Mastodawn

arclight Nov 28, 2024

I picked up a nice four probe wireless thermometer today. The big advantage is a long-range base station with an actual display and controls that work without a phone app. I tried to connect their phone app to the actual device and it wanted me to set up an online account.

No.

Let me make this real fucking clear: THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO GOOD REASON THE INTERNAL TRMPERATURE OF THE TURKEY IN MY OVEN NEEDS TO BE SHARED WITH A SERVER OUTSIDE MY HOUSE. NONE FUCKING WHATSOEVER.

"What harm is there if...?"

Wrong answer. This information is not relevant to anyone but me. Not every moment of my life, not every data point around me needs to go beyond my property line. This telemetry does not need to exist and it's taken for granted that it should by people who do not act in my interest.

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Daniel Brotherston Nov 28, 2024

@arclight

I had the same objection yesterday to an entirely different product.

https://types.pl/@danbrotherston/113556509355726901

Daniel Brotherston (@[email protected])

This seems like a really interesting product, and one that I've been interested in for a while https://www.skylightframe.com/calendar-max/ But given that they mention a subscription in the description even though it's "optional" makes this a hard pass for me. This means it's open for enshittification. I don't own it, it isn't running locally, it'd dependent on their services. They could add ads, remove features, anything. I want no part of that. There's no reason this couldn't run locally. It could grab all this from the internet. Even configuration with an app on your phone could be done locally. The choice to make this a connected service dependent device means it's a hard pass for me. And sad, because it otherwise seems smart and well thought out. I wish more people would take a hard line on this, but we're so accustomed to enshitified crap, I don't even think people are aware that it is possible to have something else. That being said, our regulations around this are non-existent. Even in the EU. I suspect this is remote dependent, but there's nothing in the description that says this definitively, it's just an assumption on my part (I think a very safe one), but if we can't even know for certain that this is the case, how can consumers make informed choices? *sigh*...it's a shame, because I really like the idea. And yeah, I know I could *build* one, but that's a shitty substitute....besides being a ton of work, it's also only accessible to people with time, and extensive skills, not to mention a ton of money to kill on a project like that. If capitalism was working for us, instead of against us, I wouldn't have to build it myself.

types.pl

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Cavyherd Dec 6, 2024

@danbrotherston @arclight

I seem to be a voice in the wilderness on this kind of thing. Our company-provided bus passes moved to an app this year: PASS. (Fortunately there you can get a card—you have to *ask* though.) My grocery store is trying to require an app to use their pick-up service. I think I've bullied them into holding off on that for a while. It's this steady drumbeat of pressure and I HATE it.

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Daniel Brotherston Dec 6, 2024

@cavyherd @arclight

I think I object less to services being behind an app (certainly so if there is a non-phone alternative). I do find these things being on my phone convenient, and further, the service is already impermanent, lasting only as long as the service is supposed to be rendered.

My objection to products (things I buy, hold, and want to own and keep) being serviced through an online service is that then these objects are just bricks that happen to do something fancy while the company that made them deems me worthy. The fact that a physical object can suddenly turn back into a brick is the kind of insane magic of a children's fairy tale, not something we should tolerate from real businesses.

Like, if you bought a car, and then the company went bankrupt tomorrow and the car stopped driving and turned into a pumpkin, you'd have questions. And yet that is literally the situation we find ourselves in....literally with cars too!

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Cavyherd Dec 6, 2024

@danbrotherston @arclight

I don't mind there being an app. I don't mind if the vendor prefers the app.

What enrages me is REQUIRING the app.

Ran into this again today. After I pitched a fit, the phone number worked last week. This week? Apparently didn't even right through (though I'm not sure I believe that, as it acted like someone was actively sending to to VM).

I don't own a smartphone. I don't WANT to own a smartphone. I don't want to PAY for a smart phone. But: Too big to care. >

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Cavyherd

@danbrotherston @arclight

I'd quit shopping at this store, but there's really no viable alternative. Especially if Kroeger & Albertsons merge like they want to.

GOD I hate this world we live in.

(And also yes: everything you said about "smart" "devices." Reason umpty-gazillion why I don't own a car.)