Good article from an intellectual curiosity perspective. I use the Philips Sonicare brushes, although I've been using 3rd party heads for years due to the cost difference (3X cheaper). Philips obviously wants to deter people like me from this behaviour. I see they no longer sell non-RFID heads, even when the old brushes lack this feature. Yet more e-waste as they try to nudge customer upgrades.
Hacking my “smart” toothbrush
151–160 of 311 posts
Re: Hacking my “smart” toothbrush
#152It's a toothbrush. Why does it need all this tech and an app? It's better to think about sustainability. I had an Oral B IO electric toothbrush. The retail price is nuts and the brushes are expensive and can't really be recycled. Imagine millions of these out there slowly rotting. I gave up on the IO and bought this one instead. Simple design and battery lasts longer too. https://www.trysuri.com/
This is a nice idea. The problem is longevity. I'd be willing to bet this product disappears after a few years (best case scenario) and you are left with no ability to buy new heads and end up binning the brush. So net net you probably waste more than buying a Philips/Oral-B brush that likely has 10+ years of support for brush heads, which have a far lower environmental impact than replacing the brush. In terms of cost, if you buy the well known brands when they are on sale, they're generally pretty cheap. I'll admit they do try to sting you if you buy at RRP.
Re: Hacking my “smart” toothbrush
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
I might have misinterpreted the article, but I imagine that if the NFC tag on the brush locks out, the handset is no longer able to write new data to it (no 'brush seconds' can be added to the counter). This suggests to me that the handset will not start blinking and reminding you that you need a new brush, but will be happy to brush to infinity. I cannot imagine that the handset will refuse to brush if it can't writ…
I have a third party brush head for my Philips Sonicare with none of the smart features and no electronics in the head (there's an air gap where they usually are) and it still works fine. This makes me wonder all the more why they put the effort in to secure the head.
There's a good conspiracy here somewhere.
Re: Hacking my “smart” toothbrush
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah but if you could reset the head instead of having to change it, imagine the savings
I would question your priorities if you're trying to save on $4 heads for a $90 toothbrush.
There's a $35 edition of that toothbrush today, I got a similar one at $25 (iirc) on some Black Friday. $10 heads are an issue when $5 toothbrushes exist.
Re: Hacking my “smart” toothbrush
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
My pet peeve with bathroom scales is that it is impossible to find one that actually does what it claims and has accuracy of +-0.1kg. They do show the measurement to 0.1, but just shifting your weight differently can cause a difference of hundreds of grams. Does anyone knlw a scale that actually measures at 0.1kg accuracy?
The best scale I’ve ever had was the Nintendo Wii Balance Board. A couple of years ago I wanted to upgrade my bathroom scale to whatever the best one was and I found that there are no really good scales out there.
This actually tracks as the Wii Balance Boards needs good sensors to accurately sense how you are shifting your weight. I imagine they use better and more weight sensors than your average bathroom scale.
I have a "smart" scale from Polar that fortunately could be used as a regular dumb scale. I think Polar is really great in this regard. Their watches and other equipment can be used without syncing or connecting to their cloud, but the cloud does provide you extra value if you want to use it.
Re: Hacking my “smart” toothbrush
#156I have one, but it never occurred to me to want to hack it. "But how do you know when it's time to change the brush?" Well, how about when it starts getting soft?
How about when the blue part goes away, as documented? :-) I've used a Sonicare for, what, ten years or more? And I don't think I've ever seen an indication that the NFC is communicating anything to me. That's not to say that it isn't, but if I'm going to ignore something[0] and replace the head when I damned well please, I just ignore the blue part of the bristles. I could probably adjust my behavior to ignore whate…
AB testing showed that sales increased after indicating the head should be removed earlier than necessary.
Re: Hacking my “smart” toothbrush
#157Re: Hacking my “smart” toothbrush
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
I might have misinterpreted the article, but I imagine that if the NFC tag on the brush locks out, the handset is no longer able to write new data to it (no 'brush seconds' can be added to the counter). This suggests to me that the handset will not start blinking and reminding you that you need a new brush, but will be happy to brush to infinity. I cannot imagine that the handset will refuse to brush if it can't writ…
I have a third party brush head for my Philips Sonicare with none of the smart features and no electronics in the head (there's an air gap where they usually are) and it still works fine. This makes me wonder all the more why they put the effort in to secure the head.
Engineer gonna engineer. Someone probably just had the time and misplaced passion for security, and when they explained at the weekly standup that they'd added lockout after three attempts, everybody just nodded and moved on.
Re: Hacking my “smart” toothbrush
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
My pet peeve with bathroom scales is that it is impossible to find one that actually does what it claims and has accuracy of +-0.1kg. They do show the measurement to 0.1, but just shifting your weight differently can cause a difference of hundreds of grams. Does anyone knlw a scale that actually measures at 0.1kg accuracy?
Is it ever significant to know? Your body weight varies naturally depending on food intake, waste disposal, and even when you last went for a hair cut. If sub-kilo variations are medically relevant, I would expect one to measure more than just weight.
I think he's talking about precision, not accuracy.
Re: Hacking my “smart” toothbrush
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
Welcome Time Travellers! This is 2023 where you can find yourself locked out of your toothbrush after too many failed password attempts.
Guess we'll have to brute force clean our teeth by moving the locked toothbrush up and down, side to side, and in circular motions.
Regular toothbrushes are the plaintext todo/note taking apps of dentistry. 99% of the benefits for 1% of the work.