I remember the days when a dumb terminal needed to connect to the network to function, whilst a smart computer could do everything locally.

Nowadays a smart fridge needs an internet connection and a dumb fridge can do everything locally.

@craignicol that reminds me, I'm going to need to find a dumb washing machine soon.

Any brands stick out for not hooking up to the internet?

@onepict not that I can think of. Mine has WiFi, but at least it works without it.

@craignicol my old washing machine is a Samsung and had WiFi but worked without it.

I'm not sure I'm going to find one that doesn't need the internet.

A brand that committed to not doing that I suspect would get a lot of business.

@onepict @craignicol I literally go to Claude and ask it to "find highly rated <appliance> that does not have wifi"

I'm surprised someone hasn't set up a dedicated site just for this, I'm sure there's a way to monetize it with referral links or something

@craignicol @Binder My grans dishwasher was so smart it kept insisting it needed to connect to the internet and moaned when I wouldn’t let it. Was it lonely?