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Can't sign in to Google calendar on my Samsung refrigerator

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Re: Can't sign in to Google calendar on my Samsung refrigerator

#241

Post by mlonkibjuyhv »

Pxtl wrote: post #226
denom wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a ongoing internal friction in the software development process. We rely on capitalized business processes to self-correct against dramatic failures like this. This is not a failure of society, it's a failure to appropriately contextualize this software with regards the business that backs it. Rather than being built in, this "calendar" should be android/iOS tablet that's attached to the refrigerator with ma…

Yup. Just put a USB port and a recessed frame in the fridge door and say "hey, it comes with a free Galaxy Tab 4 8" device! And a box of magnets and crazy glue! Same thing with "Smart TVs". Just put some extra powered USB ports on the back next to the HDMI port and bundle it with a TV stick.

Yup, smart devices are stupid when they should be dumb.

Re: Can't sign in to Google calendar on my Samsung refrigerator

#242

Post by coldpie »

FraaJad wrote: post #220
coldpie wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last winter I walked into a Subaru dealership, ready to plunk down for a brand new Impreza. I live in Minnesota. I wanted AWD and I know how hard it is to find used Subarus, especially when you insist on a stick shift. So I figured I'd just give in and buy new. They didn't have any of the 2015 models at the time, so we test drove a 2014 model. Except for the inadequate number of pedals, it seemed fine. I was ready to…

buying a mazda for not liking the infotainment when living in MN is like cutting off your nose to spite your face.. or something.. You could have bought an older version of Subie ...

Nah, it's not that bad. Pop some snow tires on there and it's fine. The vast majority of vehicles on the road are FWD. I would've preferred AWD, but there were none for sale with my requirements (stick shift, physical HVAC/radio controls, non-garbage HVAC/radio experience).

Re: Can't sign in to Google calendar on my Samsung refrigerator

#243

Post by snowwrestler »

watty wrote: post #72
Eric_WVGG wrote: post #45

I was impressed and a little amazed by how deadpan and serious the messages in the discussion are… nobody stops to reflect on the sheer insanity that we’re all giggling at over here. I assume, anyway, eventually my attention wandered and I skipped to the end, where a charming young lad does indeed go unhinged over “samsucks” and heroin-addicted mothers.

I'm more amazed by how everyone on HN is so shocked by a computer on a fridge. We live in an age where powerful computers with touchscreens can be had for tens of dollars... what's so shocking about an underpowered computer on a fridge? What's so shocking about wanting it to function as advertised?

From 2000-2003 I worked for a product strategy consultant; we helped computer companies (what today we would call tech companies) decide what hardware products to build ~5 years out.

The Internet-connected refrigerator was predicted and/or introduced, in some form, at least once a year even back then. It became our punchline when talking about poorly conceived converged devices. Reality continues to bear out that opinion.

The problem was never the cost of the computer part--people will pay ridiculous amounts of money for "high end" appliances. The problem was always: how will the manufacturer meet consumer expectations, and then keep meeting them over the typical lifespan of a refrigerator?

People even today have a hard enough time managing the computer they know they have--how will they manage a computer buried in a fridge? Answer: they can't, as illustrated by that Google support thread.

And worse, appliance manufacturers are no better at managing computers than consumers, again as illustrated in that thread. Samsung did not plan to support their fridge computer, and now that they are being asked to do so, they can't find their ass with both hands. Every appliance company is this bad or worse with software and networking.

So, an underpowered embedded computer that doesn't function as advertised is not shocking at all. That doesn't mean it's not amusing how stupid/terrible it is.

Re: Can't sign in to Google calendar on my Samsung refrigerator

#244

Post by gvb »

Oh my, "Rawson" is really Eliza! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA

Rawson: I see that you are facing issues with the calendar app.

...

Rawson: I understand that must make you feel upset.

Rawson: If there was any other option, I would have definetely provided you with that. I hope you understand.

Re: Can't sign in to Google calendar on my Samsung refrigerator

#245

Post by oliwarner »

codemac wrote: post #130

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…

Can't agree more. We had more interoperability a decade ago than we have today. People wanted to open up their APIs and let you DO things with their services. Today it's all about the lock-in, DRM and not-invented-here feature breaks. It's horrible and backwards.

Re: Can't sign in to Google calendar on my Samsung refrigerator

#246

Post by deepnet »

oldmanjay wrote: post #219
deepnet wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of (Ubik author) Phil Dick's great insights was that our relationship with machines would be intrusive and passive aggressive. Flying advert drones projecting adverts onto pedestrian's retinas; home appliances like fridges that refuse to open until sufficient coinage is inserted - a prescient vision.

I love PKD, I can't get enough, but I feel like you only get to qualify a prediction as prescient once it comes to pass.

Ubik reverses cultural causality: a product, UBIK, travels back in time affecting the aesthetics of the present by altering the past.

Or rather, advertising makes you feel it has always been this way.

Ubik is a Madison Avenue version of Orwell's 1984, rebranding the past. In this everyday dystopia, we've never had it so good despite having so little.

But Dick was not just prescient, he was writing what it was like where he was, when he was. All the dystopian elements of his Sci-Fi were his contemporary struggles.

Paraphrasing Gibson: Dystopia is already here, it just hasn't hit home yet.

Dick's protagonist argues with his fridge, he wants the milk but the fridge is demanding money it claims he owes the refrigeration company.

Re: Can't sign in to Google calendar on my Samsung refrigerator

#247

Post by pavel_lishin »

mindslight wrote: post #99
redthrowaway wrote: post #62

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).

I've had Ubuntu running on my old desktop for a few years now. It's literally a 50% chance as to whether I'll be able to get the GUI login screen to come up, and be able to log in successfully on my first try, without having to ssh in from another machine and fiddle around with things.

This isn't an exaggeration. 50%.

Re: Can't sign in to Google calendar on my Samsung refrigerator

#248

Post by ansible »

Pxtl wrote: post #226
denom wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a ongoing internal friction in the software development process. We rely on capitalized business processes to self-correct against dramatic failures like this. This is not a failure of society, it's a failure to appropriately contextualize this software with regards the business that backs it. Rather than being built in, this "calendar" should be android/iOS tablet that's attached to the refrigerator with ma…

Yup. Just put a USB port and a recessed frame in the fridge door and say "hey, it comes with a free Galaxy Tab 4 8" device! And a box of magnets and crazy glue! Same thing with "Smart TVs". Just put some extra powered USB ports on the back next to the HDMI port and bundle it with a TV stick.

I wish the car companies would take that attitude too. I keep my cars a long time, and I don't think it will be useful to be running a 10 year old version of Android on it. Just let me treat the car (or other appliance) like a peripheral, which would require minimal ongoing support, and let me upgrade the smarts as needed.

Re: Can't sign in to Google calendar on my Samsung refrigerator

#249

Post by redthrowaway »

dragonwriter wrote: post #237
redthrowaway wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still waiting for them to stop making 3D movies so I can watch a normal movie like a normal person. Avatar was 6 years ago. The joke stopped being funny back when AirBnB was still about blow-up mattresses.

There are lots of non-3D movies made; the fact that 3D movies are also made doesn't stop you from watching a "normal movie" like a "normal person".

The fact that no theatre nearby will show a movie that has a 3D version in non-3D does.

Re: Can't sign in to Google calendar on my Samsung refrigerator

#250

Post by eterm »

ant6n wrote: post #221
OJFord wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many (most?) emails probably make their way through decades-old infrastructure somewhere along the line.

You mean the physical cables, right?

Actually most the cables used aren't that old.
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