Phil and Rohan return for 2019 to discuss Logitech, the 0.85 release and Robin stops by for a brief overview of the Home Assistant Data Portal

Logitech Removes Local API – What Happened

  • Mid December 2018, Logitech released a firmware update (version 4.15.206) to its Harmony Hubs.
  • The new firmware was to address a security issue identified by security firm Tenebal (https://www.tenable.com/security/research/tra-2018-47)
  • The security issue identified that the XMPP API exposed two default accounts, which have the same permissions as an authenticated user.
  • Logitech’s answer was to completely remove the XMPP API, which Home Assistant and many other home automation controllers use to control Harmony Remotes.
  • On December 19th, Logitech responded to customers, by saying they had no intention of restoring the local API.
  • Additionally, around the same time, a Logitech staff member posted that their Cloud API (which is used for integrations such as the Amazon Echo. IFTTT, SmartThings and Yonomi) is closed to new applications
  • December 20th The story was picked by Ars Technia and The Verge
  • December 20th Home Assistant version 0.84.4 was released, with a new Harmony implementation which uses local websockets. Websockets are used by the Harmony Hub to communicate with the Harmony iOS app.
  • December 21st, Logitech announced a “beta” firmware, which can be installed which will restore the local XMPP API. However, installing this “beta” firmware will void your warranty.
https://community.logitech.com/s/question/0D55A00008D4bZ4SAJ/harmony-hub-firmware-update-fixes-vulnerabilities  

Home Assistant Data Science Portal

https://data.home-assistant.io/ https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2018/12/27/data-science-portal/ On December 27th Home Assistant released their new “data science portal”. The portal which is available at data.home-assistant.io holds the documentation of all the information Home Assistant collects about your smart home. Along with the release of this Portal, Robin Cole has made a new HASS Data Detective Python Package, which is designed to integrate with JupyterLab. JupyterLab is a web-based interface for Project Jupyter, with uses including: data cleaning and transformation, numerical simulation, statistical modeling, data visualization, machine learning, and much more. Just as if you want to run InfluxDB or Grafana, you’ll need to install Project Jupyter and the data detective python package yourself. If you’re using Ubuntu 18.10, @cgtobi has a Gist available with commands to install all the necessary requirements to get up and running. Alternatively Frank has also released a HASS.IO add-on, allowing you to get up and running with a few clicks if you’re running HASS.IO. https://gist.github.com/cgtobi/5597887d7ded60bd96e55c817659ad21 https://github.com/robmarkcole/HASS-data-detective  

Stephen (@blackgold9) hanging-up the iPhone

Stephen, aka @blackgold9 who came on episode 35 to discuss the new iOS app with Robbie, will be stepping down from developing the Home Assistant iOS app. Stephen has made some great contributions to the iOS app, so thank you for all your hard work!

0.85

New Features

 

Breaking Changes

Other Noteworthy Updates

General

New events added to the Timer component There are now events fired when a timer is started, paused, or restarted (started after a pause) https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/19516

Sponsored By

Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa

Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS or YAML.

Website

Hosted By

Phil Hawthorne

Phil is a Melbourne based web developer who lives and breathes technology. When he's not at his day job, he’s in his home office attempting to simplify his life through complicated tech.

Website Smart Home Products Buy a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi

Rohan from Toronto, Canada works in the Technology sector as an architect designing network and datacenter solutions for his customers. His passion for technology stems from there and extends to IoT and home automation

Website Smart Home Products Buy a Coffee


Special Appearances By

Robin Cole

Pythonista & PhD physics

Spotlight

 

Special episodes focused on various aspects of Home Assistant and Home Automation.