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Bob Cassette Rewinder: Hacking Detergent DRM

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Re: Bob Cassette Rewinder: Hacking Detergent DRM

#161

Post by javajosh »

tinco wrote: post #132
piva00 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the only reason the product is so nice is because the grubby handed business types could raise the money by promising MRR to the investors. Bingo! It's just the next layer of business types because they dominate this fucking system... Yes, it is the system: shameful.

Did you see the price tag? This device is super cheap for what it is, same as inkjet printers are. It's easier to sell a $50 printer and recover your losses through ink, than it is to sell a $200 printer. You could solve the "system" by regulating that companies are not allowed to sell products at a loss, but that would be unamerican.

Anthropomorphising companies is a trap. I mean, it's a trap that SCOTUS fell into, but still. Companies are more like organisms in nature, responding to incentives in a mindless way. Just as it seems foolish to hate a tapeworm for its 'exploitative' life-cycle, it seems foolish to hate this kind of business model, or any other. Are herbavores really the only good animals, and farmers the only good workers? I find that hard to accept. It's almost impossible to judge good or evil, especially in the long run. Consider that mitochondria probably started out as an infection, or a parasite. Your gut flora, too. Not to mention all the weird ways ecosystems interlock, until its no longer clear who's exploiting whom. (That said, I think it's reasonable to want to live in Mayberry, but its highly unfair when the only people who get to live there are the ones who make the rest of the world Hamsterdam.)

Re: Bob Cassette Rewinder: Hacking Detergent DRM

#163

Post by [deleted] »

low_tech_love wrote: post #113

Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but if you buy a product because you like it and admire the design and engineering on it, isn't this type of hacking actually a disservice to the company who made it? I mean, I'm not saying this should never be explored (hacking is fun), but in a way you're cutting the resources from the company and potentially helping to bring it down. After all, a business is not made only on top…

[deleted]

Re: Bob Cassette Rewinder: Hacking Detergent DRM

#164

Post by the_third_wave »

throwxxxaway wrote: post #32
tomrod wrote: post #14

I am, more and more, deliberately choosing boring technology. Knobs in the car and on appliances. No screen interfaces. Low-tech where possible. We just replaced our "high tech" Maytag dryer and its "advanced" feature set for a low tech SpeedQueen, the same dryers you find in most Laundromats. Why? Repairability. While we could _technically_ replace the burnt out fuse in the Maytag, it would take at least two hours f…

Can it be that we are just getting old? The new generation will have their brains wired to ignore ads, will be ok with devices spying on them (it will be called something else). And we will be something like that grandpa that can't unblock the mobile phone. (for example, use that new blockchain smart contract to open the fridge and order some food NFTs)

> The new generation will have their brains wired to ignore ads

...upon which the brain wiring experts get bought and rewire those brains to only see "approved" ads which gives the wheel another push. Around and around it goes, like a circle game.

Re: Bob Cassette Rewinder: Hacking Detergent DRM

#165

Post by boringg »

nicbou wrote: post #145
tomrod wrote: post #14

I am, more and more, deliberately choosing boring technology. Knobs in the car and on appliances. No screen interfaces. Low-tech where possible. We just replaced our "high tech" Maytag dryer and its "advanced" feature set for a low tech SpeedQueen, the same dryers you find in most Laundromats. Why? Repairability. While we could _technically_ replace the burnt out fuse in the Maytag, it would take at least two hours f…

I do the same. I avoid anything that ties me to the manufacturer. Once one of their MBAs decides that the product line is no longer profitable, the servers go offline, the software stops getting updates, the cartridges stop being produced. I like self-contained products that I can repair myself (within reason). I have growing faith in my ability to repair things. However, manufacturers find it profitable to withhold…

I loathe MBAs and business schools - I strongly feel like that have seriously ruined much of the last 30 years through wasted talent and short sighted profiteering. That and they are so self assured. Oh add in VC for putting such high pressure and excess returns. The model is broken.

* I know not all MBAs are like this but there's considerable damage *

Re: Bob Cassette Rewinder: Hacking Detergent DRM

#166

Post by spiffytech »

hguant wrote: post #65
causality0 wrote: post #5

I see the point of that dishwasher for someone who doesn't have easy access to a sink like a student in a dorm, but I can't fathom why you'd put one in a house or apartment. With such a tiny capacity you're better off hand washing.

1. Handwashing is water inefficient compared to a lot of dishwashers; if this is something that's important to you, a device like this makes ecologic, if not necessarily economic sense 2. Dishwashers are expensive to people not on tech salaries. All upfront costs are difficult; a smaller upfront payment with a recurring monthly/quarterly subscription payment is much more manageable for many people. 3. There are many…

> Handwashing is water inefficient compared to a lot of dishwashers

My grandmother insisted the right way to hand-wash dishes was to plug the sink and fill it up, scrub with your hands in the water, then drain and rinse everything all at once.

That should be similar efficiency (or greater?) vs a modern dishwasher, but I'm not sure anyone does that anymore. Everyone else I've seen leaves the water running the whole time.

Re: Bob Cassette Rewinder: Hacking Detergent DRM

#167

Post by UmbertoNoEco »

low_tech_love wrote: post #113

Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but if you buy a product because you like it and admire the design and engineering on it, isn't this type of hacking actually a disservice to the company who made it? I mean, I'm not saying this should never be explored (hacking is fun), but in a way you're cutting the resources from the company and potentially helping to bring it down. After all, a business is not made only on top…

Plenty of John Deer loving farmers would disagree with you.

Re: Bob Cassette Rewinder: Hacking Detergent DRM

#168

Post by ikurei »

tomrod wrote: post #14

I am, more and more, deliberately choosing boring technology. Knobs in the car and on appliances. No screen interfaces. Low-tech where possible. We just replaced our "high tech" Maytag dryer and its "advanced" feature set for a low tech SpeedQueen, the same dryers you find in most Laundromats. Why? Repairability. While we could _technically_ replace the burnt out fuse in the Maytag, it would take at least two hours f…

> Knobs in the car and on appliances.

I want knobs in my car, but I specially want no GPS tracking, no connection to the internet. My not-that-old dead-dinosaur-powered car doesn't have it, but I'd like to switch to an electric car in the next few years and I'm fearing it.

Will anyone build an electric but dumb car? I know some of the earlier electrics were dumb (in this desirable sense) but they also had significat compromises. Will it be possible to buy a privacy-respecting, good, new-ish electric car in a few years? It looks unlikely...

(I'm honestly asking, someone here will know way more than me about this)

Re: Bob Cassette Rewinder: Hacking Detergent DRM

#169

Post by numpad0 »

Waterluvian wrote: post #69

Wow. So I'm watching the Techmoan review and it's just amazing. You've got this pretty awesome product.... up until you can clearly see the business types shoving their grubby hands in the way of UX and good engineering. Oh no no no. We can't just sell a product. We need recurring revenue. So we'll make DRM proprietary detergent pods that require electronics in each one. Ah, but people will reject that because they k…

I don't want to quote Elon Musk as a matter of preference but I'll do so anyway:

"If they[people] have, um, implicit, um, assumption that the economy is zero-sum, then the only way for one person to get ahead is by taking from one another".

The context is that the economy is ever expanding, values are being created, and future is bright, but my thought is it characterizes the market today precisely if it had not been for the context.

ref: https://youtu.be/XP5k3ZzPf_0?t=1579

Re: Bob Cassette Rewinder: Hacking Detergent DRM

#170

Post by distances »

FridayoLeary wrote: post #82
mgdlbp wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is about dishwashers, but I once read about regulation-enforced water/energy-saving cycles resulting in ineffective cleaning, which backfired, as people then got in the habit of always selecting the heaviest cycle or even re-adopted pre-rinsing. Searching for the concept now, I can only find this article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/make-dishwashers-that-clean-aga...

Exactly. I read "Eco mode" (which can be found on virtually any product today) as 'ignore entirely'.

I have a dishwasher and washing machine from Siemens (nowadays the same as Bosch, just different branding). European models around 400€ each. Eco mode washes perfectly fine on both of them, that's what I always use. Takes over three hours but that's not an issue for me.
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