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For all that's holy, can you just leverage the web, please?

blog.tomayac.com

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Re: For all that's holy, can you just leverage the web, please?

#111

Post by hedora »

sokoloff wrote: post #78
hedora wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve dealt with multiple companies that hang up after hearing what your issue is, before and after AI became common. Since it is standard industry practice, I think draconian regulations are appropriate. Off the top of my head, if you are caught having a policy to do this, you pay all customers $100/hour retroactively for the total time they spent on hold (clawing back executive comp if necessary). An amount equal to…

> even if they engaged in it I can't imagine any way that could be abused... (Cue "I'm going to write me a new mini-van this afternoon.")

Yeah; to avoid trouble, the call centers would need to avoid the appearance of impropriety, which is a higher bar than not engaging in the behavior.

Re: For all that's holy, can you just leverage the web, please?

#112

Post by edoceo »

benbenolson wrote: post #57
toastal wrote: post #41

> Electrolux washing machine I had to buy one a couple of years ago. Snarkily I asked the floor salesman if I could get the washer “without all the smart features”. He said “let me check”, which had me puzzled. He came back to inform me that they still had last year’s model which was before the “smart” features were rolled out. He said they can sell it on the same warranty, & since it was older I would get a signific…

I got a Spectre TV (pretty cheap, they sell it at Walmart). It's a little more expensive than other TVs in the same class, but has no smart features: you plug HDMI into it and it displays it. You hit "Source" and are greeted with a no-nonsense menu that lets you choose the HDMI port, composite input, etc. It's great.

I've got one too! I hope it lasts.

Re: For all that's holy, can you just leverage the web, please?

#113

Post by Hackbraten »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #55
exabrial wrote: post #20

Why not just print a $.0001 sticker and stick it the machine listing all of the info needed to fix the machine... instead of building a $86million datacenter and burning through $100,000 of clean electricity every month that could have been used to power homes, but was instead used doing this?

As someone who has a side job doing repairs, I charge more when customers try to repair things themselves. There is a whole class of people who are smart enough to fix simple things, but not smart enough to recognize their limited ability. They will strip out all the screws on the machine and then claim warranty after replacing random electronic components on the control board. In reality the problem will be a dirty…

> but not smart enough to recognize their limited ability.

Exploring the boundaries of one's own ability is not being "not smart enough." It's learning.

Re: For all that's holy, can you just leverage the web, please?

#114

Post by redserk »

Night_Thastus wrote: post #100
sceptic123 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What counts as funny? Have you connected it to the internet? If so it's probably still spying on you and that is why people care.

To be honest, looking at the PiHole logs the TV itself hasn't tried to do much of anything. The apps on my streaming device (namely Netflix before I uninstalled it) tried, but the PiHole always caught it.

At this point I wouldn’t rely on PiHole DNS logs alone. You’d need to check network traffic from the device in general, it could use DoT/DoH.

And I suppose there’s the even-creeper Amazon Sidewalk: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...

I hate sounding like I’m wearing a foil hat but there are a lot of easy ways to get around trying to neuter smart devices now.

Re: For all that's holy, can you just leverage the web, please?

#115

Post by toyg »

taeric wrote: post #98
toyg wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But they don't have in-house capabilities precisely because of the above-mentioned enshittification cycle: CEO-monkey does not care about long-term. CEO-monkey lowers costs today. CEO-monkey moves on to new job soon.

Maybe? It is as likely that the company focused on manufacturing for so long that they decided to keep their focus there.

Electrolux has existed for almost 100 years, and on its way it acquired a lot of other companies. The chances that none of those companies ever developed any sort of in-house assistance, over that time, are close to zero.

Re: For all that's holy, can you just leverage the web, please?

#116

Post by seany »

chipotle_coyote wrote: post #109
mschuster91 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, at least from LG: https://www.lg.com/global/business/oled-signage

The parent post saying they “cost a bit higher” is, AFAICT, understating it a wee bit. LG’s consumer 65-inch 4K OLED TVs run between $1200 and $2500 at retail, from a quick search; the 65-inch 4K OLED “professional monitor” linked on that page—e.g., the one that’s closest to an actual TV—retails for around $8000 at B&H. The cheapest OLED commercial TV I could find at b&H was a 55” LG for $3K…and as far as I can tell…

The other specs are often different. Things like 100% duty cycle, uv resistant coatings, ipx ratings, serial ports for control etc etc

Re: For all that's holy, can you just leverage the web, please?

#119

Post by Night_Thastus »

publicdaniel wrote: post #106
Night_Thastus wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get why people care about about whether a TV is "Smart". I have a "Smart" TV and never use the features, and it doesn't bother me. I have a PiHole in case it tries to do anything funny, and that's good enough for me.

Don’t forget about DNS over HTTPS which bypasses PiHole

Is there a way to set up the modem, router, pihole, or any other part of the network to close that loophole?

Re: For all that's holy, can you just leverage the web, please?

#120

Post by thisissomething »

Liftyee wrote: post #6

Not criticising the article or the decision to buy a new washing machine (20 years is a long time), but just noting that the old machine was likely fixable. If spare parts are even still available, that is. Whether it's deemed worth fixing is another matter. This must be the case for so many discarded appliances these days, especially underengineered ones with common issues. Also, not using the QR code protocols prop…

> This must be the case for so many discarded appliances these days, especially underengineered ones with common issues.

While it's true that lots of those old appliances are easily fixable, depending on how old they are it's better to replace due to other factors.

I just recently replaced my 10 years old washing machine instead of fixing it. I was absolutely surprised by the difference. The newer one uses less electricity, less water, washes and dries in half the time, and is absolutely silent.

I only hope it lasts as long as the old one.

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