Ok guys.
We are not “pulling out” of hacker or custom DHs/SmartApps. What we are doing is re-evaluating where and how we spend our time. The ThingShield was a device that had zero support from us because of other priorities. I am working on some potential plans for a suitable replacement for the ThingShield but it might be a little bit before there is something concrete (no guarantees).
Stay tuned but also be patient. 
I do have one question…
Would you guys be sad whatever we do lost the ZigBee chip? (This is the part that makes it really hard to support)
Meaning would it be cool if we had a device that could be plug-and-play(ish) but was local/cloud?