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TL;DR: Someone buys cheap no-name brand chinese light switches and is surprised when they don't include instructions, have poor security, and don't work very we
by Klathmon 11y ago
TL;DR: Someone buys cheap no-name brand chinese light switches and is surprised when they don't include instructions, have poor security, and don't work very well or at all.
I see these kinds of "IOT hate" articles on HN a lot recently, and most of them are judging an industry based on the cheapest and worst quality parts.
- edent 11y agoWell, I don't consider £50 (US$70, €65) to be particularly cheap. They're certainly more expensive than some of the competition (http://www.wifiplug.co.uk/wifiplug-glass.html http://www.wifiplug.co.uk/wifiplug-glass.html). If you can find me a more expensive and/or higher quality switch - I'll gladly buy and review it.
- delinka 11y ago"Inexpensive" and "cheap" are not synonymous. I've experienced plenty of cheap things with a high price, and it produces the perception that the entire industry is terrible.
- frobozz 11y agoI've never seen a thesaurus that agrees with you.
- roymurdock 11y agoHe/she is talking about cheap (quality) vs. inexpensive (cost) - to put it another way, poor-quality items can be expensive.
- stephenhuey 11y agoThe OS X Dictionary app's thesaurus lists "poor-quality" and "low-grade" and "shoddy" as synonyms of cheap. Merriam Webster's online dictionary gives this for definition 3a of cheap: "of inferior quality or worth" http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cheap http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cheap
- frobozz 11y agoBoth of the sources you cite list "inexpensive" as a synonym of "cheap", and vice versa. In fact, I've just looked at the OSX app, and "CHEAP" is the first word after the context in the "inexpensive" entry, and "INEXPENSIVE" is the first word after the context in the "cheap" entry. http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inexpensive http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inexpensive http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cheap http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cheap
- Sanddancer 11y agoYes, in some contexts, they're synonymous. However, they tend to have different connotations. Inexpensive usually implies low in cost, but of reasonable quality. Cheap tends to imply low in cost, and low quality. For example, someone cheaping out on a part.
- frobozz 11y agoYes, but apart from the case of a low quality and cost item ending up more expensive in the long run because of replacements and high maintenance costs; it doesn't tend to mean high in cost,low in quality. The relationship between the words,in the sense you describe, is hypo/hypernymy. My original comment was in response to an apparent claim that the two words are entirely unrelated.
- jvickers 11y agoThings can indeed be both cheap and expensive. It takes two different perspectives, both being correct in their own right, and not directly contradicting each other. There can be different ways of looking at the cost of an item: 1) The cost of the parts and manufacture. 2) The retail price. An item could be cheap from perspective 1 and expensive from perspective 2.
- SixSigma 11y agoWhen visiting one's parents, one has to be ready for products like this.
- CaptSpify 11y agoTo be fair, even the best IoT devices are pretty terrible. I'm very pro "computerization of everything", and hate most things marked as IoT.
- Zigurd 11y agoIndeed. I was just now commenting on another thread about how smart homes are shit. The problem is that smart homes work, just not if you can't afford custom professional installation and maintenance. J. Random Blogger can't afford a smart home that works, can't afford to upgrade it, and hasn't got the right use cases, like a large home with a security system, telephone/intercom system, media room, multi-car garage, pool, etc.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- marssaxman 11y agoIt's difficult to see how such a device could avoid being terrible even if it weren't "cheapest and worst quality".