151–160 of 299 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not an old fart by far , but even I have never imagined rebooting a refrigerator. I'm floored. It sounds like some obscure IT insider joke except that this time it's for real. I don't know what to expect next.
"Please stand by for message from our sponsors who help keep your food fresh." ...
I remember seeing a commercial for those things where they drafted the Top Chef brothers, and even in the commercial it looked extremely awkward to use. "Oh, let's just look up something...(walk over...bend down...glance at screen...slowly punch things in...)." Even if it were the best thing ever, I know technology and I know that fridges last years longer than any gadget ever has. Any choice of touchscreen, OS or ev…
My microwave has a MyPlate.gov button on it. May have seemed like a good idea when our home's previous owner renovated back in 2011, but it's silly now.
My "smart" TV has an app called WebVideos on it, which does nothing but apologize for being shut down.
This trend of timely design rather than timeless design in appliances is not great for the consumer. It reminds me of bundling crapware OS-extensions onto budget PC laptops. Design that respects the orthogonal-nature of connectedness to a device's primary purpose should be praised.
One counterexample that comes to mind is my Nest thermometer. It's super convenient, works great. And if Nest ever goes under and turns out the lights on their API, or if wifi becomes an irrelevant network connection technology, it reverts to being a thermostat with a really nice UI.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As IoT becomes more ubiquitous, the people who plaster their houses in tin foil will become less ridiculous.
Nah. Pop open the cover and install an aftermarket control board that runs Free software. Eventually, this will be more user-friendly (better interface one doesn't have to relearn every monthly update), convenient (better software features), and economical (how many appliances are thrown out due to software malfunctions).
> Pop open the cover and install an aftermarket control board that runs Free software.
Appliances will get redesigned so that it's hard to do it. If they really want to drive the message home, then like 'maxerickson said, it's epoxy time.
> Eventually, this will be more user-friendly (better interface one doesn't have to relearn every monthly update)
See mobile.
> convenient (better software features)
See all software.
> and economical (how many appliances are thrown out due to software malfunctions).
Again, see mobile.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I do appreciate my car GPS for when I'm outside of cell range though (which is frequently--mountains and radios don't work well together).
If you're on Android, Nokia's Here application has fantastic offline navigation maps.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's much cheaper, and definitely a better UX, to buy a whiteboard and hang it on or beside the fridge. (BTDT. Why waste $50-250 on a tablet? If I really want to tote the whiteboard with me when I go to the shops I just snap a photo of it to view on my phone, then delete the shopping list when I get home.)
At least use a paper calendar -- the whiteboard can get erased if someone/something rubs against it.
(...Hopefully the sarcasm is obvious).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not just that, but I can't wait for the day I can only rent my appliances and have to have a monthly subscription to some GE "Smart Appliance Network" for them to even work.
I feel like people would just not buy these theoretical ridiculous appliances and just stay with older ones until the appliance manufacturers started making normal appliances again.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, you would be better off financially to not waste your money on the iPad. iPad mini: $399 kindle fire: $49.99
I'm thinking that if you're in the market for a $3600 Internet-connected fridge, you can afford and would just rather have the iPad. I don't know enough about the Fire to say whether it's a piece of garbage or not; all I know is that I have a bunch of iPad apps that I've paid for and Apple's ecosystem makes it easy to add another iPad and transfer my settings over.
It may not meet a techy's high-end needs, but the $50 is perfectly credible now. Not like a $50 tablet two years ago, which was slow, had an immediately-noticeably-crappy touchscreen, and was latent in everything it did. I suspect Amazon's still subsidizing it a bit even at that price, but probably not that much. Those SoCs are really pushing things along. (Pity they're so proprietary.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm thinking that if you're in the market for a $3600 Internet-connected fridge, you can afford and would just rather have the iPad. I don't know enough about the Fire to say whether it's a piece of garbage or not; all I know is that I have a bunch of iPad apps that I've paid for and Apple's ecosystem makes it easy to add another iPad and transfer my settings over.
Humans are pretty funny! Going off the usual price for apps ($2.99?), and a 'bunch' is probably about 25 apps, then replacing all your paid iOS apps with paid Fire apps would probably cost you $75. So ignoring anything else, a lot of people would actually value their $75 sunk app costs greater than the $350 difference between that iPad and the Fire. It's a pretty interesting lesson in humanity.
Every review of an Android tablet complains about how the software is buggy and the ecosystem isn't there yet. Still. Again, I was never convinced there was a larger market for tablets; just a market for iPads.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not just that, but I can't wait for the day I can only rent my appliances and have to have a monthly subscription to some GE "Smart Appliance Network" for them to even work.
I feel like people would just not buy these theoretical ridiculous appliances and just stay with older ones until the appliance manufacturers started making normal appliances again.
The problem here is not the refrigerator, or the software on it. I repeat. The problem here is not the refrigerator! We're building a shitty internet, not an internet of shitty things. If integrating with an online calendar means having to have a software team at the ready at all times for the whim's of some service's API updates.. we have failed society in a deep way. The API that Google should be releasing for Goog…
Rather than being built in, this "calendar" should be android/iOS tablet that's attached to the refrigerator with magnets. It should be thrown in the trash every couple years and replaced with a new one. According to the interests of Google/Apple (as evidenced by their software updates).