Anthony B,Things I want from a kettle: make water hot.
Things I do not want from a kettle: an engaging interactive experience.
Things I do not want from a kettle: an engaging interactive experience.
Speaking as someone who was the father of a new born having to do the every 4 hour trip to the kitchen to boil the kettle and prepare formula, drop the previous bottle into boiling water, repeat. I had a system worked out. If the kettle had tried to offer my sleep addled brain witty bromides, well that kettle would be an ex fucking kettle and I'd be staring at the microwave going "you wanna start something, or will you just heat water and shut up?"
If I wanted to have a conversation with my home appliances, I would buy a fucking Furby. No one wants to have to deal with "the fridge can't get an Internet connection". It's a box that makes things cold.
Kettle: make water hot
Fridge: make things cold
Toaster: make bread hot
Oven: make many things hot
Dishwasher: make things clean
Lights: makes things visible
Rice Cooker: make rice hot and damp
None of these should require a fucking internet connection, generative (not actually) AI, or a fucking app.
modulux@swearyanthony Can't agree more, with one quibble.
A lot of this kit has touch screens now. Even when it's not connected to anything. I don't want an app, I want physical buttons, knobs, and so on. But for kit with touch screens, an app might be the only way I get to use the device (due to accessibility issues).
It's a weird world for sure, and I'd rather no app and no touch screen of course.
And I suppose for other accessibility considerations different from mine (I'm blind) other people might benefit from an app. The pity is that we don't have some kind of universal API for this and have to install weird per-device applications.
Kevin Karhan 
@modulux @swearyanthony Whilst #touchscreens can increase #accessibility and #longevity (no button / force needed) they also can hinder intuitive operation.
- There's a resson we have buttons and knobs and levers in cars, ships, airplanes and even on bikes and scooters: You don't want to click through menues to be able to turn off the radio, activate warning lights or pull over...
You want immediate and blind control...
@kkarhan @swearyanthony Yes, the accessibility thing varies. It does improve accessibility for people with motor difficulties in handling buttons, but for blind people it tends to do the opposite. I say tends because in principle it is possible to make accessible touchscreen systems but it's quite unusual in appliances.
@modulux @swearyanthony the only form of "accessibility with touchscreens" I've seen are either alternative menues & audio navigation (like on most modern ATMs in Germany) - bypassing touch entirely like a phone tree - or some #TTS reading where one swipes if not the entire screen.
I'd love to really dive into this...
@kkarhan @swearyanthony The model for touchscreen accessibility is mobile OSes like iOS and Android. They have the TTS approach, allowing to touch the elements on the screen and using double tap to select. It's not ideal for devices that may require quick action such as a cooker though, in my opinion.
@modulux @swearyanthony nodds in agreement cuz with like a stovetop or similar there are ways to make settings feelable (indicator position on the dial and clicks to confirm settings)...
- Same with manual transmissions in cars where one can feel the position of the stick...
Ideally the optimal approach would get focus-group tested by disabled people to find the best balances...