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Goodbye non-KISS appliances

willbush.dev

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Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#251

Post by zbrozek »

It's increasingly difficult to get high-end performance with a simple device with a good user interface.

Incidentally, I happen to have almost the same refrigerator as the author (same thing, but without the hot water dispenser). My only failure so far has been the condenser fan after seven years of operation. It was clearly an electronic failure of the onboard motor controller, which honestly has no excuse to fail.

I also have a more-recent Kitchenaid 48-inch-wide side-by-side purchased in 2020. It's a remarkably simple appliance given the year of manufacture. Yet the interior lighting is horribly unreliable. The freezer killed three lighting modules in its first three years. They inevitably go high impedance, usually emitting zero light. One of the three was still emitting a tiny amount of light post-failure. The lights are all in series, so when one fails the entire chamber goes dark. I've even had one of the replacement lighting modules fail already. This component is clearly flawed and I'm tempted to design my own replacement.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#252

Post by nextos »

AndrewDavis wrote: post #113
arter4 wrote: post #52

Earlier 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…

Even appliances that aren't internet connected are going down this terrible UX path. My old washing machine had nobs (dials) you turn. You put the clothes and soap in, close the door and press the button. My preference of type of wash and water temperature were all "saved" by the nob position. My current washing machine, nob is type of wash, capacitive touch buttons for everything else. Keeping the nob "on" keeps the…

Also you can't operate e.g. a dishwasher with kitchen gloves now, as those silly touchscreens won't cooperate. Few brands know how to keep it simple. Even Miele and Liebherr are falling into these absurd trends.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#253

Post by scrollaway »

coldtea wrote: post #202
darreninthenet wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did fine for many years without mobile phones, cars, aircraft and computers... your point is irrelevant. It's just a handy extra to have I really don't see why people find my phone pinging me if the door is left open so offensive :-D

> They did fine for many years without mobile phones, cars, aircraft and computers... your point is irrelevant. Nah, rather it's the comparison that is off. Without cars, for example, transportation was slow and constrainted, affecting commerce, work, and lots of other things. Whether good or bad (since there are negatives too) the introduction of the car was a huge change. Network connected fridges? The incovenience…

And without open door alarms, food would sometimes get spoiled and cause waste.

Why are you fighting the guy over this feature? Everybody here is in agreement that network-connected fridges are not particularly useful but you're trying to make a point about open door alarms.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#254

Post by em3rgent0rdr »

If you want to keep it simple, don't even bother with filtered water and just drink out of the tap. It is safe in the developed world. If you are concerned about germs, which can get through the filter anyway, you should boil the water instead.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#255

Post by hansvm »

asystole wrote: post #246
AndrewDavis wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even appliances that aren't internet connected are going down this terrible UX path. My old washing machine had nobs (dials) you turn. You put the clothes and soap in, close the door and press the button. My preference of type of wash and water temperature were all "saved" by the nob position. My current washing machine, nob is type of wash, capacitive touch buttons for everything else. Keeping the nob "on" keeps the…

Unrelated, but the word knob has a k in it. :)

It's shrinkflation in action.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#259

Post by hansvm »

BoxFour wrote: post #230
arter4 wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally am not offended by a feature. I wouldn't march on the streets to denounce this or anything like that. What I am saying (though I cannot speak for anyone) is that I, on the contrary, would go out of my way to not get, not because I have thin foil hat or whatever, but because the reliability and privacy concerns this kind of thing carries far outweigh (in my scale) the benefit of having something that will…

> I cannot turn my lights on because somewhere, potentially thousands of miles away, some datacenters failed, even if those datacenters could, ostensibly, only give me ads and "improvements" and not any core feature. It appears there's a misunderstanding here. When smart lightbulbs lose internet connection, they still function as regular lightbulbs. In such cases, you simply revert to the traditional method of turnin…

> It appears there's a misunderstanding here. When smart lightbulbs lose internet connection, they still function as regular lightbulbs.

That's a better way to install things, but it's not the only way that installation is done, and it's still excessive to need the internet for what could easily be a purely local operation. For device classes where "on/off" has historically been attached to the device itself (washer, stove, ...), it's more common than in the lightbulb case for the internet connection to be mandatory.

Pushing closer to tin-foil hat territory, when your lights can be controlled over the internet by servers you don't own, that operator can do nearly whatever they'd like. A common pattern in other industries (ocean navigation apps, OB2 monitors, ...) is to require a server for no good reason, sell a device at full market value, and then later extort the customer into some sort of subscription/data-leak to continue using their own devices. It's common for the remote server to just shut down (startup goes out of business, manufacturer decides it'd be nice if you bought a new device, ...). Less likely but worse if it happened, the server operator _could_ trigger epilectic seizures or whatever.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#260

Post by lelandfe »

arter4 wrote: post #52
brodsky wrote: post #25

When 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.

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…

> Why do I need voice activated lights

My parents are getting older. Their knees appreciate being able to tell Siri to turn off the downstairs lights from upstairs.

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