Smart gardening firm’s shutdown a reminder of Internet of Things’ fickle nature

Company closing "due to a number of challenges with this business."

See full article...

 

[aapis]

I think they meant to say “the leadership team shares the same brain cell and none of us are capable of running a competent business”. Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ve already moved on to their next terrible and obviously stupid venture.

 

[NWade]

The silver lining here is that most AeroGarden products are not nearly as “smart” as their marketing claims, and they work just fine as standalone units. The impending loss of the app merely represents a loss of convenience; not the “bricking” of entire systems like so many other IoT shutdowns.
The older units that require proprietary bulbs are going to be tough to maintain, but the LED-based units should have a lot of life left in them; and third party solutions for plant food & seed pods already exist [and likely are what undercut the official business-case in the first place]. It’s a bummer that the business is going under, but us AeroGarden owners aren’t totally out of luck - thankfully.

 

[DancesWithBikers]

We've got a couple of them, but they are the dumber models without wifi. Never saw any real point to the "smart" versions.

 

[HiroTheProtagonist]

I know that I'm missing the point here, but it seems like a design failure that the "smart garden" doesn't have a plant-waterer built into the unit. Like, it has an app that mainly tells you when it needs water and nutrients, but they couldn't spring for a small apparatus to sync with that clock and spritz the plants as necessary, maybe with a warning to refill the reservoir.

Otherwise, it just seems like another app where no app was necessary.

 

[kyleblue]

There is such irony in using an absurd amount of tech just to plant a damn garden. It really is tech for the sake of tech.

 

[xoa]

Fickle nature of IoT

The demise of AeroGarden is a reminder of the fickle nature of the Internet of Things, which can impress people with new, inventive products that may meet their demise sooner than their flashy, web-powered features originally imply. The Internet has enabled new features for consumer devices, but smart gadgets are also subject to the possibility of companies pulling features, bricking devices, or otherwise ruining the user experience with updates that are poorly executed or introduce unwanted features.

This is not true, and the continued propagation of this meme is harmful to resolving the problem. It's not about "IoT" or "smart home" or the like, the problem is purely proprietary 3rd party lock in over hardware that people have bought. There is zero reason for a product like this to require that connected or not, or any connection beyond a LAN. Open APIs and firmware being source available (not open even) with owner ability to add CAs to any trust stores they wish should be the law, not a request. There's been way too much tossing of all smart products into the same proprietary bucket, way too much focus on things like "gate keeper" this or "monopoly" that while the actual narrow technical means used to screw owners over get short shrift. It would not take a huge revolution or disrupt everything to just require that owners be able to get at all parts of their own property (at their own risk!) if they wish, not exclusively the hardware bits.

 

[tjukken]

"also risk of the devices being hacked for alternative purposes that Scotts Miracle-Gro may not want to be associated with"

Why would they care when the company is going under? Also, what are these nefarious alternative purposes they could be hacked to perform? I think the author of this piece is making a mountain out of a molehill..

 

[NWade]

There is such irony in using an absurd amount of tech just to plant a damn garden. It really is tech for the sake of tech.

Indoor hydroponic gardens allow people in small apartments to grow fresh food when they have no yard for a garden. It allows people in areas with freezing outside temperatures to grow fresh herbs and some fruit/veg (such as tomatoes and bell peppers) year-round.
Are the "smart" / "app" features unnecessary? Yes. but don't dismiss the whole concept of an indoor garden just because Being Snarky On The Internet gives you a dopamine spike.

 

[Jivejebus]

I know that I'm missing the point here, but it seems like a design failure that the "smart garden" doesn't have a plant-waterer built into the unit. Like, it has an app that mainly tells you when it needs water and nutrients, but they couldn't spring for a small apparatus to sync with that clock and spritz the plants as necessary, maybe with a warning to refill the reservoir.

Otherwise, it just seems like another app where no app was necessary.

They are fully enclosed hydroponics set ups. I've been using one without an app for well over a year now. From the looks of it the app mostly mirrored the screen for water level and when plant food needed to be added. All of the pump and light scheduling is done without the app or Internet

 

[iquanyin]

I think they meant to say “the leadership team shares the same brain cell and none of us are capable of running a competent business”. Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ve already moved on to their next terrible and obviously stupid venture.

it lasted over 18 years….

 

[MattGertz]

Happy with my "un-smart" Aerogarden (which, coincidentally, I was planning to replant this afternoon). The pods were way overpriced, though, so for this round I bought after-market sponges and plain-old seeds from the hardware store. If they were going for a razor-blade model, that would certainly explain the financial trouble -- it's way too easy (and far cheaper) to DIY your seed pods.

 

[iquanyin]

not sure this is a good poster boy for the fleeting nature of internet of things, as it can be used without the internet and it’s been around for nearly two decades.

 

[dtremit]

So I see the basic kit costs $60 plus the seed pods....another $30. Like wow....it's literally a plastic tub with some grow lights. You could build something like that very cheaply. And why would you need wifi? Just give it a bit of water every morning.

To be clear, it's hydroponic — the system circulates water over the bare roots of the plants periodically. Not that it's super complicated, but there's at least a pump in there.

Most of the units they've sold over the years don't have wifi, and the ones that do don't depend on the app for anything. It's just an extra way to check on the settings.

 

[Boskone]

I was curious, and much larger--though dumb--outdoor DIY hydroponics setup was about $300 and a couple hours (excepting the drill). If you needed/wanted to move indoor, LED grow lights are available under $100. Outlet timers are like $20, if one didn't want to mess with powering the light on and off.

And that's without any kind of cost-optimization, just searching the web for "diy hydroponics" and skimming a few pages. I think the DIY options would also scale up pretty easily, if one desired, instead of buying entire additional sets.

I guess it's a good price if you just want a few herbs in a neat-looking container, but doesn't seem like this is a loss if one doesn't just want some greens on their kitchen island or whatever.

 

[deltaproximus]

"also risk of the devices being hacked for alternative purposes that Scotts Miracle-Gro may not want to be associated with"

Why would they care when the company is going under? Also, what are these nefarious alternative purposes they could be hacked to perform? I think the author of this piece is making a mountain out of a molehill..

It's just the division producing this hydroponic garden that is closing. Scott's Miracle Gro is going to continue to exist.

 

[mir-teiwaz]

And here I thought using a $5 mechanical timer to switch my grow lights on and off to take care of my plants while I'm out of town was smart. Turns out I should have been thinking wireless.

 

[ranthog]

To be clear, it's hydroponic — the system circulates water over the bare roots of the plants periodically. Not that it's super complicated, but there's at least a pump in there.

Most of the units they've sold over the years don't have wifi, and the ones that do don't depend on the app for anything. It's just an extra way to check on the settings.

This is minimally what should be required of companies where if they stop supporting the app, then the hardware should be fully functional as a standalone.

While it would be ideal if they implemented open standards to expose the system's capabilities locally, it at least won't be a brick or only partially functional.

Certainly, it sounds like the problem here is that the razor blade model is a bad model for making money on hydroponic gardens.

 

[serafean]

This is not true, and the continued propagation of this meme is harmful to resolving the problem. It's not about "IoT" or "smart home" or the like, the problem is purely proprietary 3rd party lock in over hardware that people have bought. There is zero reason for a product like this to require that connected or not, or any connection beyond a LAN. Open APIs and firmware being source available (not open even) with owner ability to add CAs to any trust stores they wish should be the law, not a request. There's been way too much tossing of all smart products into the same proprietary bucket, way too much focus on things like "gate keeper" this or "monopoly" that while the actual narrow technical means used to screw owners over get short shrift. It would not take a huge revolution or disrupt everything to just require that owners be able to get at all parts of their own property (at their own risk!) if they wish, not exclusively the hardware bits.

While you're technically correct, a lot of stuff branded "smart" or "iot" is dependent on the Internet. So, from a consumer perspective, the meme is correct.

I'm having fun with ZigBee stuff, which has a specification, and an organization behind it. You wouldn't believe the amount of bullshit the devices do. The most interesting I've seen is a "smart plug" reporting itself as a thermometer, with power measurement. Just take a quick look at the zha quirks library, needed to work around non-conformant stuff.
EnOcean stuff fares way better in that regard (might be because devices are mostly made by Germans).
Another fun example is the Linux kernel hid-quirks, which got so insane, that hid-eBPF was made so quirks can be loaded at runtime from userspace...

This to say: even if you mandate by law an open API, it will NOT be correctly implemented. And then end users will still need to jump through hoops to make stuff work, which most won't accept, nor be capable of. So here we are with cloud connected crap that works immediately at time of release/purchase up until a random point in time where the online service gets terminated, and then you're stuck with paperweights.

 

[dlux]

The uncertainty of connected gadgets' longevity...

There's no uncertainty at my end, Ms. Harding.

Everything can be expected to fail at some point (with the exception of some stone-based structures, but that's about it.) What makes a lot of today's externally-dependent products troublesome is there are factors outside our control that can kill them, which makes managing their failures more problematic.

A similar situation is with the extent of battery-powered devices we surround ourselves. Individually they can be dealt with when the batteries run down. But collectively we end up in a world where we are always replacing or recharging one battery after the next, at inopportune times. Any labor they were intended to save or convenience they might provide is negated by the round-the-calendar maintenance they impose upon us.

 

[ranthog]

While you're technically correct, a lot of stuff branded "smart" or "iot" is dependent on the Internet. So, from a consumer perspective, the meme is correct.

I'm having fun with ZigBee stuff, which has a specification, and an organization behind it. You wouldn't believe the amount of bullshit the devices do. The most interesting I've seen is a "smart plug" reporting itself as a thermometer, with power measurement. Just take a quick look at the zha quirks library, needed to work around non-conformant stuff.
EnOcean stuff fares way better in that regard (might be because devices are mostly made by Germans).
Another fun example is the Linux kernel hid-quirks, which got so insane, that hid-eBPF was made so quirks can be loaded at runtime from userspace...

This to say: even if you mandate by law an open API, it will NOT be correctly implemented. And then end users will still need to jump through hoops to make stuff work, which most won't accept, nor be capable of. So here we are with cloud connected crap that works immediately at time of release/purchase up until a random point in time where the online service gets terminated, and then you're stuck with paperweights.

If you require a functional and compliant implementation of the API, then the penalties for not doing so would come into play. So a non-functional API implementation would be treated the same as having not implemented the API at all.

You have to back these rules with consequences.

Just throwing up your hands and saying "we can't fix this" is a terrible solution.

 

[KingKrayola]

This is minimally what should be required of companies where if they stop supporting the app, then the hardware should be fully functional as a standalone.

While it would be ideal if they implemented open standards to expose the system's capabilities locally, it at least won't be a brick or only partially functional.

Certainly, it sounds like the problem here is that the razor blade model is a bad model for making money on hydroponic gardens.

Could be my music tastes coming through, but I always think of folks growing weed when at-home hydroponics are mentioned.

I think it's less smoothly packaged but DIY hydroponics with pumps/sensors is probably pretty mature? Here's hoping they (or someone else) opens it up.

 

[xoa]

While you're technically correct, a lot of stuff branded "smart" or "iot" is dependent on the Internet. So, from a consumer perspective, the meme is correct.

No it is not, and indeed with (emphasis added) you're illustrating the problem with it. "A lot of" isn't the same as "all of", and normally in a market people would have the ability to easily differentiate and thus pick based it. That's precisely why the meme is bad: because it suggests everything is equally bad, and thus the bad is an inseparable part of the good and in turn that there's no point in paying attention when buying things or demanding more. Particularly on a technical site like Ars Technica, every chance should be taken to help educate readers about how to avoid lockin and what alternatives are available.

This to say: even if you mandate by law an open API, it will NOT be correctly implemented. And then end users will still need to jump through hoops to make stuff work, which most won't accept, nor be capable of. So here we are with cloud connected crap that works immediately at time of release/purchase up until a random point in time where the online service gets terminated, and then you're stuck with paperweights.

This is ridiculous, by this argument there should be no standardization in law anywhere. No standardization of electrical plugs or charging standards nor whatever else. Bad implementations can be punished. It doesn't, anywhere in our society, require every single person to be able to do everything. If there isn't any artificial barrier, entire separate markets will spring into place to meet demand. You don't need to be able to repair a car or appliance to benefit from it being possible for someone beyond the manufacturer to do so right? Because there are plenty of people who will perform service. Same with computers, or software alone. You don't have to be a programmer yourself to make use of Home Assistant. You don't even have to be good at setting up anything, because you could have someone who was set up a whole system that made use of HA and other components on the back end and took care of it all for you, and you'd still be better off then if you only had a single choice (or no choice).

 

[ranthog]

Could be my music tastes coming through, but I always think of folks growing weed when at-home hydroponics are mentioned.

I think it's less smoothly packaged but DIY hydroponics with pumps/sensors is probably pretty mature? Here's hoping they (or someone else) opens it up.

I would imagine so, given that a lot of this is just a circulation pump, timers, and grow light LED's. The main thing that these kits probably give you is a nice package to put all the parts into and a hopefully polished UI.

 

[Lithios]

Wonder if they will go on sale. The higher end ones have a control lcd on the front that will do most anything the app will. Biggest thing i used the app for is to sync the clock when the power went out.

 

[ArsPlebeian]

Makes me a bit sad (and is a reminder of my age) that Aerogarden is going under. I got to see the tap water testing lab back in the day while on a tech related visit to the offices. Just replanted my tiny garden last week, and have been looking for a replacement LED panel. Guess I'll have to get creative to avoid tossing it and buying some random Amazon setup.

 

[serafean]

If you require a functional and compliant implementation of the API, then the penalties for not doing so would come into play. So a non-functional API implementation would be treated the same as having not implemented the API at all.

You have to back these rules with consequences.

Just throwing up your hands and saying "we can't fix this" is a terrible solution.

So what can I do?
I can not buy cloud connected crap, which I'm doing.
I buy things somewhat supported by HomeAssistant, helping to move said support along where I (rarely) can.
I help friends and family not become IoT cloud connected.

As a customer I have no power at all.
I can't start pushing for new law by myself, can you? Can you find enough interested people to enact the new laws, and create new conformance testing labs and enforcement agencies?

If there isn't any artificial barrier, entire separate markets will spring into place to meet demand. You don't need to be able to repair a car or appliance to benefit from it being possible for someone beyond the manufacturer to do so right?

Well that's the entire point here: artificial barriers are springing up all around.

 

[dtremit]

Or, maybe, because gardening without an app has been done for tens of millennia, isn't that hard to do, and you already have all the gear to do it. If you paid any attention to timing, odds are the app became completely redundant, if it was ever really relevant to begin with.

The app is a red herring in the story of AeroGarden. They spent most of their existence building products without apps, and most of their current products still don't even have an app, let alone require one. Only their high end models even offered it as an option.

The one AeroGarden I own has three LEDs and one button as the sum total of its user interface. No wifi, no bluetooth, no app. It grows plants just as well as any of the other ones, it's just slightly less customizable/convenient.

They didn't survive for almost two decades in spite of the product being useless. It's a nice package for growing a couple of herbs or heads of lettuce in a corner of your kitchen, without having to figure anything out.

I suspect the demise has a lot more to do with competition — you can get third party gardens that are almost identical for <$50 from alphabet soup Amazon brands, along with third party replacements for most of the supplies. People aren't going to pay $120 for an Aerogarden when you can get a MUFGA, Fulsren, or Uruq for $30-50. (ETA: or an Ahopegarden if you want the name to look the same if you squint?)

Wonder if they will go on sale. The higher end ones have a control lcd on the front that will do most anything the app will. Biggest thing i used the app for is to sync the clock when the power went out.

They already had one — but it ended about a week ago when they ended direct sales. They are on pretty deep discount on Amazon, though (which is where they said they'd be selling until the stock runs out).

 

[ranthog]

So what can I do?
I can not buy cloud connected crap, which I'm doing.
I buy things somewhat supported by HomeAssistant, helping to move said support along where I (rarely) can.
I help friends and family not become IoT cloud connected.

As a customer I have no power at all.
I can't start pushing for new law by myself, can you? Can you find enough interested people to enact the new laws, and create new conformance testing labs and enforcement agencies?



Well that's the entire point here: artificial barriers are springing up all around.

Except you were shooting down systematic fixes, like legislation and regulation of IoT things. In the long run that is the solution we need.

Sure, there are other things you can personally do, but they don't really stop the problem... in part because most people aren't even aware they're a problem yet. This isn't a problem that most people have really experienced yet.

The things you mentioned are not bad, but they're not a real solution. We need to advocate for real systematic changes in laws and regulations.

 

[dtremit]

Makes me a bit sad (and is a reminder of my age) that Aerogarden is going under. I got to see the tap water testing lab back in the day while on a tech related visit to the offices. Just replanted my tiny garden last week, and have been looking for a replacement LED panel. Guess I'll have to get creative to avoid tossing it and buying some random Amazon setup.

You could probably adapt something like this as a bulb substitute? Or find some plant-tuned IP67 LED strips.

 

[wiz420]

Except you were shooting down systematic fixes, like legislation and regulation of IoT things. In the long run that is the solution we need.

Sure, there are other things you can personally do, but they don't really stop the problem... in part because most people aren't even aware they're a problem yet. This isn't a problem that most people have really experienced yet.

The things you mentioned are not bad, but they're not a real solution. We need to advocate for real systematic changes in laws and regulations.

Exactly. Debate the need for smart "gardens", what-have-you, all you like, but this crap needs to be illegal. Any product marketed as having "smart" capabilities that requires an external service or device to control it, should have the product documentation in escrow before it can be sold. Support ends? Documentation made public domain.

 

[serafean]

Except you were shooting down systematic fixes, like legislation and regulation of IoT things. In the long run that is the solution we need.

Sure, there are other things you can personally do, but they don't really stop the problem... in part because most people aren't even aware they're a problem yet. This isn't a problem that most people have really experienced yet.

The things you mentioned are not bad, but they're not a real solution. We need to advocate for real systematic changes in laws and regulations.

If it sounds like I'm shooting them down, sorry for that. I agree that is the proper fix.
I'm also saying it won't happen in a reasonable time frame, and that I have no idea how to even start, as most people really don't care.

I now see 4 different posters agreeing with that. Great. @wiz420 , @ranthog , @xoa , what will we do, before year's end, to kickstart that process?

I'm also suggesting that while we who are capable of working around the broken state of affairs are busy doing just that, we're enabling this sad state of affairs.

 

[ranthog]

If it sounds like I'm shooting them down, sorry for that. I agree that is the proper fix.
I'm also saying it won't happen in a reasonable time frame, and that I have no idea how to even start, as most people really don't care.

I now see 4 different posters agreeing with that. Great. @wiz420 , @ranthog , @xoa , what will we do, before year's end, to kickstart that process?

I'm also suggesting that while we who are capable of working around the broken state of affairs are busy doing just that, we're enabling this sad state of affairs.

Right now, the same thing I'm going to do to try to fix the political processes in the US: Vote straight ticket Democrat and try to get as many people as I know to do so.

We haven't had a functional legislature for 15 years, and trying to fix our political problems with reform is sadly the start of fixing everything in the short term.

In other countries what you need to do may vary, but I'd suggest there are ways everywhere to give feedback to your political process as long as you're in a democratic country.

 

[Internet_Explorer]

Lots of people trying to get their digs in on "smart" and "IoT" when their critiques don't really apply in this situation. It's a bummer they're going under. AeroGarden have been the best hydroponics systems I've tried and I've tried quite a few. I have a handful of their units to grow fresh veggies and herbs for cooking and I found their new app really nice. It's useful to have it notify you when it's running low on water or needs plant food. Having to keep track of ~5 of them without it is a bit of a pain.

So yeah, their units will keep working and the app was not at all necessary. Hopefully 3rd parties step in to make replacement parts. I was hoping to find some time to set up a custom "smart" hydroponics, maybe this will be the motivation I need.

 

[kaleberg]

Happy with my "un-smart" Aerogarden (which, coincidentally, I was planning to replant this afternoon). The pods were way overpriced, though, so for this round I bought after-market sponges and plain-old seeds from the hardware store. If they were going for a razor-blade model, that would certainly explain the financial trouble -- it's way too easy (and far cheaper) to DIY your seed pods.

It sounds like an acquisition based on a great management presentation. Once reality set in, Scott basically cut its losses. Scott clearly overpaid.

This kind of take over kills a lot of technology and innovation, but who can blame the founders who sell out?

 

[wiz420]

Right now, the same thing I'm going to do to try to fix the political processes in the US: Vote straight ticket Democrat and try to get as many people as I know to do so.

We haven't had a functional legislature for 15 years, and trying to fix our political problems with reform is sadly the start of fixing everything in the short term.

In other countries what you need to do may vary, but I'd suggest there are ways everywhere to give feedback to your political process as long as you're in a democratic country.

Agree on this point. What else? Don't buy devices that lock features behind "the cloud", and discourage your friends and family from doing so. It's a small gesture, but as Arsians provide a wildly disproportionate amount of unofficial tech support, it's not meaningless. Your friends and family probably look to you for guidance - If they can be bothered, make sure they understand why proprietary APIs for hardware you own is a bad idea.

 

[colemak]

This is why I'm much more interested in the Intranet of Things than the Internet of Things.

 

[YetAnotherAnonymousAppellation]

Haven't researched it at all, but is the demise possibly due to the expiration of one or more patents and a corresponding influx of competitors doing the same thing at vastly lower prices?