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Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

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Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

#161

Post by mrpopo »

readams wrote: post #135
burnt_toast wrote: post #127

The year is 2050 and your dingy old toaster has finally given up it's last crumbs. You hop onto Amazon in hopes of finding a suitable replacement as there's no longer any box stores you can travel to. Dumb appliances have been phased out and newer internet connected appliances have taken over. It's better for the consumer they claim. Not wanting an overtly fancy contraption you pick a no frills unit that includes a t…

You forgot the part where it refuses to toast your unlicensed bread.

Also the part where the toaster version is outdated and it won't start toasting before it's up to date.

Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

#162

Post by xaduha »

xmprt wrote: post #137
xaduha wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's dystopian crap, I want nothing to do with it. This is what the future looks like though. Welcome.

I think the future is a lot closer to something between Instacart and Amazon Go. This is what dying companies do to eek out a little more revenue at their last few customers' expense. Companies that rely on "innovations" like this for the future will not survive.

I agree, elaborated in a comment in this tree. Doesn't mean that it's not going to happen though, for a while at least, in some places.

Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

#163

Post by nixpulvis »

apsurd wrote: post #133
burnt_toast wrote: post #127

The year is 2050 and your dingy old toaster has finally given up it's last crumbs. You hop onto Amazon in hopes of finding a suitable replacement as there's no longer any box stores you can travel to. Dumb appliances have been phased out and newer internet connected appliances have taken over. It's better for the consumer they claim. Not wanting an overtly fancy contraption you pick a no frills unit that includes a t…

I enjoyed reading your story. All the while I couldn't help but want to share how good pan-fried/toasted bread is. It's the butter of course, just generously butter up a pan, spread the bread so it soaks up the butter. Takes a little longer, but you also get to feel like a cook. and no ads

Stovetops haven't been a thing in most homes in over a decade. Everyone either heats up frozen meals or "cooks" separated ingredients in a special MealWave oven. True chefs are underrated for some reason that I still don't fully understand.

Luckily the world is burning, so many people just cook on the sidewalks. The smart cooks learned that the solar panels get pretty damn hot, so they've been hijacking the roofs. Electricity prices now vary with meal timings (as well as everything else).

Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

#164

Post by CameronNemo »

mrobins wrote: post #97
rdiddly wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an ad platform plain and simple; that's the whole value proposition. So I imagine every pitch, every meeting was about that. And every store that uses it will be doing it to get a cut of the ad revenue. It's true that it's lousy at being glass, but that's like saying smallpox blankets were a lousy way to make friends with Native Americans. The shittiness of it, in other words, was the goal all along, and any res…

Except that moving inventory, and to a lesser extent generating repeat business, is more critical than ancillary ad revenue. If The screens don’t work or the ads aren’t effective, and I don’t open the door to get those high-margin also-bought drinks than they definitely do not achieve the store’s goal.

Also these screens are a great target for anarchists.

Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

#165

Post by brailsafe »

apsurd wrote: post #133
burnt_toast wrote: post #127

The year is 2050 and your dingy old toaster has finally given up it's last crumbs. You hop onto Amazon in hopes of finding a suitable replacement as there's no longer any box stores you can travel to. Dumb appliances have been phased out and newer internet connected appliances have taken over. It's better for the consumer they claim. Not wanting an overtly fancy contraption you pick a no frills unit that includes a t…

I enjoyed reading your story. All the while I couldn't help but want to share how good pan-fried/toasted bread is. It's the butter of course, just generously butter up a pan, spread the bread so it soaks up the butter. Takes a little longer, but you also get to feel like a cook. and no ads

Second this. Another nice technique if you have a toaster oven (or presumably any oven) is to toast the bread a bit first, then pull it out and butter it, then put it back in. Way better toast.

Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

#166

Post by hedora »

jollybean wrote: post #131
jcims wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The shoppers are already in the store, presumably to buy from their list. Now the store gets a cut of an ad and the profit from the sale it makes. The digital delivery is going to be amazing for A/B testing of ads because they are going to have near immediate feedback. It's pretty clever in a dystopian hellscape kind of way.

"The shoppers are already in the store, presumably to buy from their list. " This isn't really how it works. If it worked that way then lighting, music, display organization, cleanliness, shelf space, brand, packaging etc. 'would not matter'. All of those things matter, immensely, at any real scale. The kinds of comments I'm seeing here are a little bit uncomfortable in this regard, indicate a kind of lack of self-aw…

I suspect the downvotes are because your comment could be shortened to “My worry here is that this will inconvenience the marketing drones, distracting them from maximizing our suffering as they burn the planet down”.

(Upvoted; thanks for the insightful comment.)

Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

#167

Post by brailsafe »

mrpopo wrote: post #161
readams wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You forgot the part where it refuses to toast your unlicensed bread.

Also the part where the toaster version is outdated and it won't start toasting before it's up to date.

Also the part where the toaster version is 6 years out of date and someone gains root access and deletes all your data

Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

#168

Post by enchiridion »

burnt_toast wrote: post #127

The year is 2050 and your dingy old toaster has finally given up it's last crumbs. You hop onto Amazon in hopes of finding a suitable replacement as there's no longer any box stores you can travel to. Dumb appliances have been phased out and newer internet connected appliances have taken over. It's better for the consumer they claim. Not wanting an overtly fancy contraption you pick a no frills unit that includes a t…

A 3 year old account that's been waiting for this moment.

Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

#169

Post by brailsafe »

ergot_vacation wrote: post #31
nkrisc wrote: post #13

Everyone here who’s worked for some moderately large corporation knows exactly why this was done: it’s a flashy pet project for some “labs” team in an otherwise boring retailer and maybe they’ll recoup some of the cost in ads, minus whatever they lose for it being an awful idea. Some charismatic product manager sold it to execs as “being the future of connected retail” or some other BS. In a few months they’ll be rem…

As a rough estimate, what percent of US economic activity is large piles of money being tossed into a flaming dumpster for the sake of someone's ego? Because every year it seems higher.

This is why it's important to try and negotiate for as much salary as you can, no matter what you do. Companies are lighting cash on fire all the time, they can afford it.

Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

#170

Post by bcrosby95 »

burnt_toast wrote: post #127

The year is 2050 and your dingy old toaster has finally given up it's last crumbs. You hop onto Amazon in hopes of finding a suitable replacement as there's no longer any box stores you can travel to. Dumb appliances have been phased out and newer internet connected appliances have taken over. It's better for the consumer they claim. Not wanting an overtly fancy contraption you pick a no frills unit that includes a t…

2 years later, Amazon discontinues updates on the toaster. No one notices, but it still toasts. 8 years later, people hack them and cause them to burn down some houses. Of course, it was the owner's fault - they were running a discontinued toaster that wasn't receiving software updates anymore.
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