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.
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-detectiveStephen (@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
- New Air Pollutants Component This new component aims to standardize the way air pollutants are reported in Home Assistant, similar to how the weather component standarizes the weather reporting from several providers.The first service to report data to this platform is https://opensensemap.org/ https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/18707
- Lutron Homeworks component Lutron made the Homeworks series 4 & 8 systems about 15 years ago. These components interface with Homeworks. (lights and binary sensors) https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/18311
- Switches and Scenes now added to Lutron RadioRA2 support https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/18330
- Ness alarm control panel Connectivity between Home Assistant and the alarm is accomplished through a IP232 module that must be connected to the alarm. https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant.io/pull/7630
- IDTECK proximity card component IDTECK makes ID systems used to control access and identify users. This component works with Proximity Readers (RFID card readers). The device is connected to Home Assistant through a serial to ethernet converter (NPort).An `idteck_prox_keycard` event is fired whenever a card or key sequence has been entered. The event contains ‘card’ – the card/key sequence, and the ‘name’ of the card reader. http://www.idteck.com https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant.io/pull/7421
- Pencom Relay Control Boards This interface to Pencom’s Relay Control Boards is designed to work over an ethernet to serial adapter (NPort). Each switch (relay) can be turned on/off, and the state of the relay can be read. https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/19369
- Plum Lightpad Light switches Configurable/Dimmable Wifi Lightswitches https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/16576 https://plumlife.com/
- LCN component and light platform Implementation of the LCN (Local Control Network). LCN is a well known and popular home automation system from Germany with a broad range of devices. https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/18621
- RaspyRFM switch platform support for 433MHz rc devices via ConnAir/ITGW-433/RaspyRFM gateways. https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/19130
- Ambient Weather Personal Weather Station Component If you have your own personal weather station reporting via Ambient Weather, you can now access that data in Home Assistant. https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/18551
- Mythic Beasts DNS Component adds a dns component to automatically update your domain at mythic beasts on IP changes. https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/18333
- Various updates for ESPHomelib Looks like there will soon be native support for ESPHomelib devices in Home Assistant, which will be configured by the user interface. https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/19334
- Aftership Package Sensor Allows tracking of packages in Home Assistant from aftership.com.Aftership supports 490 couriers worldwide. https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/18034
- Brottsplatskartan sensor Brottsplatskartan is a Swedish site for tracking crimes happening all around Sweden. This sensor can be used to track a certain area, e.g where you live. https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant.io/pull/7731
- Prezzibenzina (Italian Fuel Price) Sensor https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/19297
- GTT Sensor (Italy Bus Service) https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/18449
- Belgian railway sensor (NMBS) https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/18610
- Islamic Prayer TImes Sensor https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/19444
Breaking Changes
- Freebox Routers have been moved to their own component If you’re already using Freebox as a device tracker, you’ll need to remove it from your configuration YAML file, and add it as its own component.With this change comes new sensors for the monitoring traffic usage. https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/18472
- Auto target all entities has been deprecated If you call a service, such as light.turn_off or automation.turn_on, and don’t specify an entity ID, Home Assistant will turn all applicable entities on/off. This behaviour can get a bit dangerous.Moving forward, you will need to specify “all” as the entity ID, if you do indeed wish to target everything. For the moment a warning message will be printed if you omit the entity_id. https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/19006
- Scan Interval updated for the weather component The default “scan interval” on the weather component has been changed from 15 seconds to 30 seconds, to align with the sensor platforms.
- 17track.net entity IDs are changing There may be some slight updates to the entity IDs for the package tracking service 17track.net. https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/19213
- EQ3 and KNX Climate Platforms EQ3 and KNX Climate platforms have changes to their operation modes. This will allow support for Amazon Echo and Google Home. https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/19242 https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/19546
- Daikin Daikin Platform has been moved to the config flow in Home Assistant. The settings for monitored_conditions have also been removed. https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/19182
- WeMo Entity_id is now required for the wemo_set_humidity service https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/19419
