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Considering that fridges today have built-in 24” touchscreen displays running Android and cavity cameras so you can see inside your fridge when you’re at the su

Considering that fridges today have built-in 24” touchscreen displays running Android and cavity cameras so you can see inside your fridge when you’re at the supermarket - the useful life of a fridge is probably on the order of 1-2 years before Google obsoletes the firmware and Samsung shuts-down the video feed relay service.

nkozyra 7y ago
I've messed with these in stores and just been blown away at what a useless feature this is. Ah, yes, an appliance running Android Cupcake what a fabulous idea. It's clear that some items have hit peak functionality and manufacturers are just bolting on nonsense to keep up the facade of "luxury." But I'm sorry, running Spotify on my fridge is hokey, gauche and entirely unnecessary.
- eclipxe 7y ago
  That’s the point.
  - nkozyra 7y ago
    The problem is they've just run out of ideas. Just being gauche and gaudy isn't enough to qualify; typically there's either enhanced utility or extravagance and an old-ass version of Android running on my fridge is neither.
- pkulak 7y ago
  Same with cars now too. What's the point of a leather dashboard and doors? How could that possibly be better than plastic? Or ambient lighting? Or heated arm rests?
  - wallace_f 7y ago
    Buying status. Related: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good
  - DaiPlusPlus 7y ago
    > What's the point of a leather dashboard and doors? Aesthetics, then passenger comfort. It's certainly a _nicer_ feeling when you rest your hand on quality materials in the passenger cabin. That said, I drive a Tesla Model X with the all-white interior - Tesla is famously vegan - so it's all pleather - and it made me a pleather convert (it's just unfortunate most pleathers you see are cheap and nasty and wear-down too quickly). > ambient lighting That's not a luxury feature - some form of ambient lighting is standard in every car I've been in. It's essential to help you navigate the passenger cabin in the dark without turning on the dome-light which can dazzle or distract the driver, such as seeing where the glovebox is or other controls. > Or heated arm rests? Same reason we have heated-seats and heated steering wheels: passenger comfort in cold weather. Also useful for people with poor circulation where being stationary (in a car seat) gets really uncomfortable.
    - pkulak 7y ago
      Who rests their hands on the dash? And I don't mean normal interior lighting, I mean the kind that is light piping all over the dash and doors that can be set to any color of the rainbow.
  - x0x0 7y ago
    Leather is easier to clean. You'll regret cloth everywhere if you have have dogs that ride in the car, kids, or you enjoy getting dirty. Leather wipes clean.
    - pkulak 7y ago
      Leather is not easier to clean than plastic.
    - cr0sh 7y ago
      > You'll regret cloth everywhere if you have have dogs that ride in the car, kids, or you enjoy getting dirty. I just pull the drains and hose out my Jeep.
  - randycupertino 7y ago
    Leather is better for the environment than plastic.
- tobr 7y ago
  I wanted to buy a new microwave oven recently. Every single model I could find committed at least two of the following crimes: - Loud, ear piercing beeps on every opportunity. Why would anyone need to hear a beep every time they press a button? Imagine if an iPad did that. - Speaking of buttons: over-complicated controls, for something that should be two dials and one button - Ugly, spaceship like industrial design that has no place in a home - Inner surfaces with holes and protrusions that would be difficult to clean - Bright glowing green or blue LEDs that are always on, contributing to indoors light pollution There were a few expensive models that were less terrible (red lights, softer beeps (still beeps, mind you!), OK controls) but they were all too big to fit in my kitchen. My conclusion is that these manufacturers have no clue and no culture to figure out what a “luxury” product would look like today. They still think people find LED screens, chromed plastic and digital buttons impressive.
  - NIL8 7y ago
    These are all things that drive me crazy! Minimizing and simplifying would be easy and save these companies heaps of money. I hope somebody will fix these things soon. Then, they can move on to fixing the clicking mouse.
  - spditner 7y ago
    Regarding the piercing beeps - I popped open the case on mine and put a piece of tape over the piezo buzzer speaker, which brought the volume down to just the right level.
    - tobr 7y ago
      I’ve had the same thought, but dismantling a microwave radiation emitter doesn’t seem like a bright idea unless you know what you’re doing.
  - throwawaycanada 7y ago
    You can usually turn off the beeps.
  - cr0sh 7y ago
wil421 7y ago
I went Fridge shopping yesterday at Home Depot and only 2 out of the 20 models we looked at had Touchscreens.
- reaperducer 7y ago
  at Home Depot You just answered your own question right there.
  - wil421 7y ago
    If I look at Best Buy and Lowe’s it’s pretty much the same. Samsung and LG have more useless features than any of the others combined.
  - maxerickson 7y ago
    Can you explain? They aren't a discount retailer or anything like that, which you seem to be implying.
- amalter 7y ago
  Another sample point and a different concern... We just bought a new refrigerator this weekend, replacing the $3500 2011 Bosch that came with the apartment. The Bosch burned out the compressor’s ECU - a $350 part that with labor would have been an $800 repair. We comparison shopped all the appliance stores in NYC and ended up with a $2k Samsung side by side (not my favorite brand, but it fit in our tight galley kitchen) PC Richard had only a single model with a touchscreen on the floor (Samsung French door). Best Buy and Home Depot had maybe one more from LG. So on one hand, the concern that every refrigerator will have a useless touchscreen seems unfounded. But... I was reading through the manual and was surprised to find instructions for connecting the appliance to my wifi. (MAC address available two hex digits at a time flashed through the temperature gauges) Ostensibly this is to provide a channel for electric demand response (they even documented the api). It also connects up with Samsung’s SmartHome ecosystem (why??) I have no doubt there is a full Android stack hidden what appeared to be a normal “dumb appliance”. These hidden smart appliances are going to be great attack surfaces. I’m sure soon enough they’ll automate the wifi connection by making a back channel the nearest lightbulb or something. Of course who’s following CVEs on their mesh connected toaster?
cr0sh 7y ago
Heh - I should do something like that for my cheap home fridge: 1. JB weld some magnets to the back of a cheap Android tablet and stick it on the front. 2. Build a small RasPi Zero W cam with an LED light, running MotionEyeOS, pipe it's feed out to the internet... $60.00 later and some sweat equity - I could have the same setup, and not have to worry about it going "obsolete"...

nkozyra 7y ago

I've messed with these in stores and just been blown away at what a useless feature this is. Ah, yes, an appliance running Android Cupcake what a fabulous idea. It's clear that some items have hit peak functionality and manufacturers are just bolting on nonsense to keep up the facade of "luxury." But I'm sorry, running Spotify on my fridge is hokey, gauche and entirely unnecessary.

eclipxe 7y ago
That’s the point.
- nkozyra 7y ago
  The problem is they've just run out of ideas. Just being gauche and gaudy isn't enough to qualify; typically there's either enhanced utility or extravagance and an old-ass version of Android running on my fridge is neither.
pkulak 7y ago
Same with cars now too. What's the point of a leather dashboard and doors? How could that possibly be better than plastic? Or ambient lighting? Or heated arm rests?
- wallace_f 7y ago
  Buying status. Related: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good
- DaiPlusPlus 7y ago
  > What's the point of a leather dashboard and doors? Aesthetics, then passenger comfort. It's certainly a _nicer_ feeling when you rest your hand on quality materials in the passenger cabin. That said, I drive a Tesla Model X with the all-white interior - Tesla is famously vegan - so it's all pleather - and it made me a pleather convert (it's just unfortunate most pleathers you see are cheap and nasty and wear-down too quickly). > ambient lighting That's not a luxury feature - some form of ambient lighting is standard in every car I've been in. It's essential to help you navigate the passenger cabin in the dark without turning on the dome-light which can dazzle or distract the driver, such as seeing where the glovebox is or other controls. > Or heated arm rests? Same reason we have heated-seats and heated steering wheels: passenger comfort in cold weather. Also useful for people with poor circulation where being stationary (in a car seat) gets really uncomfortable.
  - pkulak 7y ago
    Who rests their hands on the dash? And I don't mean normal interior lighting, I mean the kind that is light piping all over the dash and doors that can be set to any color of the rainbow.
- x0x0 7y ago
  Leather is easier to clean. You'll regret cloth everywhere if you have have dogs that ride in the car, kids, or you enjoy getting dirty. Leather wipes clean.
  - pkulak 7y ago
    Leather is not easier to clean than plastic.
  - cr0sh 7y ago
    > You'll regret cloth everywhere if you have have dogs that ride in the car, kids, or you enjoy getting dirty. I just pull the drains and hose out my Jeep.
- randycupertino 7y ago
  Leather is better for the environment than plastic.
tobr 7y ago
I wanted to buy a new microwave oven recently. Every single model I could find committed at least two of the following crimes: - Loud, ear piercing beeps on every opportunity. Why would anyone need to hear a beep every time they press a button? Imagine if an iPad did that. - Speaking of buttons: over-complicated controls, for something that should be two dials and one button - Ugly, spaceship like industrial design that has no place in a home - Inner surfaces with holes and protrusions that would be difficult to clean - Bright glowing green or blue LEDs that are always on, contributing to indoors light pollution There were a few expensive models that were less terrible (red lights, softer beeps (still beeps, mind you!), OK controls) but they were all too big to fit in my kitchen. My conclusion is that these manufacturers have no clue and no culture to figure out what a “luxury” product would look like today. They still think people find LED screens, chromed plastic and digital buttons impressive.
- NIL8 7y ago
  These are all things that drive me crazy! Minimizing and simplifying would be easy and save these companies heaps of money. I hope somebody will fix these things soon. Then, they can move on to fixing the clicking mouse.
- spditner 7y ago
  Regarding the piercing beeps - I popped open the case on mine and put a piece of tape over the piezo buzzer speaker, which brought the volume down to just the right level.
  - tobr 7y ago
    I’ve had the same thought, but dismantling a microwave radiation emitter doesn’t seem like a bright idea unless you know what you’re doing.
- throwawaycanada 7y ago
  You can usually turn off the beeps.
- cr0sh 7y ago

wil421 7y ago

I went Fridge shopping yesterday at Home Depot and only 2 out of the 20 models we looked at had Touchscreens.

reaperducer 7y ago
at Home Depot You just answered your own question right there.
- wil421 7y ago
  If I look at Best Buy and Lowe’s it’s pretty much the same. Samsung and LG have more useless features than any of the others combined.
- maxerickson 7y ago
  Can you explain? They aren't a discount retailer or anything like that, which you seem to be implying.
amalter 7y ago
Another sample point and a different concern... We just bought a new refrigerator this weekend, replacing the $3500 2011 Bosch that came with the apartment. The Bosch burned out the compressor’s ECU - a $350 part that with labor would have been an $800 repair. We comparison shopped all the appliance stores in NYC and ended up with a $2k Samsung side by side (not my favorite brand, but it fit in our tight galley kitchen) PC Richard had only a single model with a touchscreen on the floor (Samsung French door). Best Buy and Home Depot had maybe one more from LG. So on one hand, the concern that every refrigerator will have a useless touchscreen seems unfounded. But... I was reading through the manual and was surprised to find instructions for connecting the appliance to my wifi. (MAC address available two hex digits at a time flashed through the temperature gauges) Ostensibly this is to provide a channel for electric demand response (they even documented the api). It also connects up with Samsung’s SmartHome ecosystem (why??) I have no doubt there is a full Android stack hidden what appeared to be a normal “dumb appliance”. These hidden smart appliances are going to be great attack surfaces. I’m sure soon enough they’ll automate the wifi connection by making a back channel the nearest lightbulb or something. Of course who’s following CVEs on their mesh connected toaster?

cr0sh 7y ago

Heh - I should do something like that for my cheap home fridge: 1. JB weld some magnets to the back of a cheap Android tablet and stick it on the front. 2. Build a small RasPi Zero W cam with an LED light, running MotionEyeOS, pipe it's feed out to the internet... $60.00 later and some sweat equity - I could have the same setup, and not have to worry about it going "obsolete"...