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Samsung has rolled out a software update to its smart fridges that will display ads, despite saying they had "no plans" to do so. We're headed for a future where you will have to pay extra for appliances without ads.

theverge.com/news/780757/samsu…

Samsung brings ads to US fridges

Samsung’s ‘screens everywhere’ initiative is morphing into ads everywhere.
Thomas Ricker (The Verge)
This entry was edited (4 months ago)
in reply to alina cyborg mouse

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Urban Hermit

@0 @skippy real answer, if a manufacturer puts a programmable screen on a thing instead of dials they don't figure out how the customer interacts with it now, they have saved that for later.

1/4

They are called HMIs, Human-Machine Interface. For instance, you used to have a dial with 0-9 on it to adjust how cold the fridge is, you would experiment until you were happy with it. With the HMI, you could have a digital dial, but the screen programming turns that into a temperature request.

@skippy
in reply to Urban Hermit

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Urban Hermit

@0 @skippy
2/4

Older refrigerators controlled the temperature of the freezer, then the refrigerator space had areas of progressive coldness the closer to the freezer stuff is put. But you have trained the customer to expect precise control. So now you have zones in the fridge and the screen let's you set zone targets and see the actual temperature approach target.

Oh wait, the customer doesn't know a temperature they want their milk at. Update the programming and the screen will tell you.

@skippy
in reply to Urban Hermit

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Urban Hermit

@0 @skippy
3/4

Or better yet, the screen will have a mode that manages that for you, then tells you where to put the milk and leafy green veggies for optimal temperature.

"Isn't this interactivity with our product exciting? Sure makes you want to pay $200 more for our TempMaster 2000 with Tempcontrol Zones! But wait! The TempMaster 3000 has a camera! No more messing up your target temps by opening the door to look!

Same HMI can be put in multiple models with different controls and sensors.

@skippy
in reply to Urban Hermit

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Urban Hermit

@0 @skippy
4/4

And the marketing team and programmers can keep up the feature creep by progressively playing with the display and how it shows and manages the few things it really does. Hoping for a model year car effect in an otherwise mature market.

Imagine having to place your milk in specific spot so your refrigerator can weight it and email you when it is time to buy more. The screen is where you give it access to your WiFi password and email address.

@skippy
in reply to Urban Hermit

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Urban Hermit

@0 @skippy
Imagine the model TM5000 sends its internal video to corporate where the pictures are analyzed by AI to get a list of all the brands you buy vs your region, then they send target ads to your HMI screen and, at the touch of a screen, Safeway can send a virtual coupon to your email that can be scanned from your phone at point of purchase.

Typical corporate hellscape, late stage capitalism stuff where the manufacturer tries to capture its customers and sell data on them to advertisers.

@skippy
in reply to skippy

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Urban Hermit

@skippy @0 in a dumb fridge, which I prefer, if anything in the top directly below the freezer gets ice in it, I just move that manual dial back by one. That is all the controls and feed back I, or anyone else, really needs.

It really is just an electric ice box and cool storage cabinet underneath, or side by side now. A solved problem for 100+ years.

That is why growth capitalists have to trap customers and milk them for sellable products, like cows.

@skippy
in reply to evacide

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Ryan Finnie

My Samsung fridge (came with the house) is of the old "dumb" variety where the buttons are capacitive and press themselves at random several times during the day. Of course it's a Samsung fridge so I should be lucky it even makes the contents cold.

usatoday.com/story/news/invest…

Samsung fridge doesn't work? You're not alone. Complaints are piling up with no action.

USA TODAY analyzed appliance complaints through September to see which brand had the most reports this year. Find out if your appliance is among them.
, USA TODAY (USA TODAY)
in reply to evacide

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Sebastian

Not a surprise, really… We have an LG TV with a nice OLED panel, but I had to cut it off the Internet, because it was pinging home every second and displaying shitload of adds and even installing apps on its own…

Now, I have slashed it on dns and firewall, but that makes menus laggy and/or malfunctioning…
Not really a problem, because we use it just as a display, but still - it is the future we will be getting. Next step, you won’t be able not to see the ads…

in reply to evacide

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Nicole Parsons

I see a future burgeoning business that de-nazifies household appliances.

These features balloon the manufacturing & operating costs of appliances.

Spyware computer chips & display screens aren't free.

They use a ton of electricity, even when you're not at home. Look forward to the double digit rate increases on electricity bills.

The fossil fuel industry is desperately trying new ways to thwart energy efficiency.

openculture.com/2017/11/george…

George Orwell Predicted Cameras Would Watch Us in Our Homes; He Never Imagined We’d Gladly Buy and Install Them Ourselves

Normalization—the mainstreaming of people and ideas previously banished from public life for good reason—has become the operative description of a massive societal shift toward something awful.
Josh Jones (Openculture.com)
in reply to evacide

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ambiguous0

I foolishly connected my fridge to Wi-Fi to see what it could possibly offer, as it had no screen. Lots of metrics, control of ice production, temperature control, nothing necessary. Then I forgot about it. A month later I tapped "turn off all kitchen lights" on home assistant and my fridge interior lights went off as well, and stayed off. Fun times. Factory reset and disconnected.
in reply to evacide

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Sebastian Hans

Well, “no plans” doesn't mean anything, really. It certainly doesn't mean “won't, ever”. And even that comes with an implied “until we change our minds”. In this day and age, you simply cannot take anything a publicly traded or venture-funded company says at face value. You have to look where the market is heading and assume that the company will jump on the bandwagon sooner or later, no matter what they are saying now.
Unknown parent

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chris

@RaymondPierreL3 @elaterite for home automation that puts local control and privacy first: home-assistant.io/

Also supporting Home Energy Management:
home-assistant.io/home-energy-…

#homeassistant #pv #energy

Home Assistant

Open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first. Powered by a worldwide community of tinkerers and DIY enthusiasts. Perfect to run on a Raspberry Pi or a local server.
Home Assistant
#energy #homeassistant #pv @RaymondPierreL3 @Bob Tregilus
Unknown parent

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RaymondPierreL3

@elaterite
Is there such a hybrid inverter beast on the market? But, then, that’s the other issues isn’t it. Manufacturers design their products to have 1) a short lifespan, 2) ensure ongoing costs, 3) can’t be repaired by anyone but them, if at all, and 4) make sure they keep you chained to their brands, and any other ‘gatekeeping’ tricks they can think of.

Interesting times we live in…
#RightToRepair #ShrinkFlation #Grifting #Corporatism #NeoLiberalism #Manufacturing #monopolies #GateKeeping

#righttorepair #neoliberalism #Manufacturing #gatekeeping #monopolies #corporatism #grifting #shrinkflation @Bob Tregilus
Unknown parent

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RaymondPierreL3

@elaterite
And that’s the point, isn’t it. As long as an appliance workd without connecting, why would you? On the other hand, my PV set up is connected to the internet because it’s the only means I have to monitor/manage the system… until I find another tool which does the job without connecting to ‘god knows where’…

The installers argued that it helps them ensure my system is in good health and also that if I report a problem, the can go online to have a look at it… it bothers me though I can’t put my finger on why it does just yet.

#IoT #Enshitification #LossOfControl

#iot #enshitification #lossofcontrol @Bob Tregilus
in reply to evacide

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Morsus Apri R.I.P. Natenom🕯️🖤

The media in this post is not displayed to visitors. To view it, please go to the original post.

“The new kitchen is great! Everything is computer-controlled! With voice recognition!
It does everything by itself! Fully automatic! Directly via the Internet!”

“We're out of milk! Shit!”

“Hello, you ordered milk?”
“My refrigerator! Well, that was quick.”
“Should I put the cow shit in the garden?”

in reply to evacide

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Andy Incarnate (He / Him)

I sense an opportunity here. Can we crowdfund an advert for those fridges? It can be as weird as you like.

Maybe something a bit meta like just a normal voice saying "Alexa, play Rick Astley as loud as you can".

Or the ads could just be embarrassing... "Peter, your Doctor noticed you haven't ordered your Syphilis medication, would you like me to do that for you?"

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