Comment by RHSeeger
1 day ago
> In order for the Romo, or really any modern autonomous vacuum, to function it needs to constantly collect visual data from the building it is operating in.
I specifically bought one without a camera or mic.
1 day ago
> In order for the Romo, or really any modern autonomous vacuum, to function it needs to constantly collect visual data from the building it is operating in.
I specifically bought one without a camera or mic.
My Eufy claims to do all processing locally. I admit I never verified this (eg turn off the wifi while it's running - I should actually). But they were the only Chinese manufacturer that at least bothered to write anything about data locality and privacy in their marketing materials, and that got them my money.
Obviously at any point the brand can send a firmware update down the wire that does send a realtime video feed from my home right to Chairman Xi's bedroom. I'm aware of that, but the reality also is that the European/US brands currently don't get anywhere near the Chinese price/quality ratio, and I didn't want to muck about with Valetudo, I'm not courageous enough for that.
I'm not super happy about this situation but I am super happy about the robot. It's really very good.
Isn't Eufy the one that marketed fully local smart cameras that actually just streamed to the cloud unencrypted?
cooooorrect
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/02/ankers-eufy-admits-p...
1 reply →
hahahaha srsly i feel like such a dork right now
> In order for the Romo, or really any modern autonomous vacuum, to function it needs to constantly collect visual data from the building it is operating in.
IMO the random bouncing of older Roombas was unfairly pilloried. Sure, it didn't look great, but in practice it was effective at cleaning.
Are there any like that that would have automatic emptying?
Roborock q revo
Ive got a q revo pro, which can dry the mops.
Happy with it but note that I dont have carpets, I guess for carpets you need something with more features.
The Roborock is what I have, and I've had no complaints; the Q5 Max+. With some googly eyes, it's pretty cute :)
The Q Revo series does have a camera and mic.
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How do you know? For sure, I mean?
I wrapped mine in foil to be safe and now it's fabulous
I mean your coffee maker could be a one-off spy device with nation-state backing. But it seems unlikely.
If Google thought it was okay to hide a microphone, I'm sure less scrutinized companies try to get away with worse. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47303077
if they can build an internet connected coffee maker with mic and camera for 60 bucks that's freakin' amazing!
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he did say he was trained at the kremlin...
phew, yet another reason it pays off to not be a coffee drinker.
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Does your smartphone have a mic?
You've brought up such a brilliantly useless point to this discussion. I'm really appreciative of your efforts
Smartphones at least have some semblance of security, whereas iot devices are a free for all
Do they?
I'd like to think that they should have reasonable security with my best interests in mind, but I really have no way of investigating what the baseband is or is not doing.