First thing I do when I get a smart appliance is scan it with nmap. This has revealed some interesting Easter eggs, like my Davis instruments air quality sensors having a local REST API.
Doing the usual scan against my GE washer and dryer shows that port 53 is listening. What could that be for? Is there a way I can at least query their status locally or something?
When I got the washer and dryer I was excited about the smart home features because getting an alert when my laundry is done or starting the washer remotely so the clothes are done when I get home are genuinely useful features. However, last time I checked the app none of that was available, so I just have these Trojan horses in my home spying on me with no benefit in exchange. Their app wanted my freaking mailing address when I signed up for their mandatory account, so the features mentioned above are the least they could offer in exchange for my digital soul. But I digress.
My fridge is in a similar situation. It commits the additional cardinal sin of ONLY being controllable via the app, with no on-board temp or filter status indicators whatsoever.
The trouble is, you don’t know how bad the shit is until after you get it home, unless you do a large amount of research beforehand.
Frankly, at this point I think the better tactic is to buy the smart appliances and then return them as “not fit for purpose,” even though that takes even more effort, because it punishes the manufacturer in a way that merely not buying the thing in the first place does not.
Read the device manuals online. It usually tells you what you need to know
is checking the thing’s fucking spec sheet intensive research? do you get AI summaries of your own shopping list?
Show me where the spec sheet for a typical smart appliance tells me if it has a good integration with Home Assistant, whether I can flash it with ESPHome, etc.
Usually spec sheets only talk about a bunch of proprietary bullshit I don’t give a fuck about (or actively don’t want).
You can find out about home assistant support on the home assistant webpages.
It doesn’t take much effort to take an appliance model number and Google it to see the features list. People are just stupid and don’t bother to spend even 5 minutes researching their large purchases.
The information on whether it runs its own DNS isn’t on the “features list.” Or information about what microcontroller it’s running and whether it’s possible to flash with third-party firmware. Hell, even information on compatibility with Home Assistant itself usually isn’t on it! Features lists never include the sorts of information people like us care about in a smart appliance.
@echo @grue Features list rarely include much of the important information. Trying to find the information I sought on recent appliance purchases was difficult at best. PDFs of manuals didnt have the information. Information that used to be readily available, is no longer.