Ah good old planned obsolescence.
Some people argue it's just incompetence, not PO. But if you've been in the business of making the same type of hardware/appliances for more than a few years then it's definitely planned obsolescence.
Goodbye non-KISS appliances
151–160 of 499 posts
Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances
#152When we upgraded our appliances, the "smart" or "wifi-enabled" ones were specifically avoided like the plague. "Dumb" appliances - especially fridges, for some reason - are becoming hard to come by, but they do exist. Electrolux, KitchenAid, even LG all make some no-frills models that can save both money and frustration. Hopefully those companies continue serving the "luddite techie" market.
Is that hyperbole regarding fridges, or is it really that bad in the USA? Here in Germany, the vast majority of fridges are still just fridges.
And they just work. I’ve fridges going back 30 years which have never had so much as a compressor pump fail. Boring under-counter units, fridge/freezer stacked units, etc.
I think the European market is different, in general.
Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
And what do you do if you are not home?
So the fridge just opened itself? Ok, I’ll bite. What do you do? Your phone has just told you the fridge door is open. Now what? You aren’t at home, so you can’t close it.
We did lose a fridge full of food once. On our way out for the weekend, my wife opened the freezer to grab ice to pack the cooler. She left the freezer door slightly ajar and grabbed the cooler and threw it in the car and we left.
We came home on Sunday to the fridge and freezer completely ambient temp and had to toss everything.
If we had a mobile alert on our phone, we could have turned around and closed it just fine, or asked our neighbor to.
Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances
#154Good article on devices that are simple to use. I definitely think twice when I see appliances that need Wi-Fi or an app to work
Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
I really have no idea how to reply to this without sounding like an ass so apologies in advance. Well yeah duh if the door was shut properly every time fridges wouldn't need door or temperature alarms at all (most have an audible one already). But it's called an alarm for a reason, sometimes shit goes wrong and it's handy to know before all the food has been at room temperature all day. We had a freezer door pop open…
At least you apologised in advance You make the perfect argument for a physical alarm. I agree, that makes perfect sense, and is a cheap addition that significantly improves quality of life. Will you be woken up by a midnight phone notification that the fridge is open? I tend to sleep stuff like that. Does a once in 40 years mistake justify carrying an app around that does god knows what else, and the extra expense a…
>Does a once in 40 years mistake justify carrying an app around that does god knows what else, and the extra expense and hassle of a fridge that might or might not spy on you?
>Do we need to therefore instrument our stoves, ovens, baths and basins to insulate ourselves from the other common domestic nightmare scenarios?
Exactly. There are a lot of things that could go wrong in daily life.
Let's say you are sleeping and one of the bed slats bends or breaks (this has actually happened to me). It's messy, especially because you wake up and putting the bed slat back is not easy. So what do you do? You either ignore the fact it may happen, or you say "well if it does happen, I guess I'll sleep on the couch or something". No one that I know, even among the most "smart home" obsessed people, has a bed which automatically beeps or sends a push notification if the slats are about to break.
Ok, now you wake up and nothing bad happened so far. You have breakfast (maybe you have a smart fridge which ensures you're not running out of yogurt or whatever). Then you go dress yourself. But then you realize your favorite shirt has a stain you didn't notice. Do you have a drawer that automatically beeps if your clothes have stains? Probably not. You either remember to watch closely your clothes and wash them properly, or say "whatever, I'll go with something else and I'll wash that later".
And so on. Life is full of minor inconveniences. That doesn't mean you should necessarily fill your life with sensors and beepers for every possible scenario. I might be getting too philosophical, but part of life is also becoming aware that things happen and you can't always be 100% safe in any possible scenario.
Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fridge/freezer one is handy for temperature and door open alarms
Why? Just close the door properly. Ajust the feet so the fridge stands on a slight angle, so the door swings shut on it's own. What help is a temperature alarm if you are away. A fridge is used daily, surely you'll notice if the temperature is not what it's supposed to be.
Have you ever been around kids? They have a complete lack of situational awareness that leads to things like not noticing they’ve not pushed the fridge door shut and sealed all the way after grabbing cheese and running back to play. I can’t tell you how many times the chime on our LG has let us know to push the door closed.
Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, I agree. I'm not a luddite per se - heck, I make a living out of making stuff talk to one another on a network. But I don't get the appeal, from a customer standpoint, of having all physical objects talk to you or to the Internet. Like, why? I get it when it comes to alarm systems. Being able to get a notification when someone breaks in is nice, because the alarm system is mostly doing its job when you're not at…
If you have an image of the fridge you could have GPT vision interpret it and offer you recipes or what is missing. I personally like the idea of smart home things and everything connected. It feels like it opens up so many possibilities or ideas. Do I need it for survival? No. But I do like the idea and how it triggers my imagination.
It also (literally) opens up your home for many ideas and possibilities for attackers. Not just for the "haxxor" types, but the far more sneaky, sweet-talking ones.
It should not trigger just your imagination, but your paranoia.
Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
“You are missing Evards brand milk, buy Evards for that fresh taste, I’ve added it to your list for you” Any potential benefit from such a device would be destroyed by the cancerous advertising industry.
Exactly. This would turn a fridge into yet another thing serving ads. No thanks.
There would be alternative market for ads free for sure or open source alternatives where you could connect with your own selected LLMs.
Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fridge/freezer one is handy for temperature and door open alarms
Why? Just close the door properly. Ajust the feet so the fridge stands on a slight angle, so the door swings shut on it's own. What help is a temperature alarm if you are away. A fridge is used daily, surely you'll notice if the temperature is not what it's supposed to be.
Are you sure you would notice if the fridge was 45°F instead of 37°F?
And sure that you’d notice before anyone consumed unsafe food?
Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean more interactive way, not notifications being sent. E.g. you start interaction by asking the fridge - I am a bit tired, what is an easy thing to cook based on what I have in the fridge and I am stopping by the store, is there anything I should buy to have a few more options. So GPT vision takes image of what is in the fridge and then tries to solve for that question. If user is allergic to something that would…
Ok, but if it's interactive I can open a fridge, take a picture of it and upload it to ChatGPT. You wouldn't need a smart fridge for that. You would need a smart fridge if you wanted to directly connect the fridge with ChatGPT. Which is what I assumed in the previous comment.
You may be at work, and store is on the way to work. Also what you described is quite many steps, and the images have to be taken at certain angles to capture everything.
It would be directly connected to GPT and you can either use it as mobile app or with other devices or fridge itself directly.
So for example you are at work, about to leave home, store is on the way and then you ask this question from the app. Fridge takes photo, forwards it with certain prompts to OpenAI APIs and then gives you the response.