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Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

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Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#511

Post by ecshafer »

DevX101 wrote: post #472
fny wrote: post #365

I'm all for antitrust, but it's a shame the Amazon acquisition was blocked.[0] iRobot was in a distressed state then, and immediately laid of 1/3 of staff when the deal fell through. I knew a survivor of that mess. Now this. 0: https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/29/24034201/amazon-irobot-ac... 0: https://archive.is/rBn7z

I’m glad it was blocked. Amazon gives law enforcement and ICE access to Ring camera footage. I have no doubt they’d eventually be letting cops spy inside our homes with these vacuum cleaners.

[flagged]

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#512

Post by armonster »

crazygringo wrote: post #452
prmoustache wrote: post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think there are tens of millions still in use. Unless you design your house and buy your furnitures taking these roomba into account, they get stuck nearly every where or at the first sock left on the ground by someone in your household. They have a number of wearable most owner will not even want to replace and will start being inefficient rather quickly. Add to that some battery wear and I don't think there…

> The thing is, those robots really don't solve a real problem as vacuuming and mopping are the easiest and quickest job when it comes to cleaning the house. Hard disagree, because vacuuming is something you often need to do daily . Spending 10 min/day becomes over an hour a week. That's a significant chunk. If you have smooth floors, running a Roomba kind of becomes a no-brainer. On the other hand, I only need to du…

I've never met anyone in my life who vacuums at that rate. Not sure if your personal germophobia counts as a counterpoint.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#513

Post by n8cpdx »

furyg3 wrote: post #136

Are there any good robo-vacuum cleaners that will still clean your floor if the internet is down? I've had my Miele vacuum cleaner for 15 years now, and I bought it second hand. I can still buy bags and filters for it, and when the floor roller piece broke (something heavy fell on it) I was able to buy a replacement one for cheap. I see no reason why it can't go another 10 years. It feels like a very low probability…

I don’t get where the fear mongering is coming from on this. All or nearly all robot vacuums have controls for their various functions on the side. Plenty of robotic vacuums even come with remotes so you can program schedules without a phone/wifi/internet. If you go really cheap you can get decent robots that won’t even let you connect to WiFi if you tried (at least as of a few years ago).

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#514

Post by _aavaa_ »

jasonkester wrote: post #502
anymouse123456 wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This! I was a very early customer of Roomba and loved them when they came out. I had pets at the time, and the machine would consistently fail in about 14 months. I finally figured out that I needed to buy them from Costco, so that I could get them replaced. Rather than taking their lead and improving the product, they just sat there with the exact same product for like 10+ years. It was outrageous. I guess Rodney Br…

Rather than taking their lead and improving the product, they just sat there with the exact same product for like 10+ years. It was outrageous. I think that this is actually the only viable strategy for a hardware product company in the current world. As soon as your product is successful, it will be cloned by dozens of Chinese companies and dumped on the market everywhere. Any update you make from there on out will…

Idk if I’d hold GoPro as an example of a company launching amazing things anymore…

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#515

Post by dylan604 »

gosub100 wrote: post #468
BigTTYGothGF wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think they want to see the inside of your house, and what do you think they'd be able to do with the information?

Blackmail for one: "I'll wage a campaign to flood the Internet with pics of your half dressed wife unless you....". That will work on some people, discovering extramarital affairs, or proving you know intimate details about the inside of someone's house, along with threat of physical violence will work on others. You just need to be sufficiently creative. You can parlay the successes from one target to the next: "I c…

Maybe I'm just not paranoid enough, but when people are having sexy time, they are not really likely to be running the roomba. Having that thing running is the opposite of sexy. When the thing is parked on the base station, it is facing the wall. So exactly how frequently do people think a roomba is running to be capturing all of this explicit footage?

To be clear, I'm not saying footage can't be captured, but some of these examples are just bat shit crazy well beyond paranoid

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#516

Post by IAmBroom »

kleiba wrote: post #413
lionkor wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of modern appliances connect to the Internet, have multiple computers inside that need updates, maintenance, maybe subscription payments, and that need to phone home everything they see, hear and do.

Huh, why is that? Admittedly, I only own older appliances, but somehow they don't require updates. Subscription payments? For household devices you own ? I suspect "phoning home" is a good incentive for manufacturers, but why would anyone buy such a device then?

Dunno, but welcome to the world post-IOT.

You've apparently been off the web and out of stores for over a decade. Home Depot sells a bluetooth-connected shower head (just the head - it doesn't turn the water on). There are smart thermostats that are wifi connected so you can change the temperature of your house from anywhere in the world... for reasons...

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#517

Post by mikeg8 »

ecshafer wrote: post #511
DevX101 wrote: post #472

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m glad it was blocked. Amazon gives law enforcement and ICE access to Ring camera footage. I have no doubt they’d eventually be letting cops spy inside our homes with these vacuum cleaners.

[flagged]

Yea! I totally trust corporations and government to always do the right thing and never abuse their powers!

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#518

Post by dylan604 »

armonster wrote: post #512
crazygringo wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The thing is, those robots really don't solve a real problem as vacuuming and mopping are the easiest and quickest job when it comes to cleaning the house. Hard disagree, because vacuuming is something you often need to do daily . Spending 10 min/day becomes over an hour a week. That's a significant chunk. If you have smooth floors, running a Roomba kind of becomes a no-brainer. On the other hand, I only need to du…

I've never met anyone in my life who vacuums at that rate. Not sure if your personal germophobia counts as a counterpoint.

You don't know anyone with pets that shed a lot? Most of my shedding pet friends try to vacuum daily, and if a day is missed it is very obvious.

People that don't vacuum that frequently, I'd assume, are also the type of people that don't clean a litter box for a week instead of daily.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#519

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

IAmBroom wrote: post #496
mkagenius wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since this can be a significant security issue for the state, why doesn't the government sponsor a security audit of the software. Does it upload the data or everything is done on the device? (Also, will have to keep up with the updates)

"Why doesn't the state protect everyone from ___?" is a naive question. Almost anything can be a significant security issue for the state. They have to carefully choose where they are going to spend effort & money. And they pick whatever will keep them safely in power... which never ever includes "strict regulation of vacuum cleaners".

> which never ever includes "strict regulation of vacuum cleaners

but has routinely included "network and encryption related technologies".

It's just that these two worlds now, amazingly and probably incorrectly, overlap.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#520

Post by IAmBroom »

dotancohen wrote: post #192
rgovostes wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A simpler signal: Did I buy the $250 Roomba 105 or the $900 Roomba Max 705?

I'm not sure about that. The wealthiest people I know are also the most careful about where they spend their money.

Maybe so, but the poorest people I know don't buy the most expensive tech toys.

I mean, their teenage kids certainly lobby for them, at least as far as iPhones go...

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