I find it easier to drive my wife's modern car with all that than my 2005 car which has barely any internal lights (dim light around the speedo, dim light on the radio)
You're not wrong, but it's a minor contribution at most.
I was guessing it's a OneDrive, Google Drive, DropBox or something.
Probably someone was phished and they still had access to an old shared drive which still had this data. Total guess but reading between the lines it could be something like this.
I really wish wall switches and dimmers were included in the first drop. I've long been in the market for affordable Matter over Thread switches with a matte white finish from a reliable vendor.
They need to cover all the categories too (single, multi-pole, dimmer, and maybe fan speed) so I know I won't end up with a hodge podge of brands and looks.
I use YoLink products for #1. LoRA radio based with 1/4 mile range and low power consumption. I have one on my shed door. Frequently on sale at Amazon.
You're looking for a Thread border gateway. Lots of stuff already has it. Someone mentioned AppleTV and HomePod mini. Newer Google Nest speakers/displays have it as well.
Personally, I pair my wifi and Thread matter devices to my Apple Home, as each Apple TV behaves as a redundant, ethernet connected gateway. I then do a secondary pairing to Home Assistant and Google Home. Local control and it works very well.
Is it absolutely necessary to have a base/gateway? This Verge article[0] seems to imply not, but it's not at all clear to me what I lose.
If I just want a smart switch that controls a smart light, can I do that without a hub? Can I use my phone to control that light/switch in a pinch? I'm not averse to spending $100 or whatever, but it's just more _stuff_ that I'd rather not think about.
It's not strictly necessary to have separate a hub/controller, no: After all, a Matter controller is just a small computer-widget that sits on a network and talks with IP packets.
A pocket supercomputer, such as an iPhone, theoretically works just as well: It's a small computer-widget that sits on a network, right? It just happens to run on batteries and be carried around in your pocket.
It's just software at that point.
At the end of the day: The Matter devices are paired with the controller, similar to how Bluetooth devices are also typically paired with a main brain-box. (Except: A Matter device can be paired with many controllers concurrently, whereas a lot of Bluetooth devices can only be paired with one at a time.)
The network connection doesn't have to be permanent: It can work when controller is present on the network, and it will [perhaps obviously] cease to work when the controller is absent.
So if Apple has software that runs within an iPhone and acts as a Matter controller, then: Sure, no additional hardware is needed to wiggle the state of a Matter light bulb using your iPhone.
(And if that kind of local control is all you ever care about for controlling stuff then... that's good enough.)
It’s even scarier when you realize that if the host doesn’t frequently rotate the wifi password, or use a hotel login, any guest could plant a hidden camera or other device with a persistent connection.
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