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I have a Samsung refrigerator that is supposed to be Internet-connectible. I wasted about 5 minutes on it before giving up. The shoddy quality of the software c
by exelius 11y ago
I have a Samsung refrigerator that is supposed to be Internet-connectible. I wasted about 5 minutes on it before giving up. The shoddy quality of the software combined with the low marginal utility of having my refrigerator connected to the Internet just didn't make it worth more than 5 minutes of my time.
- dasboth 11y agoThe marginal utility of having a refrigerator connected to the Internet is not something I ever thought someone would have to estimate.
- exelius 11y agoYeah, it was kind of like "Eh, I'm bored, I think I'll connect my fridge to the Internet. Oh, the software is shitty? Eh, don't think I'll bother." If someone as geeky about this stuff as me thinks like this, there's no hope for connected appliances actually catching on anywhere.
- Splines 11y agoI have a "smart" washer and dryer. I booted the companion app up, briefly considered what I was actually trying to do, and abandoned the whole thing. At least the things work just fine in an unconnected state. Not to be all "get off my lawn", but some things don't need to be smart.
- exelius 11y agoActually a "smart" washer and dryer would be nice -- I wouldn't mind getting notifications that my laundry is done (because it's on a different floor and I don't always hear the little song it plays). But really that's all I would want - basic alerting.
- TeMPOraL 11y agoThe problem starts with "companion app". If your IoT device has its own apps, it's most likely something you want to avoid like fire. IoT won't take off until people stop being greedy about it and try to lock everyone in, forcing them to use their (usually completely shitty) apps.
- conistonwater 11y agoYou can find out how long it takes and set a timer on your phone, since it probably takes the same amount of time every time.
- nkrisc 11y agoThis is why I go out of my way to be appliances that have no "smart" capability whatsoever. They're useless and I'll probably never use it. I got my 55" TV for hundreds of dollars cheaper than the comparable "smart" varieties, simply because it only did the one thing it was any good at anyway: displaying video output.
- r00fus 11y agoThe problem is, you'll likely get "smart" features thrown in "for free" (read priced into model) if you want a decent screen in the future.
- nkrisc 11y agoIn the future, yeah, that seems it will become unavoidable. Luckily for now I was totally able to avoid it, even though I did have to actively seek a new, dumb TV.
- paulddraper 11y agoYep, the best thing is when you can compose things. Like stream Netflix with your laptop, or play games with your Xbox. Rather than have the thing that does everything poorly.
- rmtew 11y agoAll my different devices have shoddy software. From every smart phone I've bought to smart televisions and not so smart satellite decoders and bluray players. None of them have source code available to fix the problems, and the firmware is more often than not encrypted. There has to be some solution to the problem of low quality and ill-maintained vendor software - but to them it's not a problem so much as a push for the user to do a device upgrade.
- eloisant 11y agoBecause Samsung, like all hardware companies except Apple, suck at software.
- paulddraper 11y agoI take it your iTunes account wasn't one of the breached ones.