Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

arstechnica.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

311–320 of 744 posts

Re: Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

#311

Post by xwdv »

MeinBlutIstBlau wrote: post #146
caymanjim wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to get a Tesla, but I won't, because you can't own a Tesla. You can only pay licensing fees to be the user, and Tesla can modify or disable the car at their whim, while also tracking and recording your every motion. We need lawmakers who actually care about privacy and ownership rights.

When I worked in mortgages in a previous career, we had a presenter talk to us about Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI). Back in the day, banks by default would just tack it on as an extra insurance for them in case you were to default. You're basically paying insurance against yourself to cover the banks losses. Once it was added, it was basically permanent for the life of the loan. Then one day, a senator I think fro…

This is why it’s important for many of the software engineers from hackernews to consider a career in politics after reaching a certain level of wealth and seniority in their career. If some of the greatest minds in the tech industry can rise to positions of power in government we can build a better world the way we know it should be, rather than hoping decrepit politicians come around to good ideas eventually.

Re: Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

#312

Post by datavirtue »

derekp7 wrote: post #182
donmcronald wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most kids don't even know what it's like to play a game that's not riddled with ads and designed around microtransactions. There are a lot of things that require a generation (of people) to change. For example, the latency of game streaming services is awful if you're used to a local experience, but if you ask a 12 year old that's never experienced low latency, local gaming, they don't even realize it could be differ…

I don't know -- when I was a kid, in the arcade, the machines constantly prompted me to insert another quarter to continue playing.

Yeah, but we solved that problem, and now it's back.

Re: Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

#313

Post by duskwuff »

ljm wrote: post #266
NotPractical wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does this content really have a place on here?

They're not so different from the old bash.org quotes (as in hunter2) or the old b3ta ones. It's just classic internet culture. I think this particular one satirizes a patent Microsoft filed showing how to detect how many people are watching a TV (via the Kinect).

There's also some inspiration taken from Sony's patent "System for converting television commercials into interactive networked video games":

https://patents.google.com/patent/US8246454B2/en

(Note in particular "SAY MCDONALDS TO END COMMERCIAL" in Figure 9.)

Re: Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

#315

Post by rabuse »

jjtheblunt wrote: post #93
Karsteski wrote: post #2

Sigh... While I look forward to having an electric car someday, the trend in new cars does not look promising. Far too many instances of car companies having too much control, because of the advent of internet-connected vehicles. Is there a solution to this? I don't know. Especially because I can see legislation cementing these sorts of practices in very much convoluted ways. One can only hope competing car brands em…

I've been driving a 2014 BMW i3 ev for 7+ years; it works great, but has about 100mile range, since it's using smaller batteries. I wish it WERE internet connected: for BMW to update the maps of the nav system can (supposedly) only be done at the BMW dealer, costs something like $180 for the map updates (North America), and requires a two day stay at the dealer, with associated labor-time fees. BMW is just a laughabl…

I own a BMW also. Will never own one again after the maintenance nightmare they are.

Re: Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

#316

Post by bitwize »

xyst wrote: post #35
zeroflow wrote: post #6

That is just bullshit. A $8/mo charge for a app based remote start? I could live with that. Servers need power, the app needs updates etc. A $8/mo charge for something which does not incur costs for Toyota? Hell no. It seems like bit by bit - every single industry is going down a fucked up route. TVs with built in ads? Cars with pay-by-month features? DRM locked coffee machines? I really hope, there is some sort of e…

If the Apple Car actually materializes, I fear this will become the new standard. All cars come with all bells and whistles, but you have to pay monthly fees in order for them to function. - Want heated seats? $1/month - Want remote lock/unlock? $2/month - Want to remove rate limiting? $5/month - Want GPS in your car? $10/month - Want to use your "frunk"? $10/month - Want Apple CarPlay? $15/month - Want to activate h…

> Apple will be seen as a visionary for optimizing the car manufacturing process (no more designing for multiple types of configuration types, can buy all parts in bulk, ...).

There are two types of product in the computing world: shameless ripoffs of Apple products and rough prototypes for some future Apple product.

Guess this would make the Model T the "rough prototype" for the Apple Car...

Ford even used to make Apple-like demands of his supply chain. He insisted that parts be shipped in crates conforming to specific, peculiar dimensions. The suppliers were baffled by the request -- why those dimensions? Until a supplier representative looked down at the floor of a Model T one day... the crates had been broken down to form floorboards for the car.

Re: Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

#317

Post by duck »

phkahler wrote: post #109
lkozma wrote: post #8

was posted here sometime ago: The door refused to open. It said, "Five cents, please." He searched his pockets. No more coins; nothing. "I'll pay you tomorrow," he told the door. Again he tried the knob. Again it remained locked tight. "What I pay you," he informed it, "is in the nature of a gratuity; I don't have to pay you." "I think otherwise," the door said. "Look in the purchase contract you signed when you boug…

Reminds me of this tragic but true story about a man and his dog that died in a Corvette because the door failed to open electronically. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/06/11/te... If your car door uses electricity to open, you best know what to do when that system fails. Death should not occur due to failure to RTFM for a door.

> Isabel Moreno told reporters he owned a 2006 Corvette and was trapped inside when the battery went out. Fortunately, he said eventually the battery started recharging itself enough to be able to roll the window down, and he was able to get out safely.

Curious how this is possible or was this just misreported?

Re: Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

#318

Post by gentleman11 »

black_puppydog wrote: post #28
klipklop wrote: post #9

The solution is to vote with your wallet. These days consumers are pretty weak willed though and are willing to put up with almost any level of abuse for their shiny new toy. Look at what consumers are willing to (overpay) for during the pandemic as an example of that. $500 NVIDIA graphics cards going for $2000... Eventually people fed up with it will "jailbreak" their cars like the farmers did with John Deere tracto…

Actually it isn't. There are tons of examples of whole industries just switching to user-/customer-hostile practices/products, meaning there's simply no more way to vote with your wallet. Happened like that with even trivial things like the milk market in Germany. Within a year or two, fresh milk had suddenly all but vanished from the shelves. Once pay-for-fob becomes the norm, good luck trying to enter that market w…

Actually, are technica does offer an ad and tracking free subscription option

Re: Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

#320

Post by andiareso »

andiareso wrote: post #301
beervirus wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is Texas an extreme environment? Not particularly, but still, it’s nice to get the air conditioner going a minute or two before getting into a car in August.

Likewise, Midwest (ie: ND, SD, Minnesota, etc) can get down to -20 easily few weeks out of the year in January/February. Not "unsurvivable" but definitely not good to shift into drive without letting things flex from heat a bit first.

Side note, without remote start, it is illegal to run a vehicle without an occupant in many states (** with keys in the ignition).
Post reply on HN