Aggressively American
Fridge with ads should be 1/3 the price with free repairs
Sorry, the best I could do is increase the price by 20% and bombard you with 24/7 ads.
by the way the fridge cost 1800$
Wait why the fuck would a fridge be connected to the internet?
Edit: where I come from we don’t have unlimited internet plans so this would just be taking up expensive bandwidth and monthly quota.
I’m not defending this practice because it’s remarkably awful but I will note that I have a router that lets me monitor the traffic that individual devices use and most smart devices like this actually use incredibly small amounts of bandwidth. Our smart water tank uses ~10 MB a month which is smaller than most images.
And yes I do think a smart water tank is valid because it can do shit like tell me when it thinks it’s about to explode or leak or whatever and it can also like, be remote controlled, and it has a heat pump which is nice.
I suppose I’d want to know if my fridge was about to explode… /s
In seriousness, though, you’re right - the problem isn’t with the technology, it’s how the technology is used
Recently I read an article about smart devices uploading and downloading over 1GB per day. I tried to find the article again but all I can find is stores selling smart fridges etc. Search engines are broken. I asked chatgpt, which was able to find articles. How fucked is this. Boring dystopia. Anyway, here are some sources.
https://www.tomshardware.com/networking/your-washing-machine-could-be-sending-37-gb-of-data-a-day
https://www.reddit.com/r/smarthome/s/F5ETernz6f
https://www.reddit.com/r/SmartThings/s/HY2E0uOBiH
In the following article they talk about devices sending up to 19MB per week, but only text (so again insane amounts of data considering it’s only text).
https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/privacy/smart-appliances-and-privacy-a1186358482/
The following is about researchers finding lots of thirst party domains when analyzing IoT traffic from Smart devices.
https://arxiv.org/abs/1909.09848
The following is an academic paper on how even encrypted data isn’t safe from Smart devices. Bit off topic, but still interesting.
I tried to find the article again but all I can find is stores selling smart fridges etc. Search engines are broken.
I was able to find some links using duckduckgo including the same article from “Tomshardware” so at least that still works.
Again I don’t know why a washing machine would need an internet connection it’s not like you can remotely load it.
I mean I do understand the appeal and usefulness of smart homes and some IoT devices but companies are pushing AI and internet connectivity like it’s some kind of magic that makes any product better. I mean it would be nice to have a centralised panel to view your usage patterns and consumption but even then you don’t need all this overpowered tech stuff.
The whole selling points was to track fridge contents via cameras so that not only could you ‚see’ inside without having to open the door - theoretically saving electricity, using AI it was supposed to be able to track expiry dates, and suggest shopping lists in order to have full recipes.
Additionally it had all the usual „smart home” integrations on top of that.
But let’s be honest, the whole point was just to put in yet another screen that vendors could sell advertisements on, as well as track/sell personal information.
For no good reason whatsoever
The dystopia is already here ffs…
That’s the whole point of this sub lol
“Feed me!”
I have seen a video about this shit also being implemented in cars. You can drive down the highway, with your GPS on and a pop up ad appears out of the blue, blocking the screen, not really allowing you to get rid of it before you remove your attention from the road to the screen, trying to figure out what button to push to get rid of the ad.
And the fact that people pay extra for cars and fridges to show them ads is just so friggin stupid. If people buy these products after knowing that they pay extra to be bombarded with ads, its 100% on them.
But in the case of the car, I do feel that shit should be illegal. It’s so fucking dangerous and irresponsible from the manufacturer to implement a “feature” that can cost lives.
Don’t worry, the fridge ones’ll have ads for kids soon, with a candy-coated Buy Now button. Go-o-o *society!*🥳
Atwood’s a gawdamn fortune teller
Only if people buy those things. I doubt the majority of people wants to pay extra for fridges with screens in them.
I think this shit is a fad that will go away in the same way 3D and VR did despite everyone promising this was the future. It’s too expensive, too impractical and won’t hold up once the novelty wears off.
You realize that’s exactly what they said about video games in the early days, right? And the Internet. And gay sex.
I’m comparing smart fridges to 3D and VR because that is the proper comparison. All three are tech gimmicks that are too expensive and annoying to implement into daily life and that is why I believe smart fridges are a fad that won’t last/spread. Especially not in these times where people don’t have any money.
Using video games, the internet and gay sex as example of why smart fridges will become popular is both baffling and goofy to me, but maybe that was the point? If not, I’m not following your logic at all. Can you elaborate on where you see a link?
I was being somewhat cheeky with the third, yes, but the era of the other two doesn’t discount the historical fact that people of that time said similar: they were a fad, gimmicky, of little interest to gen pop, etc., so the cautionary analogy is still valid. 😜
In the same vein, there are many things that were in fact fads that have since faded into obscurity because they didn’t make people’s lives easier and/or weren’t affordable for most os us. The smart home was one thing that was all the rage at some point back in the 2010s and they are probably still something that more affluent people invest in, but the rest of us, who can’t really afford it, don’t have smart homes.
I can totally see a revised version of the smart fridge becoming popular longterm if they are designed to be useful and making people’s lives easier. However, the current designs of smart fridges are not helpful nor useful. They are a shallow gimmick and that is why they will not last unless manufacturers stop designing them for advertisement and start designing them to make people’s lives easier.
While I can appreciate your optimism for the modern consumer, I feel that this stance ignores the underlying current of forced adoption via prolific visibility (ie. “everyone has one, might as well”) and/or market sublimation by said “features” no longer being offered as optional… 🙃
Appliance repair man here. You can turn the screen off from a cover you remove from the top of the fridge door. Do so. You don’t need a fucking android tablet on your fridge.
Also don’t buy these kinds of appliances. They’re terrible!
Yeah man, I’ll take my 1990’s ass GE fridge I got for free over one of these any day.
It’s a significantly better fridge in every way a lot of my clients have a really hard time understanding or believing that.
Are there any brands that are total shite these days? We are gonna have to replace our crappy Samsung fridge from 2013 soon.
Bosch makes a few descent models.
Things to skip on all brands.
External water & ice dispensers, doesnt matter the brand. You’re cutting a fucking hole in the thermal envelope to put a faulty device that’s experiencing mechanical stress on parts every time you open/close the door. It’s not a matter of if it will fail, but when. Also, increased operational cost. Internal water dispensers and automatic ice makers are always the better option if you want those features.
Smart features. Why the fuck do you need smart features on a fridge? Even if it’s using AI vision to scan for inventory… Just no, fucking no. That’s more personal data on you to be bought, sold, data breached, and utilized to fuck you somehow.
Fridges that split the freezer and fridge on a vertically.
I remember helping my mom buy a fridge and the main thing was we wanted a good ice dispencer that wouldnt break, and the dude was like sorry dude doesnt exist they are all equally shitty, its always going to break, pick any
Fridges that split the freezer and fridge on a vertically.
THIS. they call them french doors. Stay away from this bullshit. You don’t need it.
No, French doors just means two doors that meet in the middle, usually just the fridge (which is up top) has it, and they’re ok usually. Split vertically is called side by side, and they suck, can’t even handle frozen pizza…
I just bought this one a couple months ago. It goes on sale frequently for $2K from Lowe’s: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Frigidaire-Gallery-21-5-cu-ft-4-Door-Counter-depth-French-Door-Refrigerator-with-Ice-Maker-Smudge-proof-Stainless-Steel-ENERGY-STAR/5013313509
Pretty sure we got an RMA for the first unit as the door had a scratch and the compressor fan sounded high pitched. Got a next day replacement and no complaints on the second one. Was concerned about sqft as we were coming from a 25sqft but am surprisingly happy with this one.
If you’re in the states you’ve probably had the ice maker replaced in that fridge.
I wouldn’t expect it to last much longer definitely count on it breaking down at some point in the very near future.
I’ve heard that appliances in general and refrigerators specifically, from the last many years are crap. I don’t know what the cut off date is, but I hear that they’re generally made to break after a few years now and don’t have replacement parts for very long. @mechoman444@lemmy.world may have a more informed answer, but it seems to me that people are better off buying old fridges used from friends or relatives.
I’m of the opinion that manufactures should be required to supply parts for appliances and equipment for a minimum of 10 years.
Completely agree. Not only for appliances but computers and smartphones too, including security updates.
What the fuck do they even do? I thought they were supposed to scan the ingredients in your fridge, then tell you what’s about to expire and what recipes you can make. But apparently they can’t even do that, so what purpose do they serve that I can’t already accomplish by bringing my phone into the kitchen?
Can they at least monitor the temperature across different areas of the fridge, or connect to my power meter like my thermostat can and optimize power usage to be lower when electricity is more expensive? Or are they literally just an Android tablet glued to a fridge?
The only use I see for a tablet on my fridge door, is to hook it up to my home automation. And then I’ll decide what info and functionality I want to be shown.
Or are they literally just an Android tablet glued to a fridge?
Yes
Please stop buying these & they will stop making them.
This is capitalism, they will stop making the normal fridges and only make these fucking things. The only power customers truly have is through regulation(though we should still boycott things because it still helps).
Then people will claim no one was buying the normal ones. *looks at light trucks and smartphones with a headphone jack*
Or all the automatics in the states, or all the cars that only seem to come in black, white, or silver. Can also look at a lot of food, especially in food deserts, or public transit being gutted when ridership is low(because it was never funded in the first place).
People need to pay literally any kind of attention. I feel like this information, with studies to back it up that also aren’t by conservative think-tanks, is so readily available and yet also there are people who have zero clue about anything, like you’re saying.
In which case a new industry appears that makes smart appliances stupid.
Certain groups will lobby really hard to make it illegal and punishable.
So what? People do illegal shit all the time.
Yes, but most people would put up with it instead because they’re afraid of the consequences. As much as they use “hackers” for scaring everyone these corporations likely don’t actually care since they know it’s only a handful of people. They know they just need to be stubborn enough for someone to forget after even only a couple months, or to create a boogie man to discourage them from fighting back.
It’s regulation or we’re fucked. Individuals do not have the necessary power to fight these large industries.
Yeah, true, but it certainly would add a lot of economic pressure on that industry.
That’s not really true, we’re at the point where oligarchs basically have the unlimited money glitch, they don’t give a fuck about what the consumers ask for and just demand that we want things that help them screw us over. That’s why every job and every application process demands that prospective employees have their own car and their own smartphone.
By 2030 everyone’s kitchen will look like fucking Times Square
The stairs to your basement will look like the London Underground. We’re going down the fucking tube… literally and metaphorically
Only the poors will have this. Your land Lord is going to go for the cheapest option which will probably have a screen you don’t want with sound you can’t mute.
People buying subzero or other luxury brands will be fine though.
Your entire home will. They’re going to figure out how to pipe ads through every connection you have. When your smoke alarm batteries need changing, it will start blaring ads for Eveready.
And with neurolink, they’ll find a way to shove ads in when you close your eyes and subliminal thoughts
I can feel it coming. I’ve started to devest myself anything that dares to show me an ad. It’s liberating. You don’t actually have to live in their algorithmic black box. RSS still exist, fediverse isn’t going anywhere and the constellation of ad blockers are still doing the Lords work. Fuck the marketers.
Always wild when people seem confused about why you’d want to do this.
BECAUSE THESE ONES LOOKED AT YOUR SCREEN AND THE ARTICLE WAS TWO INCHES OF TEXT BETWEEN FIVE INCH ADVERTISER BARS BRENDA THAT’S WHY
For me its a principle thing too. I’ve always really despised tv adverts back when we only had 4 channels in the UK and I’ve maintained the hatred all these years. If you do even the most cursory dive into marketing you realise the people involved in the industry are the most vile, horrible cunts ever.
Fuck your ads, fuck your marketing. Choose no.
We went on a huge rant about it to partners lately, about how the entire concept of advertising is defection to entities that exist enough to have experiences, an endlessly escalating Red Queen’s race of who can be louder, more memorable, more in your face, BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY
It’s infuriating and depressing by turns, and most of the entities around just brush it off as it gets louder and louder and louder.
I can appreciate a well made ad that hits the right notes - comedy, heart, etc. A good one can be like a tiny movie.
The only real problems is that those decent ads are only about 1 out of 10, or less, and then they show ALL of them, good or bad, way too many times, until you want to attack the TV with a flamethrower.
Last night, I stayed in a hotel with streaming on the TV, so I checked out YouTube, and some past guest left it signed in.
His algorithm looked a LOT different from mine, with a lot of really sappy religious stuff. I wondered what the guy is going to think when his algorithm is starts recommending guitar videos. It could be worse.
So, if I bought this at Costco, and the fridge was 10 years old, I’d use their guarantee to return the motherfucker and make a
hugeepic fucking scene if they tried to refuse.edit: huge wasn’t enough, it would be epic.
Oh no, who could have ever seen that coming?
Now wait for the subscription service to get rid of ads on the fridge you bought and “own”. Oh, and that neat thing they do with cars now where you have to subscribe to get certain feature? That’s also next. "Only
5$10$20$ per month to keep your fridge cool enough so the milk won’t spoil! It’s not a normal function of the fridge, it’s our super special anti-bacterial option that costs extra.Black Mirror season 7 (I think) has an episode about this. Surgery to fix a part of brain (not cheap) installing a chip. And after some time pay a subscription to get rid of ads. And subscription gets more expensive over time.
It’s a pretty good one. Feels almost too on the nose, at times.
I don’t recognize this, what’s it from?
Idk but im seeing cyberpunk, the apartment you have
Bingo Choom!
YEESSSS I WIN
ah TY!
bootstrapping problem if you need to drink your Mountain Dew™ verification can before you can open the door.
Gotta keep some warm ones outside the fridge just for this situation. It only takes a couple of warm Mountain Dew’s to get people back in line.
Why does a fridge need a screen to begin with?
To justify the constant upcharges. Touchscreens still feel much more luxurious than they’re actually worth. Car manufacturers do the same to save money.
Could be I’m the minority here, but touchscreens stopped feeling like a value add years ago. Somehow I’ve wrapped back around to a good button or knob being the marker of quality. One of the reasons I chose my current vehicle was because they let the most common controls (climate, radio, etc) stay tactile.
You are far from alone. ACTUAL knobs, buttons, dials, switches, and levers are things I’m hearing more and more people saying they miss.
Yeah, I figured that’s almost assuredly the case on a forum like Lemmy (or Reddit prior to the Exodus) but I don’t know whether it can be extrapolated to the public at large. I’m practically a Luddite compared to many folks around here, but I’m possibly the most advanced computer user among my peers simply because I know a couple Win key shortcuts and I’ve used powershell before (with no comprehension of what I was doing, to be clear).
It seems like most folks are willing to put up with bad UX, whether due to ignorance or apathy.
It’s literally not an extrapolation. Multiple manufacturers are going back to buttons, Volkswagen and Honda being two of the first, now Cadillac is doing rnd for gm with a new row of premium feeling ones. And this is purely because of consumer backlash on touchscreens.
Edit: https://www.kbb.com/car-news/buttons-are-coming-back-to-cars-but-they-will-take-time/ Source link that’s not just my ass
One more but from 2020 https://www.carscoops.com/2020/03/honda-goes-back-to-dials-and-buttons-as-customers-grow-weary-of-touchscreens/
