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Samsung makes ads on smart fridges official with upcoming software update

arstechnica.com

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Re: Samsung makes ads on smart fridges official with upcoming software update

#391
post #2

Hopefully DNS level ad blocking will help here, and even more hopefully consumers will reject smart appliances. I'd never buy one

I'll never ever buy a 'smart' appliance. I'll go caveman first. Keeping food cold and/or cooking it does not require the Internet.

Even the unnecessary microcontrollers in modern devices irk me. A fridge does not need a microcontroller. (My issue is primarily repairability - discrete components can be sourced and replaced, microcontrollers with the correct programming usually cannot.)

Re: Samsung makes ads on smart fridges official with upcoming software update

#392
post #3

Why is this the best business model we can collectively execute on? Whether it is AI, home cameras, or fridges it seems to just come back to, welp, lets slap an ad on it.

Because it's a dual revenue stream. The retail customer pays you, and then the advertising customer pays you. Why make only $1 when you can make $2, $3, $4 over time? If your next question is "why do they need to keep making more money?", the answer is capitalism.

And a general lack of competition. You only buy fridges from a few brands after all.

Re: Samsung makes ads on smart fridges official with upcoming software update

#393
post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that many of them can be wired as 1, 2 or 3 phase at least in Nordic countries, though admittedly the ones which allow 3 are somewhat rarer especially when looking at stove top-only models (not combined stove+oven).

As far as I can tell, there are a single digit number of municipalities on the planet where two phase power is available. Do you have more details on that I can read? There's not a ton of.info on Wikipedia and I'm interested to know more.

If you are asking about some stoves that can be installed that way, there is for example FÖRDELAKTIG from Ikea. The manual is at https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/manuals/foerdelaktig-induction-ho..., you can find the wiring options from page 13.

Re: Samsung makes ads on smart fridges official with upcoming software update

#394
post #291

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…

Could you share a guide for how you did this? I've got a TCL TV, and it's constantly frustrating how it shows laggy ads.

Not the GP, but I have a TCL 65C845. I've removed all the crap from it and installed a third-party launcher. I LOVE the result, both in terms of picture quality and usability. The UI is clean, snappy, functional and there's zero crap on the screen that I didn't deliberately put there.

Here are my notes:

  Enable Android developer options.
  Work through various settings (developer and normal).
  Connect wired Ethernet (I use a USB dongle), enable RDNIS in USB port dev options. Disable WiFi.
  Turn on Google TV.  Log in.
  Disable auto-updates, work through permissions etc.

  Install ADB TV (PRO licence)

  Disable the following apps in ADB TV:
    AirPlayLaunchService
    AirplayAPK (two different APKs)
    BrowseHere
    Electronic card 5.0
    Gallery
    GameBar
    Google (com.google.android.katniss)
    Logkit
    MagiConnect
    Media Player
    Message Box
    Overseaeva
    Prime Video
    Rakuten TV
    Reminder
    T-Solo
    TCL Channel (two different APKs)
    TCL Home
    TCL Home Passive
    TCSCore
    T_IME
    User Center
    Works with Alexa
    com.tcl.iptv.App

  DO NOT DISABLE or you might have to start from scratch:
    TV (com.tcl.tv)
    TvInputService
Install FLauncher. Configure apps/panels/wallpaper. Using ADB TV (under “install”):

  $ adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.apps.tv.launcherx
  $ adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.tungsten.setupwraith
Install a screen saver (Aerial Views), TV streaming apps, Plex, SmartTubeNext, f-droid, Mullvad etc.

That's pretty much it. A bit fiddly but a one-time thing (I did this two years ago and have been using the TV daily). I keep auto-updates turned off and basically nothing ever breaks and there are no random regressions.

I previously did the same on an older TCL TV. The panel was not as nice and the CPU was slower but the result was also quite good (it was what convinced me to get the 65C845 with its larger screen, better panel and faster CPU).

I used to run a similar FLauncher-based setup on a NVidia Shield Pro, but the new setup is so nice that I don't use the Shield for TV anymore.

Another experiment I did was replicating this exact setup on a Chromecast (I think GA01919). That also worked well, though having a second device was a bit inconvenient in terms of remote controls and such.

P.S. Where I live I have FTTH; TV is delivered as MPEG transport streams over multicast. I don't have OTA broadcast TV or a cable box and so couldn't vouch for the ergonomics there.

Re: Samsung makes ads on smart fridges official with upcoming software update

#395
post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got another way of looking at it: it's not worth it having appliances that last 20 years, because in that time the tech itself can and does improve a lot. Ready example is my aunt: a very good and expensive Miele washing machine, that was made to last as things were before. But now 10 years have elapsed and modern washers come with bigger drums, much lower noises, optimized water and electricity usages, and more ef…

Counterpoint: some appliances reach "good enough" status and the only "improvements" are cost-cutting that makes them more fragile or less reliable. My friend has a microwave from the late 70s. The time/power are set by turning knobs - no fiddling with a bunch of buttons and modes - the turntable is metal so it can't break. The only thing I would consider missing is a popcorn mode, not a big deal. Edit: Another great…

Inverter microwaves are a noticable improvement over regular microwaves. True variable power instead of time slicing means I can precisely heat up almost any food evenly all the way through.

Re: Samsung makes ads on smart fridges official with upcoming software update

#396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That website has never once paid out a bounty? hmm...

It looks to be a very new program. While the fulu.org domain has been around for a long time, archive.org's oldest snapshot of bounties.fulu.org is from late last week. This press release from Oct. 23rd agrees with archive.org's snapshot history: https://fulu-foundation.ghost.io/repair-bounty-program/ >. Given the complexity of the tasks on offer, I'm unsurprised that zero of them have been completed in three days. G…

I think the bounty aspect of it is incredibly new, the operator only released an announcement video a week or less ago.

Re: Samsung makes ads on smart fridges official with upcoming software update

#397
post #46

I've managed to mostly excise Samsung from my digital life (except for phones that family buys without my knowledge and that I have to troubleshoot), and I have been happier for it for many decades now. (This was after direct exposure to their Tizen engineering team back in the early 2000s) I stayed away from their phones, SmartTVs, everything.

Interesting, what about the Tizen team or ecosystem turned you away?

I used to have the watch, and was interested enough in the OS to work toward making personal apps for it.

What alternative phone manufacturer would you recommend as well, if you don't mind.

Re: Samsung makes ads on smart fridges official with upcoming software update

#398

Of course they would do this. They did this with their top of the line 4k tvs when they first came out. Everything was great, their OS and such worked wonderfully then they started to inject ads for gamefly into notifications and it went downhill from there. Ads in a 200 dollar tv I understand. Ads on a 5 thousand dollar tv? Absolutely unacceptable.

I know it's not your intention, but it does illustrate another divide between rich and poor. I guess some would say they'd rather a cheap TV with ads over no TV, but I imagine TV companies could still make an affordable TV without ads if mandated to remove ads. They just choose the ad route for more profit.

Re: Samsung makes ads on smart fridges official with upcoming software update

#399
post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly, the truly rich person has never seen the main fridge their staff uses to store the ingredients for their meals. But said rich person has at least one more fridge: a relatively-small, usually very elegant (in-wall, glass-door) fridge, located in the [badly designed for cooking, but pretty] "kitchen" that adjoins the butler's pantry [= nearest, usually secondary, real kitchen]. They use this "kitchen" to whi…

Having been closely acquainted with a woman worth north of a billion dollars, and having met a number of people that are worth probably at least hundreds of millions, I can tell you the kitchen experience for the wealthy (maybe barring like top 10-100 billionaires) is really frankly kind of pedestrian. Are the kitchens nicer? Yeah sort of, I have fixed a bunch of stuff on a couple of certified real money mansions, an…

It sounds like you're describing idle-rich people. Which makes sense.

Yeah, if you're "rich" as in "retired", your life is usually pretty mundane. Most such people don't even live in any kind of mansion these days†, but rather just in very nice homes that are perfectly-sized and perfectly-cozy for them and what they like to do — with some verrrry long driveways, if they're in the right part of the country for that.

† (Mansions as a concept evolved from palaces; both exist mostly to provide enough rooms to host guests when some other rich person decides to pilgrimage themselves and everyone they know over to your place to stay for three months — in turn because that was really the only good way to visit someone with full amenities, back before air travel. Nobody needs to do that these days. Any modern mansion exists either as a status symbol, or because the owner likes hosting parties [or imagines they might one day host a party, but never actually does]. Mansions are especially useful, in the modern day, for people who throw fundraiser galas, like politicians.)

> Maybe some nerds in silly valley like to larp as 1800s rich people with actual large numbers of staff, I don't know,

I don't think it's SV people doing this. (The SV entrepreneurial "grindset" is a form of protestant work-ethic mindset; most tech millionaires find it hard to allow themselves to have staff. They might have a lot of people on retainer — lawyers, personal trainers, private-practice doctors, etc — but they would find the idea of paying the full salary for the exclusive use of even a maid to be a bit strange, instead preferring to just "hire a service" for that. Right up until they have a security scare, that is... but I digress.)

Rather, the personal-staff (private chef, limo driver, landscaper, several maids, etc) setup is, these days, something for the busy rich — think "runs ten businesses because they don't know how to stop", or "has an infinite queue of people needing them to make a decision about something" [politician, chaebol owner], or "thrives on fame, and so can't stand to turn down packing their schedule with ever-bigger gigs" [celebrity actors]. You find it in LA and in DC, not in SF.

These groups "have people" because they literally wouldn't be able to fit self-care into their schedule without "people."

Re: Samsung makes ads on smart fridges official with upcoming software update

#400
post #25

This guarantees I'll never buy a Samsung appliance. If they're this willing to screw with their customers today, they'll do it again tomorrow. Sadly, I'm including their TVs in this. I have one today, displaying the output of an Apple TV and not directly connected to the Internet because hah, no way, but I'll be shopping around when it comes time to replace it. Pity. They make nice stuff. Not nice enough that I'm wil…

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…

Miele did the best advertising ever, and I believe it even got a news story. A woman had been using their washer for 25years and Miele reached out and asked if she wanted a new one for free, for no other reason than to upgrade. Iirc she declined as the one she had worked perfectly. I have a vacuum from them, a cheap model, been working for 12 years so far. It’s probably the only appliance brand I would trust, even if I’m sure they have bad stories too.
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