Mastodawn

Been Jammin Nov 19

Fucking GROSS.

So because »gestures at this timeline«, the first appliance from Cory Doctorow's ( @pluralistic ) "Unauthorized Bread" is now on the market. A 'smart oven' you buy and subscribe to the company's meals, which bear a QR code you scan so the oven, amidst its ongoing datastream to the mothership, 'knows' how to cook it. The company, which I will not name (and you please won't either), claim you can use the oven to cook your own food, too. But you have to have their app and a wifi connection to set it up and to operate most of its controls, which means at any moment the company can go "lolnope" or put controls (or the ability to cook unauthorized food) behind a paywall, or brick the thing deliberately, or sell your food logs, or do any of the other things Doctorow described better than I, which is why I've linked the story here.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/

Unauthorized Bread: Real rebellions involve jailbreaking IoT toasters

Cory Doctorow's book, Radicalized, is up for a CBC award. To celebrate, here's an excerpt.

Ars Technica

@isocat @pluralistic printer vibes😂

@isocat @pluralistic fucking hell.

like, i get that you can categorize going to the grocery store and buying stuff as 'a subscription to food', but a pay to use oven is absolutely bonkers. what dipshit investors decided that was a good idea? do they expect to get a return on their investment?

I am Jack's Found 404 Nov 19

@isocat @pluralistic

Juicero 2.0

@isocat @pluralistic *endless screaming*

@isocat @pluralistic

So that story makes me feel icky.

Here's a fancy solar oven that has no wiring of any kind and works fully off grid.

https://gosun.co/products/sport

(They have some more expensive models that can use electricity to warm up too, but that isn't as good of brain clenser after a story about a DRMed oven.)

Sport

@alienghic @isocat @pluralistic
My mum "upgraded" her "smart" blender from one that had her favorite recipe stored on it to one that she has to pay $89 per year to access her favorite recipe. True story. 🤯

Ahh!

Obnoxious capitalists figuring out new ways to make people pay more for worse service.

@adrigen @alienghic @pluralistic What the buggery bollocks is this "smart blender" nonsense?

K-ZO da Snowman Nov 19

@alienghic @isocat @pluralistic

There are also instructions online from Low-Tech Magazine to build your own electrically powered solar oven.

https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2025/10/how-to-build-a-solar-powered-electric-oven/

How to Build a Solar Powered Electric Oven

This guide explains how to construct an energy-efficient cooking appliance powered by a small solar panel. Thanks to its heat storage, the cooker remains ready to use even after sunset.

LOW←TECH MAGAZINE

Neat.

There's a wide variety of solar oven designs out there with different trade offs

Pteryx the Puzzle Secretary Nov 19

@isocat @pluralistic
Why would you *not* name it? Do you not want to help people avoid it? Are you afraid they're going to send assassins?

@pteryx @pluralistic Because you can say whatever you want about Ford cars, as long as you say it four times an hour.

Allpoints Nov 19

@isocat @pluralistic why is it all the tech bros see dystopian science fiction as a playbook instead of a warning?

I, for one, am not looking forward to our Blade Runner future.

@isocat @pluralistic Can I guess it is from one of those Silicon Valley ready-meals companies, where you can buy the same microwave curry you can get at the grocery store, but from an app with a subscription attached? Hello Fresh, Factor, crap like that…

adamrice Nov 19

@isocat @pluralistic I hope they called it the “cooksero.”

@isocat lol. "What if Juicero, but for fire?"

Ben Todd Nov 19

Like HP who've locked their printers to their own ink.

DragonBard Nov 20

@monkeyben @isocat @pluralistic it's even worse. If your payment method expires you aren't allowed to use the perfectly good ink already in the printer that you already paid for via the subscription service.

Andrés Hirunatan 🐌Nov 20

@DragonBard @pluralistic @monkeyben @isocat

BTW... I'm thinking of buying a laser printer. Is there some brand that works well in Linux, and I can use whatever ink i want?

Some years ago I always used HP , but now they have that ink slavery contract. Don't know how other brands behave

Dźwiedziu Nov 20

@hirunatan
Word on the wire is Epson (for ink, especially the EcoTank series) and Brother (for compatibility), but I haven't tested personally.

@DragonBard @pluralistic @monkeyben @isocat

FlorentE_Nov 20

@dzwiedziu @hirunatan @DragonBard @pluralistic @monkeyben @isocat I second Brother laser.
They used to be entirely non predatory, I heard they're now slowly following their competitors tactics but their current range is still mostly useable compared to "ransom printing" from HP, Canon, Epson & the like.

Andrés Hirunatan 🐌Nov 20

@dzwiedziu @DragonBard @pluralistic @monkeyben @isocat thanks very much!!

@hirunatan @DragonBard @pluralistic @monkeyben @isocat I’ve had color laser printers for years. So much better than inkjet shenanigans.

I’ve been buying HP, works well in Linux and Mac of course. They tend to support postscript and PCL so they’re broadly supported in distributions.

I also have a small brother B&W laser. Didn’t see a color laser option when I bought it (years ago).

There’s no way I’m ever buying an inkjet printer. Ever.

Pxl Phile Nov 19

@isocat @pluralistic cautionary tale yadda yadda company builds machine tormenting nexus™ inspired by cautionary tale

Whiskers 🇦🇺Nov 19

@isocat @pluralistic Adult toys next 😬

@isocat @pluralistic

Today we're performing brain surgery on a toaster... we replace its guts with an arduino and a button.

@Vaneshi That's cool (er, hot) and nifty, but I don't accept the premise that a computer – of any kind, anywhere, belonging to anyone – is a necessary or desirable component of a toaster.

@isocat Same but if it must be smart... it must also be obedient.

@Vaneshi r'Amen!

Dominic 🇪🇺 🏳️‍🌈 🇺🇦Nov 20

@isocat @pluralistic This enshittification is a deliberate design choice. I have a “smart” washing machine, but it can be operated entirely offline via its front panel. The “smart” features are: it sends me a notification when it’s done, so I can hang the clothes out to dry, and I can use the app to program weird washes that I can download from the net (sneakers, super-delicates of various types, etc). If those get discontinued at some point, I’ll shrug and keep washing.

moondog548 Nov 21

We're swiftly shifting to a Torment-Nexus-based economy.