Where did you get that from? While later models did indeed have a mobile app, it is absolutely not required.
I programmed my Elite using the MyHarmony on PC and have never had to install the mobile app.
While they did later come out with second version of dedicated software, for probably 2 or 3 years, it was mobile or a desktop website. No dedicated software was available, probably 2 or 3 years after the iPhone came out… I never owned the elite and later found out they had come out with some dedicated PC software which was compatible with the model below. I know for a fact that PC software didn’t exist, I searched, others on the Logitech forums where pretty livid at their options, e
specially if they had a prior model before the mobile app. The app.sucked as it just came out (still sucks but way better than it used to be) and the website crashed 75 percent of the time while trying to do the initial setup. Not sure when that model.came out but was at least 2 years if not more before the elite and could pair with one BT device which at the time was sufficient for me personally.
I’m talking about the software from either the first or second remote releases by Logitech after they bought Harmony as it started off as a Canadian company before Logitech bought them. There was also some confusing stuff like changes on the website had to be synched to the hub or vice versa using the.mobile app, they did allow more granular controls on the site, which was essentially endless JavaScript pop ups. The site no longer looks like the below and they do have dedicated PC software and have for a while but for a few years they didn’t. As you can see, they are specifying supported web browsers. If you go there now it’s just a download to the software but it uses to be the below. Even the second PC software, the current version, was watered down compared to my first harmony remote which I still have, except I lost the charging dock and there is no other way to change it, Even though it has a mini USB port on the front. Guess it was dedicated to plugging into your PC to update changes made in the software which had to be done. No WiFi, no BT, just IR.
880, pretty sure that was the first one that really took off. Came out in 2005 and this was the activity button customization page with an activity with only 2 devices. All buttons can be remapped, and you may be able to with the elite but not the other model I got which was their lower end model with no LCD at all. Still don’t have that type of easy layout, it was small stuff but it was more.customizable. Also has inter-key and inter-device delay time settings per device. Pretty sure all remotes since have the power on delay, probably inter-key but not device. Also could upload custom png/jpg files for buttons and screensaver, which shows while on the charging dock. Small but considering the below is from 2005 it’s not pretty but it is functional and easy to remap everything quickly if needed. It was just better thought out software. Looks like there current version is just the web UI in an x86 application, at least from a UI perspective.
Hello,
You are right at the starting point when we were exploring technology, Kramer an AV brand has the touch panel which is Android 6. Our CTO himself was convince with the performance it offered with customisations. That panel talks to cloud and get all the configuration from cloud. We had integration experience with that and followed that route. We considered building it on Linux too and realised it will take more of the effort for us to go to the market as there were no straight forward answers we were getting from vendors. So we choose Tuya remote manufacturer who has built this remote called iRemote, they are selling it worldwide already and one famous case is Allonis.
Here what we are doing is there is no internet browser on our android. Getting any bug over internet is only possible via our cloud as our App runs a Launcher and not via play store app. Our app OTA updates comes from firebase. User doesn’t login to google account either. The concept is to manage user account with multiple devices and even that we are considering to drop soon as discussed with our tech team. There are customisation which we do on Android and not the ODM. The current partner is quite reputed and there since 2014 with many other products and are quite reliable.
Also we hired a design house who will develop second model on Lineage OS. They are one of the contributors of Lineage OS and has vast experience. Also they will on Fairphone. This version will have newer OS which will have playstore and more of tablet like experience where user will have choice of apps to install like streaming services and music players. More of AVA remote experience.
No the RS90, current version doesn’t need to sign in to Google account. Apps handles everything via our own Nodejs setup. We have Spotify connect integrated which is again an app submitted to Spotify dev platform which they will approve. Our approach is making a third-party app all in single app which is Native android app written in Kotlin with vast functionality over any hybrid app.
We send OTA update using Firebase.
Willis, there are many of us who refuse to use anything Tuya that touches an IP network. And AV manufacturers are notorious for poor software engineering and support. This is why the current state of IOT devices from a security point of view is such a mess.
There are millions of insecure devices that are shipped every year. That’s also why may of us use the Home Assistant platform because we have excellent open source software engineering and support and don’t contribute to that mess.
Look, it’s your company and you should make the choices that you feel are the right ones for your business. Many of us think your choices are poor ones from a security and software maintenance POV, and will refuse to let them on our networks, but maybe others will and you’ll be successful. It’s a choice, but don’t kid yourself about the security implications of the choices you made. Comparing yourself to Chinese OEM’s as a model of good software engineering and security practices is not flattering either.
What is your view about Android TV OS versions? Very common to get 10/11 and they also are on your network.
I only use Nvidia Shields or Google TV devices. Apple TV boxes are also excellent. I would recommend that to all users. Nvidia may be running 11 but they come out with regular patches. They have a substantial team working security issues.
Chinese OEM security for Android TV boxes is terrible. Often they ship with malware preloaded! How many security updates come from those vendors? How often?
It seems you want to outsource a bunch of your platform software engineering. I think this is a fundamental mistake. And yes, Android as a platform means a lot of investment in software bug fixing. But as I said it’s your company and you have to make the tradeoffs you think make sense for you.
When you label Chinese OEMs, remember that many put in a great deal of effort to serve you well. The perception of spying in the Western world is, in my personal opinion, just prejudice. I have seen them working much harder than others, and I respect them for this. On the other hand, relying solely on their OS and believing it does justice to their hard work is also not correct. Many of the products you mentioned above has their efforts as they are great on Android engineering. That’s why we have an in-house setup to test what they offer. Their OS is going to be used for the basic model, Haptique RS90.
For the RS90x, we are not using the same OS. We have an AOSP team developing a custom AOSP ROM for us. We hired a team that was also behind the Fairphone LineageOS. Haptique RS90x is what we have built from scratch without any Chinese intervention (this will sound better for you).
I also feel that when startups outsource and then hire from those teams, it is a way to build a strong leadership team. Everyone does this, and there is nothing wrong with it. You cannot build a team and make people believe in you unless you have traction in the market. It is really tough to get right first team.
Can you upload a short presentation movie showing how can you manipulate lights and switches via HA ?
As far as the HA management is concerned, is there any difference between RS90 and RS90X ?
I played a little with the App, is there any way to simulate the Remote functions by scanning a virtual Barcode provided by you ?
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We will offer our remote apk to test, you will be able to mimic the remote UI. Also making a video is a good idea, we will shoot it next week and post on our YT.
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It’s terrible because it’s intentional. It still amazes me the number of obviously fake Android TV boxes on Amazon that claim all this stuff and it’s just reskinned AOSP to look like Google TV. The problem is, you won’t get HDR or any kind from streaming services, it’s all fake and deceiving and there is a difference. Are they preloaded with malware or ready to accept payloads, yes. But this is 100 percent intentional. Heck, some even offer 6K, is that even a thing?
Theresa give difference between trying to make a legit product and flat out deception and preloaded malware. That and bad actors and sometimes it’s not the company. I saw a video the other day were people on the assembly line for cars were caught preloading malware on Android auto (that or head units) and nobody at the top was aware.
Sometimes it’s not even the hardware/software makers fault. Case in point, this entire Crowdstrike Internet outage issue was 100 percent the EU’s fault. Microsoft couldn’t prevent this. Because of antitrust lawsuits the EU doesn’t use Windows defender, it uses something else made by Crowdstrike. They were changing kernel code. MS was never happy about this and even created special software that gave more control so they wouldn’t have to tamper with kernel code and the EU said no. It was all caused because of a driver update pushed out by Crowdstrike that was a required boot driver and they were sloppy and had apparently been playing with fire for years. Apple was about to have to do the same thing but that ain’t happening anymore. So Microsoft had zero control over what happened.
While older hardware will always be a security concern it’s not impossible with the right people just trying to make a legit product. At the same time, nothing is a 100 percent security proof. Exploits are found all the time and usually something like 90% or more are never exploited before it’s fixed once identified.
What worries me is these security firms are starting to use AI to find them because it gets their name in the news. If this becomes a growing trend we will be finding and patching stuff that an actual human may have never found. Seems counter productive to me. Almost everything has some security flaw. Heck, there was one in bash or something used very frequently for over 20 years until it was found so nothing is bulletproof, even with lots of eyes on the source code.
The best media player I own is a cheap Chinese Android box. Never booted into Android though, running CoreElec (custom Linux distro running Kodi essentially)because for some reason the chip in it has no Dolby Vision restrictions so it can playback Dolby Vision profile 7 FEL, which is what UHD disks use (MEL also). No other device can do this because Dolby won’t let them. Maybe high end stuff like Klaiodiacope but nothing sub 500 and I paid 99 bucks for it.
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I just backed the project. Will the Kickstarter models be compatible with the eventual hub being released?
Also, all of my equipment sits in a rack in another room. I don’t see the IR accessory available for preorder. Will it have a 2.5 or 3.5mm out? All my it is over wire via the Harmony Hub
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Please let me know when you’re able to share the apk with me, I will gladly test it and share the results with the community !
Hello,
Thanks for the pledge. You should have seen the option for add-ons; the IR extender is part of the add-ons. Nevertheless, we will also open pledging for the IR extender separately. Please check back later.
Expect the Haptique apk in the coming week.
Dear Willis,
What will be possible to achieve with the apk ? Can we simulate Haptique’s behaviour at least when controlling the IP-based devices ?
Kind regards,
Adriano
Anything on the APK?
How is it prejudice when almost every, if not all, AOSP streamers are reskinned to look like Google TV, lie about the hardware specs, preloaded malware and preloaded to accept or send payloads. Claim to be 4K/8k and are 720p/1080p, report 4GB of RAM but have one functioning 2GB module and a broken 2GB module. As mentioned in the video below, the hardware part is also done on Android Auto devices also. I read and article where it was the people on the manufacturing line doing this in most cases so the company selling them didn’t even know this was happening.
Now, I do blame US retailers for continuing to sell these, specifically Amazon, because they know this yet continue to sell them. Obviously there are huge red flags like some claiming 6K which to my knowledge, just isn’t a thing, especially for TV’s. A lot of the boxes below are still available for sale on the US Amazon store right now.
There are also 100 percent legit products but you can see why some people might be hesitant to just “trust” these devices. At the end of the day AOSP can be improved for a specific purpose like a remote but it’s easy to add malware or other security vulnerabilities added by the manufacturer and has nothing to do with the AOSP version or chip used.
I’m in no way saying that this remote does any of that and I highly doubt it does but this isn’t being paranoid or any sort of prejudice when it’s still being done till this day on certain devices. I’m sure other countries besides China have done the same thing. Every single box they tested was lying about something spec wise or had malware preloaded.
