Logitech will brick its Harmony Link hub for all owners in March [telecom]

Logitech will brick its Harmony Link hub for all owners in March

The ugly side of gadgets that depend on the cloud

Logitech has announced that it's shutting down all services for the Harmony Link hub, a plastic puck the company released in 2011 that gave smartphones and tablets the ability to act as universal remotes for thousands of devices.

Owners of the product have received an email from the company warning that the Link will completely stop working in March. "On March 16th,

2018, Logitech will discontinue service and support for Harmony Link. Your Harmony Link will no longer function after this date," the email says. There's no explanation or reason given as to why service is ending in the email, but a Logitech employee provided more details on the company's forums. "There is a technology certificate license that will expire next March. The certificate will not be renewed as we are focusing resources on our current app-based remote, the Harmony Hub." The Verge has reached out to Logitech for further comment.

***** Moderator's Note *****

This reminds me of the time that Amazon, due to a copyright dispute with the heirs of George Orwell, removed the novel "1984" from Kindle devices owned by users who had purchased the novel as an ebook.

Bill Horne Moderator