@tweedge for refrigerators this is actually possible IF you go to smaller higher end appliance stores that stock premium brands like Fisher-Paykel which make very streamlined, high end but not “smart” refrigerators.
But you will pay premium prices.
(Saying this as a very happy owner of one having rejected all the multitude of mainstream mass branded options - most of which also didn’t physically fit into the space previous owners chose for a fridge)
I wish could travel back 30 years so I could tell my teenage self that in the future we will have smart home heating systems where you can set a schedule that it will completely ignore and just turn on randomly when it feels like it. #SmartHome
Well part is the CEO urge to use the "less than perfect" chips made in Taiwan. Their offcuts and rejects are a) cheap b) plentiful and c) offer wildly more power than needed.
The other part is that having contents logged and what is in a fridge helps people with disabilities and remote monitoring e.g. of aged person still living independently.
Suitable for everyone? No. Useful in niche cases that benefit from mass market support? Yes.
Hope that helps! I'm no expert!
Sure. You're familiar with ads for infeasibly clumsy people on TV? Reconsider my statements.
But yes they aren't the "target market" but they're the only people with anything approaching an actual need for an app. Do you need an app? I don't need an app. But must use computing and apps so line goes up. As they say.
@Homebrewandhacking @tomgwynplaine @tweedge Yeah, I'm aware of those -- there's a market of people with poor motor control, and (happily) there are companies that target that market.
The thing I'm getting at is that there's a difference between "why would this be useful to anyone" and "why is this being made at all". For fridges, I think there's quite a divergence.
If you need to design a thing then you need to know what you're trying to do. That means addressing or concocting a need.
The question I was providing a potential answer to was "why does a fridge need an app?"
This is called "making conversation". The expected responses include offering alternative theories or adding additional information.
I am no longer interested in conversing with you on this topic. Good day.
@hyc @tweedge A wifi washing machine can be turned on automatically when your home automation system spots a period of cheap electricity.
I use free electricity for doing the laundry when available, as that's always (so far) been during the daytime, but on non-free days I don't stay up to put the machine on at 2am when the price drops.
@mrFred489 @hyc @tweedge If I had a washing machine that could be told to start a cycle unattended I'd get it to start at 2am - we're on the Flux tariff so fixed prices at fixed times of day.
Today the weather forecast was crap - it was supposed to be cloud and rain, so I charged the battery up quite a lot last night. And then the sun came out and completely filled up the battery ... so I put the washing machine on to use the generated power rather than export it.
These internet-connected washing machines come with DoS features built in. https://mastodon.social/@gmarkall/111941407358680026
They might be interested in some of the options posted in the replies to this post I made a month ago.
The feeling is common.
My million dollar idea I want someone to steal and do, so I can be a customer. "Dumb Stuff" we sell electronic appliances that aren't Internet connected. That's all. That's it. That's the pitch. I would buy the <bleep> out of this company if their electronic gadgets were even half way decent, and repairable. Electronic, no wifi, regular screws to open it up. That's it. Do those three things, and you can be sold by this store. I will pay this business to curate and find these devices for me.
It should be illegal to sell proprietary devices with proprietary os' that can't be re-flashed with something open source and privacy respecting. if you put a computer in a device that doesn't need it, the device should work without the computer inside or with a custom rom on it as well
I bought a new freezer just before Thanksgiving. The door, on the top, has a littler door with USB logo. There's nothing behind that smaller door on mine, some other model must use it. I shudder to think why a freezer would need USB.
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