Q&A chat session with Securify (Almond+)

So the folks @ Securify (the company behind the Almond+ project on KickStarter) have expressed interested in doing a live Q&A session using the chat service.  We used to do this in the past, and it was a lot of fun.
 
Would you guys be interested in this?  We used to run these chat sessions on Fridays around 9PM EST or so to accommodate all timezones, what do you think about this time slot?

This is one of the few ways that you can get really good feedback and answers to a lot of specific product questions. I think it's a great idea.

First, I would like to see if their system demands a cloud connection before going through the effort...

Most systems in the 'great' class will work without an internet connection.  That said, you can ask/influence them in the chat

You should collect questions ahead of time in this thread too if you decide to do it.

Definitely!  This is why I started this thread, to see what kind of questions/interest people might have.

I'll start...

1. I'm sure there was a valid economic or technical reason for your choice of screen size, but a bigger screen would be nice. I assume the device can function as a picture frame and/or has a PIR sensor to wake up the screen.

2. I understand this device has RF antennas so placement and orientation is important, but is it possible to recess mount the device in a wall without adversely affecting the performance or cooling of the device? HAers love the flush mounted built in look vs something jutting out from the wall.

2a. Have you considered a more basic model which functions simple as a bridge repeater which I could install for example in a wall on another floor or room. Or for example that connects to a customers already existing WLAN to function simply as a HA touch screen?

3. Will their be a recurring fee for use of the device or just a one time fee? Does it use the cloud for access?

4. I think the easy to use GUI is a great idea for the average consumer, but DIYers like access to advanced features to tweak their router to provide better performance, multiple VLAN, SSIDs, VPN, PPoP settings for DSL, change the subnet, reserve static IP addresses, DyDNS, bridged repeater, etc. Will there be a web interface to allow access to more advanced features like DD-WRT open firmware?

5. Can the device function as a video intercom?

6. What about music/video streaming? For example streaming from iTunes or a SiliconDust steaming TV tuner or using Airplay.

7. Speech control?

8. HA is made up of a wide range or products, protocols, solutions. How do to plan to support or allow developers to add support for the mix of HA and interests? Does the devise allow DIYers to all their own applications? DIYers love the open source model and like to share their ideas and solutions.

Maybe it can't do all these things yet, but these are a few things that a HA DIYer like myself are looking for on this forum.

I'd also like to second (or third) the question regarding the need to access the cloud. 
 
1) Would it be possible to prevent the data from going to the cloud?
2) Would it be possible to query the unit directly say via RESTful web services to get the device status and notifications without going to the cloud?
3) Would it be possible to save the data on a local server on my network instead of the cloud?
4) Are there be any plans to provide just the ZWave/Zigbee controller functionality without the full blown router?

Great questions, if you can be there, highly recommend it, so you can ask these questions.  That said, if people can't make it, post your questions here, and I'll relay them once the event starts.

Just letting subscribers of this thread now that the chat is in progress RIGHT NOW