Technology

Appliance repair guy here and I have only one thing to say: 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Y'all remember when Windows updated their OS and all computers without enough memory to run it were bricked?

Because we didn't throw a fit then, when a company's update destroyed our possessions, now we're getting more of it.

This could actually just be more modes of planned obsolescence.

Wait, so there's not even a hard thermo in it to fail safely? Well done guys, you really saved 10p per unit on that one

Ok but was it still able to serve ads??

Of all the appliances that could be "smart", I find the fridge the least exciting.

My heat pump has Wi-Fi. Cool, I can turn it on remotely so it starts heating or cooling my home.

Washing machine that tells you it's finished and reports the ETA in the meantime - not an entirely unwanted feature, since the same program could take 1 hour or 5 depending on how much laundry I put in. Mine doesn't have it and I don't NEED it, but if I'm ever in the market again and two equivalent washing machines from a reputable brand (MAYBE I'd trust Miele. Definitely not Samsung, LG, most others) were priced roughly the same, I'd buy the one with it.

I just can't think of a world where a smart fridge would work better for me than my dumb one though. I paid a bit extra to get one that had a better efficiency rating and a nearly silent compressor and that's it. The only things I would find to be "upgrades" over this would be if it was a larger SBS one that made ice, but I decided not to triple the budget from ~600 to ~2000.

Don't buy a smart fridge, simple as.

Just wondering, is it confirmed that food actually spoiled? Because making the actual cooling dependent on smart functionality seems incredibly stupid. I assumed it would just be all the smart features that stopped working, but if it couldn't even cool anymore... woooow XD.

Trully what people really need in their lives are additional risk factors for their peace and quiet in exchange for little or no value.

I'm just happy that I'm moving in the very opposite direction, avoiding externally controlled computing devices like the plague and instead having my own stuff when I actually need some smarts on my stuff (which, at the moment, is mainly my TV media player).

We've recently had some big brownouts in the city and country I live in and those made me keenly aware of risks to my peace and quiet (for example, electronic payments don't work if there's no power, so if you don't have actual cash on hand things can get pretty tricky) and nowadays there are way too many unnecessary dependencies on external entities in exchange for little, none or even negative value for us (don't get me started on Smart TVs) - it's long been the case that a big utility provider going down would be quite a pain in the arse, but nowadays lots of people's risk exposure profile is so stupidly wide that "random company turning to vibe coding and sooner or later forcefully pushing an update that bricks your 'smart' device" or leaves your home network and digital devices one it wide open for people wanting to steal financial info from it, are maybe one of the biggest risks.

Why even design a fridge to stop cooling via an electronic switch? How is that in any way a desirable function? I don't care what you put in the firmware, there should not be a physical switch that can turn off the cooling via software. That's what the plug is for.

They should stop mouring the food, and start suing for damages

I've got a Samsung fridge. Don't be me.

To use the buttons inside the fridge (for temp control, etc), you have to push the "unlock keys" button for 3 seconds. This isn't a nuclear missile launcher, it's a fridge. Idiots.

To clean the bottom shelves, you have to uninstall them... this is an absurdly difficult task. I had to look up how to do so online. It's infuriating. It's a shelf.

The ice maker has one vulnerability; ice. If the fridge temperature is too cold (under 38f) the ice machine doesn't work.

Fortunately, I didn't connect it to network. I hate it.