Off-topic-ish: I've got a TCL Smart TV that, by default, runs Google TV (which, to my understanding, is a rebranded newer version of Android TV). The default launcher / interface, which contains ads and has only minimal customisation options, can only be changed by installing an alternative launcher disabling some permissions via adb. Having followed the instructions to do it, it's much nicer having beautiful backgro…
Don't enable smart TV mode. Dumb TV mode is still android, so you can install apps, but there are no ads.
Why would I ever connect my fridge to the internet? I cannot fathom any feature on a fridge that would incline me towards giving it the wifi credentials.
What if your fridge could do an AI thing and the groceries to refill itself would just arrive? Could be a fantastic way to control your diet by only buying foods that satiated/goal oriented you approved (as opposed to hungry you walking down aisles of product placements in the grocery store)
Sounds like a terrible idea - I don't want my fridge to decide when and how to spend money.
Same they are off my list as well though I generally have less than zero interest in smart devices, I also have a Samsung "smart" TV as well, it asked for Wifi first time I turned it on, said "nope" connected a HDMI to a Fedora box and just use that. I control what devices in my house connect to the internet .
> I control what devices in my house connect to the internet. That’s certainly admirable, but haven’t tv manufacturers beeen caught connecting to ANY WiFi they find, if it’s open? Amongst other various dark patterns? Your statement here kind of characterizes it as user error, but the manufacturers are absolutely hostile actors here.
I'm guessing that most rich people do not want the inside of their mansions to appear on a YouTube channel, especially one about mansions. Most of these mansions do not cost even US$100M and so probably do not belong to truly rich people.
> I'm guessing that most rich people do not want the inside of their mansions to appear on a YouTube channel, especially one about mansions. 1. He doesn't film these walk-throughs himself. Real-estate agents film walk-throughs of these places to try to get them sold (it's well worth it for the commission they'll make), post them publically, and then he reviews those videos. 2. The homes in the walk-throughs are alway…
A lot of truly rich people live in houses that haven't been on the market for generations, or centuries, or ever. The particular hectomillionaire's vacation home I spent a few months in wasn't one of those (he's self-made) but also didn't have the kinds of features you're talking about at all. No separate hidden "main fridge", no butler's pantry, no second kitchen, no kitchen island, no great rooms, no panoramic picturesque views. It did have a dining room and bedrooms, though. It had been built as a small hotel, so it had five bedrooms (on the upper floor), an atrium, and a small swimming pool. From the street it just looked like a regular house. You could walk from the bedroom overlooking the swimming pool down the hall, down the stairs, down the other hall and dining room, across the patio, up the other stairs, and into the last bedroom, in about two minutes.
You do not buy a smart appliance. Period. A fridge, oven, toaster, washing machine, bed do not need to be smart. Smart is the consumer that is able to spot all this BS ideas that are putting in front of us and avoids it as much as it can.
Disagree. Smart can be good, if you're actually in full control (whenever you contract the implementation to a company or own it). The real problem is, there's not much on the market that respects the consumers in this regard. Ask for an SLA on a smart fridge functionality and you'll be met with a confusion and possibly a revelation there's nothing of a kind. It's all ignored because most consumers don't ask question…
on a whim, I walked into a Lucid dealership and asked for a copy of their privacy policy as it relates to a purchased vehicle. the salesman told me “no” very firmly, so I left.
Disagree. Smart can be good, if you're actually in full control (whenever you contract the implementation to a company or own it). The real problem is, there's not much on the market that respects the consumers in this regard. Ask for an SLA on a smart fridge functionality and you'll be met with a confusion and possibly a revelation there's nothing of a kind. It's all ignored because most consumers don't ask question…
How can smart be good? Can you give me a practical and real example of a benefit of a smart appliance? How can it be better than a regular appliance that does not get on your way? Let me guess: now to operate a dishwasher I need to download and install a mobile app. And also regularly update the app and the firmware of the appliance, or maybe need a permanent internet connection to correctly operate. It' BS all the w…
I agree with you. The "smart" in "smart appliance" to me always indicates some bullshit I definitely don't want.
What's especially frustrating to me is that my appliances that should have a delay on them don't; specifically, my dryer and dishwasher should be able to delay until later in the evening when my electricity rates go down. Instead, I have to get them ready and press the button with my thumb like my parents did with their appliances 40 years ago.
But hey! These things can chew up gigabytes of bandwidth[0], so there's that.
Hopefully DNS level ad blocking will help here, and even more hopefully consumers will reject smart appliances. I'd never buy one
Neither. In a world where everyone is trying to be more eco conscious, it seems like a joke that manufacturers are slapping screens on the most menial of things.
Samsung appliances have among the worst reputations for ease of repair and lifespan. Sadly most other brands are rebrands of Chinese conglomerates or not much better on the quality chain. But honestly it's also a lottery. We bought a fridge on sale for $500 as an emergency stopover when our expensive fridge was delayed by a month during a move, and it's still plugging along out in the garage, a hostile environment fo…
Maybe we need a new boots theory: The rich person buys a $3500 pair of boots that comes with surveillance, useless AI, and bricks itself on the next firmware update. The poor person buys a pair of boots, that are... boots.
The rich person goes to an exclusive London cobbler who spends 11 days carving out a model of his feet, one for left and one for right, out of expensive hardwood. Once complete, a team of masters and apprentices carefully craft him bespoke shoes out of premium leather (straight from Italy!). When finished, the shop calls his assistant and has them delivered. It only costs about $40,000.
You, the poor person, spend $150 on crappy Nike athletic footware, that isn't sized to fit, will fall apart in 6 months (3 if you're using them for actual athletics), but are unfashionable in 3 weeks (but you'll buy them for your middle school children anyway). And you'll think you're rich doing it. Never mind that the cost was $4.75 (up x2 what it was pre-Covid) in Bangladesh, plus $0.30 shipping across the Pacific. The sweatshop worker got a cut of $0.04 for the pair.
The analogy doesn't work though, because people nowdays are paradoxically even stupider than they were in Victorian times.