still significantly faster than the next bunch of boards — the Evolve line-up, which all punch out the same top speed. The Mellow Board is hovering around the middle followed closely by the two Metroboards, which each punch out the same top speed. Down the bottom of the list we have the Boosted Board Gen2 Dual+ and the Inboard M1.

From where I’m sitting I’d expect anything with a score of 3 to 5 to all be very similar in real life. It’s really splitting hairs. From that bracket it is a significant step up to the Raptor 2 and then an even bigger step up again to the EVO (maybe too much?)

The Boosted Board and Inboard M1 are significantly over-rated in the speed department.

Range

Metroboard 41" Slim Stealth Edition (single) with a 17.6AH battery for the longest range! | Source: metro-board.com

There are five distinct categories here: We have the Metroboard single that’s in a class of its own! Then we have the Evolve GTX and Carbon GT, which essentially share the same battery. Next we have the upper-middle class of range: The Carvon EVO, Enertion Raptor 2 and Metroboard Dual. The Evolve Bamboo GT stands alone as a mid-range board and our list ends with the low-range, swappable battery category of boards. An optimist might consider the final category to be even better than the ones above it, as swappable batteries can in reality mean “endless range”. The problem being, of course, that more batteries equals more $$$…

Hill Climbing

The Metroboard 41" Stealth Dual. A widely reported incline killer! | Source: metro-board.com

I’d say we’re looking at four distinct categories of hill climbing here. The first category is reserved for certified incline killers! The Enertion Raptor 2 and Metroboard Dual! Then we have a range of aggressive hill climbers ranging from the Evolve line-up, Boosted Board and Metroboard single. The Mellow stands alone as a moderate hill climber, and our list ends with a couple of boards that shy away from inclines, the Carvon EVO and Inboard M1.

It should be noted that with the optional 38T drive gear and hard duro/small wheels, the Evolve GT/GTX line-up are also capable of climbing hills on par with (even better than?) the Metroboard Stealth Dual and Enertion Raptor 2. Video here. However, the 38T drive gear is not standard.

The Enertion Raptor 2. Conquers 30% inclines with ease! | Source: thatesk8life.com

Raptor 2 vs. 30% incline. Raptor 2 wins!

Price

Note: The Mellow Board pricing was taken straight from mellowboards.com and converted from EUR to USD. After publication I was made aware of mellowboardusa.com, where adjusted pricing can be found direct from the US distributor. The difference being that shipping a drive unit from Europe would have a considerable shipping fee attached to it. It’s clear this cost (and other sundry costs) has been incorporated into the US distributor price of $1,995. Please make your own adjustments and determinations regarding this as you read the rest of the article.

The Inboard M1 is the best priced electric skateboard in the upper end of the market. | Source: bestbuy.com

In the Sub-$1500 category we have the Inboard M1 and Evolve Bamboo GT. In the $1500-$1800 category we have the Metroboard single, Mellow Board, Evolve GTX, Boosted Board and Enertion Raptor 2. In the $1800 and above category we have the Metroboard Dual, Carvon EVO and Evolve Carbon GT (man, carbon fiber is expensive!)

And The Winner Is…

The equal winners of this little test couldn’t be more different! According to just raw specs vs. price, the best electric skateboard of 2017 is a tie between the Evolve Bamboo GT and the Metroboard 41" Slim Stealth Edition (single)!

On paper the Evolve Bamboo GT represents well-rounded specs at a reasonable price. In addition, Evolve also have that tempting 2-in-1 conversion capability, allowing you to fit pneumatic all-terrain tyres to your board making it an entirely different beast!

Evolve Bamboo GT. Best bang for your buck! But the battery sag is a killer! | Source: evolveskateboards.com.au

If you can forgo the need for pneumatic all-terrain tyres, I believe the Metroboard single to be a far better option. Top speed between the two is splitting hairs, they both climb the same grade hills, but the Metroboard has insane range! Spend approx $200 more to get the Metroboard single over the Bamboo GT and you instantly upgrade from a 19 mile range board to a 40 mile range board! Again, that’s insane!

Metroboard 41" Slim Stealth Edition (single). Equal score, but an entirely different beast with out of this world range! | Source: metro-board.com

The next issue to tackle is one of aesthetics vs. quality. The Evolve looks better, there’s no denying it. It has nice flex, dual kingpin trucks (if that’s your thing) and is just an all-round slimmer and sexier design. The Metroboard is not as slim and stealth as its namesake. It rides high and stiff compared to an Evolve. When it comes to the argument of quality, however, the opposite is true. Evolve’s quality and reliability has been called into question time and time again, whereas Metroboard’s are known as bullet proof tanks! Then there’s the question of batteries. Paper specs tell us the Bamboo GT has a 19 mile range, but due to the low quality cells Evolve use in their battery packs, Evolve boards generally suffer from the worst battery sag in the industry. I think it would be fair to say that the Bamboo GT actually gets about 14 miles of enjoyable/manageable range, which now really tilts the scales in favor of the Metroboard single.

My Thoughts on the Results

If you had to call a winner out of the two tied boards, it would have to be the Metroboard 41" Slim Stealth Edition (single). For speed, range and hill climbing vs. dollar + quality and reliability, it just can’t be beat!

Of course, however, there will be people who don’t need 40 miles worth of range and would much prefer to have the option for pneumatic all-terrain tyres, save $200 and get the Bamboo GT. There will also be people who just plain don’t like the look/feel of something like the Metroboard.

One of the most interesting results for me was the gap between the Evolve GTX and Carbon GT. These are essentially the exact same board — they have the same top speed, range and hill climbing capability. The difference is purely cost. That carbon fiber deck must cost a pretty penny! The GTX comes in at $1728.99, whereas the Carbon GT comes in at $2069.98 (which also includes a set of ABEC11 97mm Flywheels, otherwise the board wont reach the quoted top speed — matching the GTX). That’s an insane cost difference for exactly the same performance between the two boards. I personally view the GTX as the preferable choice here. It’s not only cheaper, but it’s more flexy and more modular, as the deck and enclosure are separate pieces, allowing for more modifications down the road (on the Carbon GT the deck and the enclosure are one complete unit). On the other hand, the Carbon GT is longer (40 inches compared to the GTX’s 38), lighter (17lbs compared to the GTX’s 19.4 lbs) and obviously has a far more rigid and stiff feel to it. Some people prefer the latter points.

The Evolve GTX. Every bit the Carbon GT without the price tag! | Source: twelveboardstore.com.au

The Evolve Carbon GT. Probably still the best looking board on the market by a country mile! | Source: techcrunch.com

I guess we also can’t ignore the fact that these paper-based results sees the Boosted Board languishing in last place. The board scores extremely poorly in the speed and range departments. The KO then comes from the high price tag that’s applied to what is now considered a fairly mediocre spec sheet. But (and it’s a big but) SPECS AREN’T EVERYTHING…

Boosted remains the smoothest and most comfortable electric skateboard I’ve ever ridden! A tremendous amount of care and attention to detail is put into their product. Their remote and mobile app are still best in class and their QC and customer service also, arguably, remains unmatched. Yes, there are far better performing electric skateboards you can get for your money, but very few do the “off board” stuff as well as Boosted, very few have such a well-rounded, well-finished, polished and respected product that “just works” as Boosted do. That’s what you pay for.

Boosted Board. If this was a user experience analysis (not based on specs), the Boosted would win! | Source: boostedboards.com

What these results say in the end is that user experience counts for far more than specs ever will. The problem is that user experience is a very hard thing to measure, particularly form an independent, third party perspective.

Or is it?…

The Peoples Choice

This brings us back full circle to Jay Boston’s Electric Skateboard Awards and the overall winner as voted by 1,387 people — the Enertion Raptor 2!

The Raptor 2 comes forth in a straight-up specs showdown, but it’s arguable that the Evolve GT Bamboo is only above it due to its price point. In addition, I’d be surprised if there were any more than five Metroboards in the whole of Australia! Add to that Evolve’s known reliability and durability woes and it’s easy to see why the Enertion Raptor 2 came out on top!

The Enertion Raptor 2 is faster than the Evolve suite of boards, is comparable in range to the GTX and Carbon GT (once you account for the Evolve sag factor) and is an equal or better hill climber in stock configuration. It sits around the same price point as an Evolve GTX, which is also obviously significantly cheaper than a Carbon GT.

If you’re after a performance board packing the latest in motor, battery and VESC/FOCBOX technology that has great specs across the board at a highly competitive price, in my mind, the people got it right!

The Enertion Raptor 2. The peoples (and my) choice! | Follow me on Instagram

The Best Electric Skateboard of 2017?

In the end that’s completely up to you to decide. It’s completely subjective. What’s best for one might not be what’s best for another.

If the best electric skateboard for 2017 to you is simply the fastest electric skateboard, then the best electric skateboard of 2017 is the Carvon EVO V4 Dual.

If the best electric skateboard for 2017 to you is simply the electric skateboard with the most range, then the best electric skateboard of 2017 is the Metroboard 41" Slim Stealth Edition (single).

If the best electric skateboard for 2017 to you is simply the electric skateboard with the best hill climbing capabilities, then the best electric skateboard of 2017 is the Enertion Raptor 2 or Metroboard 41" Stealth Dual.

If the best electric skateboard for 2017 to you is simply the most reliable/durable electric skateboard, then the best electric skateboard of 2017 is the Boosted Board Gen2 Dual+ or maybe one of the Metroboards.

If the best electric skateboard for 2017 to you is simply the most versatile electric skateboard, then the best electric skateboard of 2017 is an Evolve GT/GTX.

I honestly do think the people got it right in selecting the Enertion Raptor 2 as the best all round electric skateboard of 2017, but I also think an honorable mention needs to go to the Metroboard 41" Slim Stealth Edition (single) from a pure specs for dollar + quality point-of-view.

Honorable mention: The Metroboard 41" Slim Stealth Edition (single) | Source: techgearlab.com

It truly is an exciting time to be into electric skateboards!

2018 is going to be a big year!

Xiaomi and HomeKit

Xiaomi and HomeKit

Hardik Gandhi   January 04, 2018

Xiaomi Starter Kit (image via Smart-Home Hobby)

I’ve been building my smart home over the last few years and was in the market to add sensors everywhere in an effort to improve the automations that I was able to achieve.

I previously had a couple of Philips Hue Motion sensors, and Elgato Eve Door & Window sensors, but at £35 a piece, adding these to all rooms and door would get very expensive. I was introduced to the Xiaomi ecosystem and decided to give it a try. Interestingly this is the first time that I’ve opted to buy some non native devices and rely on Homebridge for the integration. Prior to this, I’ve used HomeBridge as a way to integrate tech that I already owned.

Purchase

I got all of my kit from a site called Lightinthebox.com. This was the only site that I found that shipped to the UK and had a wide range stocked. I initially opted for:

• Door and Window sensor x5 (currently £6.13 each)
• Gateway (currently £17.88)

I was that impressed with the kit that I purchased some more:

• Door and Window sensor; another 5
• Motion Sensor (currently £8.12 each)
• Smart Button (currently £5.27 each)

One thing to note is that the website quoted 5–8 days for shipping — this was actually more like 19, but for the price I can’t really complain.

Setup

The setup was fairly trivial. I did however need to upgrade my version of node running on my RPi3 to work with the plugin. As to not waste countless hours in node dependency hell, I’d recommend a fresh install of everything. I took a copy of my config.json file, made a note of installed plugins and completely wiped my SD card.

Follow these steps to get going (this assumes you’re on an iPhone, running iOS 11 or later)

• Download the MiHome app and setup the gateway and configure your accessories. It doesn’t really matter what rooms the devices are placed in.
• Open the MiHome app, tap on the gateway, then tap on the 3 dots in the top right corner.
• Select about and then repeatedly (and quickly) tap on the blank space until three additional menu options in Chinese appear.
• Tap the second option. This allows you to turn on local access mode. A password should appear. Make a note as you’ll need that soon.
• Tap back and select the 3rd option. Make a note of the MAC address of the gateway. There’s a couple listed, one of the router that the gateway is connected to and one for the gateway itself. If it’s unclear which is which, try both. (If you run homebridge with the -D flag, you’ll get debug info which will let you know if you’ve connected to the gateway correctly).
• Install the homebridge-mi-aqara plugin and input the MAC and password from the steps above into your config.json file.
• Restart HomeBridge and your accessories should now appear.

Usage

The first thing to note is how tiny the door sensors are. Here’s an image with the Elgato Eve as a comparison. Due to the size of the Eve device and the trim around my doors, I’ve had to be creative with how I mount it.

Xiaomi (left) vs Elgato Eve (right) door sensors

The second thing to note is how quickly these sensors update within HomeKit — unscientifically I’d say this is instant. Even with the latest firmware the Elgato sensors still have a slight delay if that haven’t been triggered for a period of time. This still makes them unsuitable for certain automations, where you need a light to turn on immediately for example.

Xiaomi door sensors in HomeKit

The door sensors show up as regular sensors, along with three other accessories from the gateway; a light sensor, multi colour light and a switch. The light actually makes a pretty decent nightlight, especially as you don’t need to physically connect it to a router.

I’ve got a couple of automations setup where I use a door sensor in combination with a motion sensor to detect if somebody is entering or leaving a room. To do this I have a motion sensor on each side of the door and then use the motion as a conditional rule. For example, I want to turn on a table lamp in my daughters room when the door opens, but only between 5am and 8am. This assumes that I’m going in to her room when she is awake and that I want the light to come on with a soft glow. It also assumes that if I’m already in the room and leave during that window that I don’t want to like to come on (if for example she actually isn’t awake, or she settles back to sleep). To do this, I have a motion sensor on the landing and in her room (via a D Link Omna camera) with a rule stating that the lamp should only come on when there is motion detected on the landing. If there is motion on the landing then I must be outside of the room, therefore entering. If there’s motion in the room, then I’m leaving so the rule doesn’t trigger again.

To get the extra option I used the Elgato Eve app. Firstly setup the basic automation rules in the Apple Home app, and then add the condition using Eve.

So far, I’m really impressed with the Xiaomi system and would certainly consider adding more devices (although you can only add 30 per gateway) to my setup.

Should Regulators Force Facebook To Ship a “Start Over” Button For Users?

Should Regulators Force Facebook To Ship a “Start Over” Button For Users?

Hardik Gandhi   January 04, 2018

I don’t really understand most of the proposals to “regulate” Facebook. There are some concrete proposals on the table regarding political ads and updating antitrust for the data age, but other punditry is largely consumer advocacy kabuki. For example, blunting the data Facebook can use to target ads or tune newsfeed hurts the user experience, and there’s really no stable way to draw a line around what’s appropriate versus not. These experiences are too fluid. But while I want keep the government out of the product design business, there’s an alternate path which has merit: establish a baseline for the control a person has over their data on these systems.

Today the platforms give their users a single choice: keep your account active or delete your account. Sure, some expose small amounts of ad targeting data and let you manipulate that, but on the whole they provide limited or no control over your ability to “start over.” Want to delete all your tweets? You have to use a third party app. Want to delete all your Facebook posts? Good luck with that. Nope, once you’re in the mousetrap, there’s no way out except account suicide.

BUT is that really fair? Over multiple years, we all change. Things we said in 2011 may or may not represent us today. And these services evolve — did we think we’d be using Facebook as a primary source of news consumption and private messaging back when you were posting baby photos? Did you think they’d also own Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus and so on when you created accounts on those services? We’re the frogs, slow boiling in the pot of water.

What if every major platform was required to have something between Create Account and Delete Account? One which allows you to keep your user name but selectively delete the data associated with the account? For Facebook, you could have a set of individual toggles to Delete All Friend Connections, Delete All Posts, Delete All Targeting Data. Each of these could be used individually or together to give you a fresh start. Maybe you want to preserve your social graph but wipe your feed? Maybe you want to keep your feed but rebuild your graph.

Or for Twitter: Delete All Likes, Delete All Tweets, Delete All Follows, Delete All Targeting Data.

Or for YouTube: Delete All Uploads, Delete All Subscriptions, Delete All Likes, Delete All Targeting Data.

The technical requirements to develop these features are only complicated in the sense of making sure you’re deleting the data everywhere it’s stored, otherwise every product already support “null” state — it looks very much like a new account. This leads me to believe that the only reason these features don’t exist today are (a) it would be bad for business and (b) actual or perceived lack of consumer demand. Anecdotally, it feels like (b) is changing — more and more people I know wipe their tweets, talk about deleting their histories, and so on. Imagine the ability to stage a “DataBoycott” by clearing your history if you think Facebook is taking liberties with your privacy and such. This is what keeps power in check.