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Our fridge just emailed us to say we opened its door too many times

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Re: Our fridge just emailed us to say we opened its door too many times

#201

Post by moftz »

soco wrote: post #6
teekert wrote: post #2

It should also have an arm on the door to slap your hand when you open it for the 41st time in a day. I mean, that's insane, you deserve a slap. Btw, this reminds me a bit of my parent's Renault that would tell me every damn time I started it to follow traffic regulations. I wish I could slap that car and it would feel it. And then there's my father-in-law's Mazda, which has a GPS system that sometimes finds him 200…

They definitely don't, the entire consumer electronics is a huge practical joke on its users. It's not only smart devices - even the induction stove with the integrated touch buttons beeping loudly at you and shutting off every time you breathe around them. And I could go on...

We bought an Instant Pot-brand air fryer. I love the thing entirely except for the buttons. They are not real buttons, just some sort of touch sensor but they sometimes just cannot detect a finger. You'd think that maybe the surface was dirty but it works just as bad when it's just been cleaned off and hands are washed. I beginning to think that the actual sensors are not aligned perfectly with the labels or that they are set to ignore someone pressing with their whole finger instead of the just the tip.

Re: Our fridge just emailed us to say we opened its door too many times

#202

Post by tonyedgecombe »

croon wrote: post #71
WesolyKubeczek wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Btw, this reminds me a bit of my parent's Renault that would tell me every damn time I started it to follow traffic regulations. There are people who would benefit from this reminder. They, however, tend to not drive Renaults, but Audis and BMWs. > Do people even use the stuff they make themselves? Last I’ve heard they were using A/B tests to choose between crazy features and batshit insane features to maximize eng…

> There are people who would benefit from this reminder. They, however, tend to not drive Renaults, but Audis and BMWs. I've had this game with my wife while driving somewhere for the last 10 years. I see someone doing a dangerous pass, driving (way) too fast, cutting someone off too quickly, tailgating, etc, etc, etc, and before I can tell the brand/model, I tell my wife "It's one of those again" (and I would also i…

In case anybody has doubts about this:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S22141...

Re: Our fridge just emailed us to say we opened its door too many times

#203

Post by caymanjim »

PrivateButts wrote: post #186
caymanjim wrote: post #140

I have a semi-related anecdote about surprises from devices. I use a CPAP. After a year, I went back to the doctor for a followup, and was asked to bring the SD card so they could review the data it collects. The device records the times and duration of use, various settings, and some metrics on breathing (apnea events, etc). I knew it recorded this stuff on an SD card. I brought the card to the appointment, but the…

I was told about the cellular connection by my respiratory therapist. Mine even has an app that has achievements for proper and continuous usage. It also goes into pretty good detail about what you're screwing up if you aren't getting good mask seal. Even got a call from my therapist after two weeks following up with me about the data he received. AFAIK this is what home medical equipment seems to be moving too. My d…

I like data. I would like to review all the metrics my medical device collects. I'd welcome an app to make it even easier to view. That's all pro-consumer. That can be done by storing data on SD cards; via a USB connection; via built-in Bluetooth or WiFi. It's an easily-solved problem, and with modern wireless networking, something that the average consumer can navigate without much trouble. Even for the most tech-unsavvy patient, a removable SD card that you can bring to your doctor is a fine solution.

The problem starts when third parties are involved. Now I've got a CPAP with a cellular modem in it. Where is that data going? Who's processing it? Who are they sharing it with? What are the security precautions? Can they change settings without me knowing? At least the thing doesn't have a microphone on it too...

Even beyond medical privacy, I've now got a device that reports where I am and when I'm asleep, to who-knows-who. That's a wealth of data and I have no idea who it's being shared with. I realize that my cellphone is an even better surveillance device, but I trust my cellphone provider a lot more than I trust all the companies involved in CPAP manufacture and monitoring. Google and Apple are a whole lot better at security than some medical company that outsources data management.

Re: Our fridge just emailed us to say we opened its door too many times

#204

Post by djrogers »

defaultname wrote: post #112
dTal wrote: post #53

The problem here isn't that the fridge is tracking door opens. That seems like a good application for a "smart" appliance - tracking how usage patterns affect its internal state and holding a dialogue with the user. The problem is that it used email , which comes across as passive aggressive in the same way it would if a human did it. If it just showed a notification on a screen, I don't think we'd be having this dis…

The fridge emailed basically a performance report to the address that he configured on setup. One of the performance report items is that it had been opened a lot, which does impact efficiency and food longevity. It didn't email a complaint. It did precisely what he configured it to do (I will go on a limb and presume the fridge didn't guess his email address), and presumably what he expected it to do given that he p…

> It didn't email a complaint. It did precisely what he configured it to do

From the tweets:

> I don’t even remember giving permission for our fridge to email.

Also, if you read the thread, this seems to be a new 'feature' they've added since he set it up - the fridge was silent for a year, then boom - stupid email.

Re: Our fridge just emailed us to say we opened its door too many times

#205

Post by moftz »

SkeuomorphicBee wrote: post #142
teekert wrote: post #2

It should also have an arm on the door to slap your hand when you open it for the 41st time in a day. I mean, that's insane, you deserve a slap. Btw, this reminds me a bit of my parent's Renault that would tell me every damn time I started it to follow traffic regulations. I wish I could slap that car and it would feel it. And then there's my father-in-law's Mazda, which has a GPS system that sometimes finds him 200…

That reminded of my father-in-law's Chevrolet, every time you turn off the car it very loudly announces for you to "please check if you haven't left any belongings in the back seat" (or some nonsense like that). So every time he drops us off late at night the car screaming wakes the baby when we arrive.

There is usually a setting for the rear seat reminder. It's to remind people to not leave their babies in the car. Maybe the volume is purposefully set a little high to wake the kid up just in case you forget.

Re: Our fridge just emailed us to say we opened its door too many times

#206

Post by djrogers »

bvm wrote: post #9

I am somewhat impressed that he's managing to open the fridge 44 times a day. Is he using it as a filing cabinet?

Consider that you open a fridge twice for each glass of milk (if you do it right and close the door after retrieving the milk jug), and that his family is possibly bigger than yours, and 44 times/day doesn't really seem crazy at all.

Re: Our fridge just emailed us to say we opened its door too many times

#207

Post by deelowe »

hellbannedguy wrote: post #189
caymanjim wrote: post #140

I have a semi-related anecdote about surprises from devices. I use a CPAP. After a year, I went back to the doctor for a followup, and was asked to bring the SD card so they could review the data it collects. The device records the times and duration of use, various settings, and some metrics on breathing (apnea events, etc). I knew it recorded this stuff on an SD card. I brought the card to the appointment, but the…

In this case I'm on the fence. Say you are not breathing, and the machine is working, but not up to manufacture's specs. They have the data. They should inform you of a malfunctioning machine? Since they have the data, it's incumbent on them to inform you of the state of the malfunctioning cpac machine? If they don't get back informing you of a faulty machine, a lawyer could subpoena those cell phone records/data? An…

You can make this argument about literally anything. Should your tires contain GPS trackers and share that info with their manufacturer on the off chance that you sped, drove on the wrong surface, or there was a manufacturing defect that could possibly lead to an accident?

This shit needs to stop. It's getting out of hand fast. In just a few years, literally every powered device we own will be logging video, sound, location, and network traffic in real time continuously. What's to stop equifax from leveraging all this new info for credit reports? Insurance companies for premiums? Lawyers for civil defense? Class action lawsuits? Police? Divorce proceedings?

We are not heading in a good direction here. A police state is bad in and of itself, but swapping the police with a "free and unregulated market" is infinitely worse.

Re: Our fridge just emailed us to say we opened its door too many times

#208

Post by colechristensen »

crote wrote: post #170
caymanjim wrote: post #140

I have a semi-related anecdote about surprises from devices. I use a CPAP. After a year, I went back to the doctor for a followup, and was asked to bring the SD card so they could review the data it collects. The device records the times and duration of use, various settings, and some metrics on breathing (apnea events, etc). I knew it recorded this stuff on an SD card. I brought the card to the appointment, but the…

I don't know anything about the laws here - but isn't this medical data? Doesn't HIPAA make this sort of stuff illegal?

HIPAA enables and restricts data collection, storage, and sharing but in general you consented to it.

A current problem with HIPAA is that the consent forms do not clearly enough describe what is being agreed to such that someone can’t make an informed decision and there really isn’t an option to say “no” to things and still receive care without going somewhere else.

HIPAA also does not require consent to sharing “deidentified” data which has been shown many times to be relatively easy to unmask to discover who the records belong to.

Basically it needs updates from technical and privacy focused people but that’s a hard sell when people don’t really know how things work.

Re: Our fridge just emailed us to say we opened its door too many times

#210

Post by djrogers »

OJFord wrote: post #152
tibbydudeza wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you have kids you will understand - open the door - looks at the contents - frowns and then closes it again repeated several times during the day. "I was looking for something nice". Explaining that we shop once a week and that the fridge won't magically fill with popsicles before that does not seem to make a difference.

In which case 'hey, someone is opening the door an insane amount, which is not good for the fridge or your food' might be a handy alert, so you know what they're up to and can stop them? (I'm not saying it should be internet connected for that purpose though.)

> so you know what they're up to and can stop them?

Lol, sure - go ahead and stop a 5 year old from checking the fridge a few times a day when here hungry. See how much better that makes your life.

Again - when you have kids, you will understand...

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