
AWS IoT Button - vasinov
https://aws.amazon.com/iot/button/
======
ecaron
I hacked one of these to power the nightlight in my kid's bedroom
([https://github.com/ecaron/hue-website-
nightlights](https://github.com/ecaron/hue-website-nightlights)). The downside
is that the button barely lasts for 1000 presses = 90 days (all kids like
pushing buttons). And it is heart breaking because its just a AAA battery that
they decided to solder in place...

I'm excited that this button launched. But $20 is too much for something
without a swappable battery. I'll either keep intercepting the ARP packets
from the $5 unit or buy
[https://www.particle.io/button](https://www.particle.io/button).

~~~
bschwindHN
From the Amazon official page
([https://aws.amazon.com/iot/button/](https://aws.amazon.com/iot/button/)):

    
    
        How long will the battery last?
        
        The battery should last for approximately 1,000 presses.  
        When the device battery runs out of charge, there is no way to recharge or replace the battery.
    
    

How can you sell a _button_ that has only 1000 presses in it for $20 with a
straight face? Looks like overcomplicated, overpriced garbage to me.

~~~
shubb
It's being presented as testing hardware, so you can get to know their stack.
At $19, it's _probably_ being subsidized substantially.

In the same way free AWS instances are not adequate for hosting a production
website, this is a toy for devs to get to know their stack...

The real question for this device is, is it hackable, i.e. can you change the
software running on it, or open it up and solder different hardware to spare
pins?

It looks like people have done this, but it's surprising amazon would sell a
devboard without catering to it:
[https://github.com/dekuNukem/Amazon_Dash_Button](https://github.com/dekuNukem/Amazon_Dash_Button)

~~~
mikeash
If it's testing hardware, then why doesn't it have a replaceable battery? This
is just madness.

------
shorodei
> The battery should last for approximately 1,000 presses. When the device
> battery runs out of charge, there is no way to recharge or replace the
> battery.

This limits use cases to infrequent-press applications.

~~~
trhway
But also limits the damage :)

[https://twitter.com/AvidanRoss/status/727222223417667584?lan...](https://twitter.com/AvidanRoss/status/727222223417667584?lang=en)

"Amazon dash button lost in my house is being tapped and ordering bulk paper
towels. Time to hunt down a wifi signal."

~~~
sp332
As pointed out in the comments there, the button will not ship a second order
until the first one has been delivered. You will get a notification email each
time it is activated so you can cancel an order. It's also trivial to deauth a
particular button.

------
dmritard96
Our Puck ([https://flair.co/products/puck](https://flair.co/products/puck)) is
sorta like this but with a small display. Instead of a generic button its a
bit like a generic knob. So far positioned more as a heating and cooling
device but I know I am excited to open it up to developers.

~~~
notatoad
At 3x the price (or 12x the price of a hacked button), it's not really in the
same market as the dash button though

~~~
mikeash
You'll hit breakeven on the price at 2,001 presses and from that point on
it'll be cheaper.

------
AceJohnny2
I'm glad they accepted that people were already hacking [1] their cheap Dash
buttons and decided to roll with it.

It's 4 times more expensive than their hackable Dash buttons ($20 vs $5), but
apparently more powerful (and secure?) from the get-go.

[1] For example, see all the entries: [https://hackaday.com/tag/amazon-
dash/](https://hackaday.com/tag/amazon-dash/)

~~~
CharlesW
> It's 4 times more expensive than their hackable Dash buttons ($20 vs $5)…

That's interesting. A new product like this (no matter how seemingly small)
takes some work, so to me this suggests that people hacking the "subsidized"
buttons were a bigger use case then they'd planned for.

------
kstenerud
Just the number of points of failure in this pipeline relegates this to toy
status at best.

WIFI interruption? Button doesn't work.

Internet connection down? Button doesn't work.

Bad network congestion? Button doesn't work.

Amazon suffering DDOS? Button doesn't work.

Battery dies? Button doesn't work.

Too many presses? Button doesn't work.

Misconfigured server? Button doesn't work.

Certificate expiry? Button doesn't work.

"The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain."
\- Montgomery Scott

~~~
moondev
What were you planning on doing with this? Launch a shuttle?

------
bound008
FWIW I tried following the instructions with a normal branded dash, and it is
clear that the IoT button has a different firmware.

Differences: * Amazon ConfigureMe network uses WPA2 for the IoT button. No
encryption for the branded button. * IoT button has extra fields (according to
the documentation) that the branded does not. They are for a certificate,
private key, REST endpoint, region, and a checkbox to agree to TOC.

------
radarsat1
wwwwhaa.... what IS this?

> For example, you can click the button to unlock or start a car, open your
> garage door, call a cab, call your spouse or a customer service
> representative

I'm so confused. So now, to open the garage door, I buy an internet device,
and when i click it, it sends a message to a server, charges me 0.02$, runs
some kind of "cloud" script that executes some kind of "rules", registers
something in a database, and sends a message back to my garage door opener?

The future is weird.

~~~
mnglkhn2
Maybe the future they envision for you is to be able to open your garage door
while you are not in its proximity. Or to let your car open the garage door on
its own, after you summon it. Who knows, soon enough, the cars will have a
life of their own, going on nightly strolls and self mechanic check-ups. :)

~~~
throwaway7767
There's no need to involve remote servers for your self-driving car to open
your garage door. It can do it the same way you currently do, with an RF
signal.

I'm sure we can concoct some contrived examples where one needs to open a
garage door without being present, but I really think this is more about the
big tech companies trying to get vendor lock-in.

------
jawns
"This item, sold by Amazon.com, is currently reserved exclusively for Prime
members."

So my price just went up from $20 to $120. There goes that.

------
mitul_45
Something similar: [https://bt.tn/](https://bt.tn/)

------
NicoJuicy
Better Alternatives ( from comments and searching on google):

Amazon Dash button 5 $ - for shopping on amazon, hacks found for ifttt
integration ( integrated with buying on amazon) :
[http://www.amazon.com/b?node=10667898011](http://www.amazon.com/b?node=10667898011)

[https://www.particle.io/button](https://www.particle.io/button) 20 $ ,
integrated with ifttt

Product: ESP8266 => DIY 7$ IFTTT (
[https://www.hackster.io/noelportugal/esp8266-ifttt-easy-
butt...](https://www.hackster.io/noelportugal/esp8266-ifttt-easy-
button-888a87) , [https://hackaday.io/project/5673-esp8266-dash-
button](https://hackaday.io/project/5673-esp8266-dash-button) ,
[http://www.instructables.com/id/Emergency-
Button/](http://www.instructables.com/id/Emergency-Button/) ,
[https://github.com/sam1am/IFTTTButton](https://github.com/sam1am/IFTTTButton))

~~~
akman
>[https://www.particle.io/button](https://www.particle.io/button) 20 $

Since this was mentioned elsewhere in the thread, this is actually $49. With a
little work, the $19 Photon could certainly do the same.

------
joshstrange
A lot of complaining about the $0.02/press (no recharge/replace on battery)
but all the other buttons I've seen cost significantly more and this feels a
little more plug&play. I'll probably wait for it to get cheaper or get a
replaceable battery as I don't have a great use case for it at this time but
it's at the top of my list if I need something like this.

------
StavrosK
I know it's not as convenient as buying one of these, but it's really not very
hard to make your own button, and it's a very fun project. Here's mine, which
is also open source, including the PCB and things:

[https://www.stavros.io/posts/emergency-food-
button/](https://www.stavros.io/posts/emergency-food-button/)

------
i2shar
FWIW, if you don't need hardware, you can turn your phone into such a
"button". Apps allow you to add a widget to your home screen and can be
configured to make HTTP requests.

[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.rmy.android...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.rmy.android.http_shortcuts)

------
Hortinstein
in case anyone is interested I wrote a node.js module a while back to
repurpose dash buttons

not as elegant as their official IoT button, but it works (and dash buttons
are 25% of the price)

[https://github.com/hortinstein/node-dash-
button](https://github.com/hortinstein/node-dash-button)

edit: corrected my tired beer math

~~~
ben174
> and dash buttons are 4 times cheaper

If they were four times cheaper, they'd be -$60. I think you meant they're 25%
the price.

~~~
JetSpiegel
That's not how fractions work.

------
dvcrn
Are there alternatives to this? It sadly seems like amazon has no plans to
release it internationally anytime soon. I'm looking for a simple button that
can just ping a URL in the simplest case.

I'm looking at a raspi + button hardware right now but something already
packaged with wifi would be a lot easier to use.

~~~
moondev
particle photon. Does input and output via GPIO just like raspi but with wifi
onboard. [https://store.particle.io/](https://store.particle.io/)

~~~
StavrosK
The photon is way too expensive for these things. What you want is an ESP8266.

------
melvinmt
So it's about $0.02 per click. That is a bit expensive.

------
braum
Have they updated the branded ones so you can't reuse them? otherwise why
waste $20 when you can get one of the original branded versions for $5.

~~~
ceejayoz
The branded ones are presumably subsidized by the brands they're labelled
with, and getting them to do whatever you want is a fairly hacky process to my
knowledge.

$20 is pretty comparable to most of the IoT "do anything when pressed" stuff
I've seen on Kickstarter and elsewhere. It'd be a handy "arm my security
system" sort of thing for me.

~~~
conesus
What are examples of those "do anything when pressed" Kickstarters? All I know
of is Flic.

~~~
ceejayoz
Flic, Particle, 1btn, bt.tn, etc.

------
somethingsimple
I really hope they haven't patented this. It doesn't seem hard to compete
against it or build your own - an ESP8266 module costs about $6 and makes it
super easy to hack your own "IoT button".

~~~
Bogdan91
ESP8266 is around 2$ (even cheaper if you buy only the chip) and an
nodemcu/wemos devkit around 4$.

------
polskibus
I'd say Texas Instruments' Sensortag gives you much more flexibility. It has
lots of sensors and 2 buttons.

------
seangrogg
It's a $19 button that lasts ~1000 presses and can be used to trigger events
on Lambda (which are free for the first million, so no real issue). So what
you're getting is a cost of $0.019 per press.

Compared to a button on a webapp (which can be pressed from your phone) that,
when pressed, goes through API Gateway and then hits up Lambda? At which point
you're paying $0.0000035 per press.

Decisions, decisions...

~~~
brokentone
Will you be permanently mounting your phone where you want to trigger these
events?

~~~
Crespyl
I have already (effectively) permanently mounted my phone on _me_.

------
fuzzygroove
Some progress has been made at reverse-engineering the hardware, which is very
similar to that found in the Particle Photon. At $20, the Photon is a clear
winner over the IoT button. As soon as someone puts the pieces together so we
can flash the Dash's firmware, that's when things get interesting.

[https://community.particle.io/t/amazon-dash-anyone-hacked-
it...](https://community.particle.io/t/amazon-dash-anyone-hacked-it/14303/35)

------
geoffreyy
I wrote a blog post [1] several months ago on how to use these buttons to call
Uber. Happy hacking!

[1] [https://medium.com/@geoffrey___/summon-uber-with-the-new-
ama...](https://medium.com/@geoffrey___/summon-uber-with-the-new-amazon-dash-
button-876b54385dec#.r01e7f9zt)

------
svec
This is a great gateway drug to learning & using AWS; smart move by Amazon.

------
jkahn
Bummer, can't order this from Australia. Really want to get one of these for
some testing. Anyone with inside info as to when these will be available
outside the USA?

~~~
alatkins
Sure you can:
[http://www.borderlinx.com/AU/en/](http://www.borderlinx.com/AU/en/)

~~~
tony-allan
Could not find it in search. Also looks like it is for Amazon Prime members
only.

Borderlinx chat person said: "You are welcome. We can ship the item without
any issue." but also "Regarding the Amazon prime membership issue please be
advised to check further with merchant."

This is the product page: [http://www.amazon.com/AWS-IoT-Button-Limited-
Programmable/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/AWS-IoT-Button-Limited-
Programmable/dp/B01C7WE5WM)

~~~
voltagex_
Ask [http://priceusa.com.au](http://priceusa.com.au) \- I'm fairly sure their
agent (in Oregon) uses Prime. Probably a ToS violation, though.

------
stonewhite
Yup, I was looking for a way to realize this: [http://make-everything-
ok.com/](http://make-everything-ok.com/)

------
hendler
"Yo"[1] hardware.

[1] - [https://www.justyo.co/](https://www.justyo.co/)

------
nxzero
At $20, who would by this?

Has anyone seen a DYI that's cheap?

~~~
ewindisch
I bought a couple as the main value for me is that it's tied directly to AWS
Lambda. Yes, I could build an ESP8266, RaspberryPi, or Arduino-based solution,
but then it's totally custom. Because my startup is involved in "serverless"
computing, it's beneficial for me to say that this button directly calls an
AWS Lambda function out of the box.

I'll replace the battery with a DC transformer and use one for demos.

~~~
nxzero
Not following why exactly you've decided that being "serverless" or using
Lambda makes this worth it. What exactly is IO Pipe (your startup) and what
would a demo using Amazon's button do?

~~~
ewindisch
We're building open source tools and services for developers to build and
manage the lifecycle of serverless applications. The AWS IoT Button works as
an event-loop for a (simple) serverless workflow. We can use it to demonstrate
and validate one of our use-cases and to provide demonstration of our tools
(push the buttons and see what happens).

The concept of running our code directly from IoT devices is something we've
found pretty compelling but until now it was very much a DIY affair. It's
exciting to see Amazon release hardware that does this out of the box,
directly running our code, as basic as it might be.

------
philip1209
I would love a Zapier integration here

~~~
mryan
Apparently the button supports SNS, which can be integrated with Zapier.

------
ruiramos
Why US only?!

------
suchitpuri
we can now have one "click" deploy's.

~~~
jimbobfarjones
That was my first thought as well! How much more satisfying than clicking a
link in a UI.

------
cyphar
I read the manual, hoping to see the punchline. This isn't ... real ... is it?

~~~
lojack
People were hacking their Dash buttons to do this, and amazon was already
producing the hardware and software, so why not monetize it?

