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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

#521

Post by ThePowerOfFuet »

zaptheimpaler wrote: post #117
kstrauser wrote: post #12

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…

I got a new Samsung TV recently, i don't get the huge hatred for their software. It has some free TV channels, it has apps for the streaming services, even a decent web browser and overall good features. It supports Airplay, Google Cast, bluetooth etc. The OS has some annoyances and rough edges, but its mostly fine. I let it connect to the internet but not any of my other LAN devices so it cant' snoop too much. I jus…

>I let it connect to the internet but not any of my other LAN devices so it cant' snoop too much.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_content_recognition

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

#522

Post by g-b-r »

Hansenq wrote: post #374

Everyone here seems to hate on the idea of seeing ads on an appliance you purchased. I hate ads too! But, let's consider the counterfactual. What if Samsung offered you a new fridge for free, as long as you were ok with passive ads? I hate ads, but I'm not sure I would pass up a free fridge...those things are expensive! (this is not even that unrealistic. Let's say you have a household of 3 and a fridge lasts 10 year…

Did they do it?

Did we get free TVs, free cars and free phones?

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

#523

Post by ssl-3 »

kelnos wrote: post #221
kstrauser wrote: post #12

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…

> They make nice stuff. Do they? I've never owned a Samsung phone, in large part because I was always turned off by reports that they liked to skin Android in annoying/lame ways. I have a Samsung fridge/freezer (old and not-smart), but the in-door ice maker has a design flaw that causes condensation to drip, freeze, and clog it, so we've given up on it and just make our own ice with regular old-school trays in the fr…

Samsung once sold a fantastic phone. It had a wonderful camera, a great 432 PPI OLED screen, a battery that could be swapped in seconds with no tools, a headphone jack, an SD card slot, NFC, optional wireless charging, USB 3.0, HDMI output over MHL, an IR emitter for shenanigans, heart rate and blood oxygen saturation sensors, and at 8.1mm thick it was also waterproof.

It was hackable, rootable, and it ran aftermarket ROMs like a dream.

It was the Galaxy S5, and it was released just over a decade ago.

Things have been headed downhill ever since.

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

#524

Post by rsynnott »

derefr wrote: post #258
analog31 wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's hard to make the right boots analogy (try it yourself if you think you can), but to speak of fridges — • The rich person's remodeller (or the developer of the house they buy) buys a commercial-kitchen prep fridge for the house's kitchen. This is a big, powerful, durable, repairable, no-frills, utilitarian fridge, that could be viewed as attractive or ugly depending on your opinion on brutalism. The rich person n…

You're talking about a _very_ rich person, there. Most merely rich people don't have household staff.

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

#525

Post by nerdsniper »

embedding-shape wrote: post #208
nerdsniper wrote: post #120

There's a $30,000 bounty set up for anyone who can patch the firmware to eliminate the ads. Please consider contributing additional donations against the matching funds. https://bounties.fulu.org/bounties/samsung-familyhub-refrige...

> Include instructions for carrying out the functional method which are accessible and easily usable by a non-technical individual Good luck for anyone to claim this bounty if that's one of the requirements. Does the fridge have any exposed ports at all that the average person could access without removing anything from the fridge? It's also not clear in the bounty, if I add funds to the campaign and it gets fully fu…

It helps to read into the personality and psychology of Louis Rossmann a bit, who is running this. He does component-level repairs of MacBooks, and entirely understands that custom firmware will likely require JTAG to flash the MCU.

FULU / Rossmann isn't handling the public release ... at all. They're worried that doing so would violate US law or at least cost a lot in court fees. They'd be super stoked if whoever made it released to to the public and absolutely not just to "backers".

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

#526

Post by hansvm »

kstrauser wrote: post #483
hansvm wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a little funny that, by far, the worst power and internet I've ever had [0], both by cost and by quality, has been in the Bay Area. The easiest way I'm aware of for me to cut my internet bill in half, cut my power bill 4x, have 30 fewer days per year containing electrical outages, and get back up to normal fiber speeds is to move to the Midwest. [0] Excluding anywhere I lived for less than a couple months, like…

When was that? Lots of people have solar here, we’ve had maybe 2 power outages for an hour or so in the last decade, and I pay $60 for 10Gbps fiber. Sure, electricity’s cheaper in the Midwest. We’re not exactly deprived of it in the Bay Area though.

Here and now, for the last nearly a decade. I pay $70/mo for, on a good day, 20Mbps down, 100Kbps up, 400ms ping, with a data cap. I have at least two major power outages each year and dozens of minor incidents (with the general quality -- phase stability, surges, etc being less than elsewhere I've lived even when it's working). Good utilities are localized in the Bay.

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

#527

Post by user_7832 »

mlinhares wrote: post #361
derefr wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, my point was that there are actually three different ways you can spend a lot of money on a fridge, and it's a lot like with PCs. You can buy: • a big ugly powerful repairable/durable industrial one (like a server); • an average-sized, somewhat-fancy (because high-trim), repairable/durable commercial one (like a workstation); • or an average-sized fancy "aesthetic" one, made by a design company rather than an…

What are the good brands of commercial/industrial we should be looking at?

I think it depends on the field or industry. I seem to remember seeing commercial TVs by Samsung when we were buying ours. Similar display specs, almost twice the price, no smarts, and 5 years warranty. They were designed for hotels I believe and came with a few features for that. Similarly hospitality aimed brands often are designed to withstand more abuse and cost a bit more. If you like whatever product you encounter or use in a commercial setting, just ask about it. There’s a decent chance you’ll be able to buy something similar.

Oh also, for vacuums at least, shop vacs are apparently the way to go. And for audio, DIY beats the pants off anything commercial (unless you don’t mind spending thousands of dollars more).

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

#528

Post by kayfox »

mlinhares wrote: post #361
derefr wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, my point was that there are actually three different ways you can spend a lot of money on a fridge, and it's a lot like with PCs. You can buy: • a big ugly powerful repairable/durable industrial one (like a server); • an average-sized, somewhat-fancy (because high-trim), repairable/durable commercial one (like a workstation); • or an average-sized fancy "aesthetic" one, made by a design company rather than an…

What are the good brands of commercial/industrial we should be looking at?

For fridges? True Manufacturing.

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

#529

Post by more_corn »

kstrauser wrote: post #12

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…

I’m boycotting all Samsung products permanently.

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

#530

Post by brewdad »

rsynnott wrote: post #524
derefr wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard to make the right boots analogy (try it yourself if you think you can), but to speak of fridges — • The rich person's remodeller (or the developer of the house they buy) buys a commercial-kitchen prep fridge for the house's kitchen. This is a big, powerful, durable, repairable, no-frills, utilitarian fridge, that could be viewed as attractive or ugly depending on your opinion on brutalism. The rich person n…

You're talking about a _very_ rich person, there. Most merely rich people don't have household staff.

If you can't afford a household staff (even just a single person), you aren't actually rich. Very well off perhaps but not rich.
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