Next Developer Call will be on 09/09/2015 - Guest : Alex Hawkinson

[slagle (Tim Slagle)]

Hi All!

Want to meet our CEO? Want to ask him what’s what? Here’s your chance!

Our CEO Alex Hawkinson has offered to jump on the developer call this week! I am really excited for you to be able to bounce some questions off him as he has our vision on lockdown. Please post questions in this thread you would like asked on Wednesday.

Primary topics:

1. Stability/Reliability state
2. V2 Hub Overview

Meeting Info:

Every other Wednesday for 1 hour
8pm EST / 7pm CST / 5pm PST

To join the Meeting:
https://bluejeans.com/551112646/

To join via Phone:

1. Dial:
   +1 408 740 7256
   +1 888 240 2560 (US or Canada only)
   (see all numbers - http://bluejeans.com/numbers)
2. Enter Conference ID: 551112646

Please post your questions below.

[garyd9 (Gary D)]

This should be fun. It’s a shame I can’t ask some of the questions I want to due to certain paperwork.

• Does ST realize that without the user development community, that ST is a much poorer choice than most other HA hubs? If so, why does ST seem to be doing as much as possible to alienate that user-dev community?

• Does ST realize that “in a few weeks” (used sarcastically for the various terms meaning that something will eventually happen) doesn’t hold water anymore considering all the things promised and the so few actually delivered?

• Will ST ever take corrective action on the above two items to start fulfilling promises instead of just making more?

… I’ll add more as I find politically correct ways of asking them.

[slagle (Tim Slagle)]

@garyd9

This should be fun.

Agreed. It will be fun Alex is an awesome guy! Super real!

[btk (The fish is still dead.)]

Gutsy.

Bravo, @Alex!

[yvesracine]

Hello to all,

Long time ago (it seems years ago now), when there was some discussion about capabilities, I suggested the following ones:

Capability localProcessing

One capability that would be useful is local processing (with Hub V2). It would identify local processing needs for a device type. Its core attribute could be “true” or “false”. Of course, there would be other attributes and methods related this capability such as : percentLocal (desired local processing percentage) emergencyIndicator: indicate if device type’s local processing is required when emergency situation arises (ex. smoke/CO2 alerts,power outage) This would allow ST to better control these types of devices… Regards.

Capability multiThreading

One capability that would be useful is multiThreading. It would identify special processing needs for a device type. Its core attribute could be “true” or “false”. There would be other attributes and methods related to this capability. It could be as simple as nbConcurrentThreads DetachedThreads (true or false) Or, as complex as this implementaiton: http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19455-01/806-5257/6je9h032l/index.html#attrib-28 By tagging a device type with this capability, ST would then be able to better assign resources to it in its cloud-based architecture or even for local processing. Regards.

Capability highPriorityProcessing

One capability that would be useful is highPriorityProcessing. It would identify special processing needs for a device type. Its core attribute could be “true” or “false”. Another attribute may be the priority targeted on a given scale (1-5, 5 being the highest priority). This capability would give higher priority processing for device types that deal with a lot of concurrent events or emergency situation (such as smoke detectors and other security related devices). By tagging a device type with this capability, ST would then be able to better assign resources to it in its cloud-based architecture or even for local processing. P.S. Of course, there would be strict processing rules to comply to in order to avoid any device type claiming that capability. Regards.

Those non functional capabilities could be called annotations or tags (or something else), but the fact of the matter is that ST developers should be able to better control where and how their device handlers/smartapps should be handled by the ST core engine.

To think that the ST core engine would be “smart enough” to make the right call every time is
a dream…

Developers know better than anybody (or any smart engine) where their code should be optimized at runtime.

I’d like to talk about these non functional capabilities to somebody at ST (so far the discussions about capabilities went nowhere)…

Those are architectural questions that need to be solved one day (or another before it’s too late)…
Especially now with the rate limiting policies that make it harder to do cloud-to-cloud integrations.

So, my 4 main questions for Alex are the following:

1) What is the ST technological roadmap as per the developers perspective?

For example:

a) How SAMI & ARTIK will affect the development platform?
b) Which UI capabilities will be available with the new presentation layer in the coming months?
c) What is the vision for local processing? Can developers use local processing later for their own device handlers and smartapps? If yes, how certification for local processing will work? What are the best practices (if any)?

2) When a “real API” layer will be available?

What I mean by real APIs is some API and security layers that don’t require to explicitly specify each device as a REST endpoint.

3) How do you envision the developers beta program in the short and mid terms?

4) When a real marketspace will be implemented as per the following thread?

SmartThings Platform Developers Perspective

API Web The current system of building one’s own API through SmartApps gives one the ability to create a wide array of solutions, but it does not cover everything. I would like to see access to more of the “Core” API accessible to developers. SmartThings as a platform could grow and innovate much faster if the developer community were enlisted to create solutions to problems like dashboards and control panels. SmartThings the company cannot possibly build the client that is all things to everyone. Allow developers to fill in the gaps. Imagine solutions that are tailored to the elderly with large easily readable buttons, or for the sight impaired with all menus and buttons easily readable by screen reading plugins. Local There is not a local API but it has been much requested. A local API …

I look forward to attending the next developers call!!

[pstuart (Patrick Stuart [@pstuart])]

My questions:

How do you see the role of community developers in the future of SmartThings?

Why is there no local access to the hub? Why does everything have to go to the cloud?

Why is there no local networking support? No UDP, broken TCP. Images have to route to S3. Limited to HTTP responses only. This limits so many integrations with other existing home automation products

Can you walk us through the QA process for app and platform releases?

Which mobile device do you use? Android or iOS?

Can you explain the reason behind the single biggest and marketed feature of hub v2, local processing, but how at launch, no community devicetypes or smartapps will work locally? What will work locally?

Will you provide any way for community developers to monetize or at least protect our code without going through the insanely slow review process? For example, allowing encrypted device types and smartapps in public, but the private keys are always kept by SmartThings.

Is the future for SmartThings going to always rely on the cloud, or are you guys planning a local ONLY hub for non-connected automation?

Did you see any of the feedback from the community prior to the release of the new app? Why was most of it ignored and only now, after release and bad public reviews and problems will it change?

Why is there no tablet support?

Why is there no desktop App?

Why is the “dashboard” essentially empty in the mobile app now, and not even remotely close to what anyone else in this space calls a dashboard?

Why is there no 2 step authentication for the IDE?

Why is there no SMS code validation for login on the mobile apps?

Why is so much kept from the community of developers? Incomplete documentation, no access to solutions, no access to engineers. If you market this as an Open Platform, shouldn’t these things be more accessible?

What do you see as SmartThings biggest competition?

What was the first thing you bought after the Samsung Acquisition ?

What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

[garyd9 (Gary D)]

@pstuart

Did you see any of the feedback from the community prior to the release of the new app? Why was most of it ignored and only now, after release and bad public reviews and problems will it change?

I’d ask the same question, but in regards to the bugs. I can’t believe that beta testers didn’t report the problems with the new “smart light” stuff. (However, based on an android app beta I was involved in a few months ago, I know that ST will ignore and release very significant bugs.)

For example, if I just tell the light to turn on all by itself between sunset and sunrise (no other devices involved) it never works. The same thing if I filter a light event on a door open/close only between sunset and sunrise, it NEVER works. These are basic functions so I seriously doubt beta testers missed them.

The decision to release with these kinds of bugs can ONLY come from upper management… So perhaps the CEO can explain the decisions.

[SparkyXI (Mike Swanson)]

My quick question (which can probably be answered here): When do v2 pre-orders ship?

[btk (The fish is still dead.)]

@SparkyXI

My quick question (which can probably be answered here): When do v2 pre-orders ship?

They were supposed to ship Thursday and Friday, but it doesn’t appear that all of them have. So, “any time now”?

[dotMorten (Morten)]

I’d love to hear more about what you will enable developers to do to interoperate devices locally using the new local capability - is there going to be an API ?
What sort of standards are you looking to support on the local network for developers to use?
AllJoyn seems to be getting a lot of traction, lots of players, and AllJoyn services are even built into Windows 10 - huge opportunity for developers there. What’s your thought on consuming AllJoyn devices, and more importantly expose SmartThing devices through an AllJoyn bridge? Or is the thought more to go proprietary and lock users into the SmartThings hub as much as possible?

Alsp see my ramblings regarding current state of local access APIs in SmartThings here: The Next Generation of SmartThings is Here

[jody.albritton (Jody)]

Is SmartThings going to be a developer driven platform or a platform that allows some constrained developer contributions? In other words, do you see developers as partners and change drivers, contributors, or somewhere in between?

Can you give your overall vision regarding developer involvement in the platform and your long term outlook on how developers will be interacting with the platform?

[AutomateEverything (Kyle)]

What extra Radios you plan to add via the usb ports

Ps: side note, @April any chance of uploading the last dev call tonight so i can catch up before tomorrow

Cheers

Kyle

[slagle (Tim Slagle)]

BUMP

Don’t forget to add your questions here before tomorrow

[btk (The fish is still dead.)]

What are the plans for addressing the chronic scheduler instability? Is offloading event processing onto the v2 hubs expected to help?

See this thread for reference:

Scheduler and Polling quits after some minutes, hours, or days

I have a SmartApp that brightens lights in a zone when there is motion or a door opens. It dims the lights after a given timeout period. I have 6 instances of the app on one hub, (6 different lighting zones), and 8 on another hub, in another building. When the app initializes, it starts the scheduler to run a scheduleCheck() function every minute, to turn off lights, when appropriate. It was working for months. Then it stopped dimming reliably. I have determined that the scheduleCheck() function stops running as scheduled. I have also noticed that it now usually schedules at the top of the minute, i.e., the seconds are zero. This did not used to be the case. And the time between scheduled calls can be 1, 2, or 3 minutes. I have just installed a workaround, in which I re-initializ…

[Carrilf (Frank)]

Mr CEO
Why no instructions, step by step to use ST ? I am a new guy and lost on most things? I joined ST to use things, not invent how to use things. I am not a programer? I seem to beg everyone else to tell me things because nothing is written down anywhere. Everthing is a crap shoot… Lets do Step A, before all the other things. Frank c write some step by step instructions, and what the mean…

[rob_gore (Rob)]

My question / topic:

With the new launch of the Updated SmartThings Application, Platform, & V2 Hub, there’s a large list of bugs, limitations, feature requests, usability issues, that people on these forums have posted about.

The staff have done a good job of letting us know they’re watching and logging these things, but how often / regularly do you see the Development Team releasing updates to the applications, platform, and adding new devices? Thinking back to another “former home automation platform”… Revolv (yes, i know, extinct now…) They stated that their goal was to release new devices and solutions on a monthly basis. Is there any sort of timeframe you can give us on how “rapidly” you see changes coming to SmartThings in regards to Fixes for usability and Bugs, New Features, and New Devices to the platform?

Thank you.

[Sam2b (Sam)]

Is there an update pending for the V1 hub? If yes, what will be changed?
And will the V1 hub still be supported with updates going forward? Thanks.

[VanMatt (matt)]

What are your thoughts on Co-Branded Partnerships with Telecom Carriers?

• Connected home is a business that our customers are excited about. We can help Smartthings overcome key adoption barriers. Telecoms can provide world class support. We have the workforce to provide assisted install. We have retail channels with trained staff for assisted sales of this “complicated” product. I’d appreciate a couple of quick comments on your thoughts on how Telecom partners can help increase the penetration of SmartThings connected devices and hubs worldwide. Thanks!

[VanMatt (matt)]

Hi Alex, Technical Question: What’s the plan with HomeKit (Apple) or Thread (Google) compliance? Is the objective to compete or complement? The Apple event starts in 55-minutes. Looking forward to seeing SmartThings as a HomeKit Bridge on the stage with Tim Cook.