Google Bricking Revolv Smart Home Hardware
Found on Techdirt.com on Tuesday, 05 April 2016
About seventeen months ago Google acquired Revolv, rolling the smart-home vendor's products in with its also-acquired Nest product line. Revolv hardware effectively lets users control any number of smart-home technologies around the home, ranging from home thermostats and garage door openers, to outdoor lights and security and motion detection systems. But according to an updated Revolv FAQ, all of these systems will no longer work as of May 15, 2016.
Needless to say, there's a growing number of people annoyed with the fact that a $300 smart home hub will soon be totally useless.
Hopefully this will help to teach people that the hyped "Internet of Things" isn't sliced bread. You are depending on the business model of companies who can brick your investment at any time, either by shutting down the servers, or simply by messing up the automatic firmware updates.