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Samsung confirms its smart fridges will start showing you ads
- gnabgib 1y agoRelated Samsung smart fridge displaying advertisements (29 points, 2 days ago, 21 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45262808 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45262808
- duxup 1y agoI get the idea that "oh man we've got billboards in every home, imagine the money" motivation. I don't get how that gets through the usual meetings and there's no sense of "people won't like this, they will associate our products with obtrusive ads".
- unconed 1y agoBecause the person whose job depends on keeping the customers happy is not the same as the person whose job depends on making spreadsheet numbers go up.
- npteljes 1y agoThese are end-user products with many real alternatives, if people didn't like them, they wouldn't buy them. So the problem is not that the decision-maker and the user are different, like in case of the famously dreaded electronic healthcare software.
- jihadjihad 1y ago> I don't get how that gets through the usual meetings and there's no sense of "people won't like this, they will associate our products with obtrusive ads". Ever turned on a Samsung TV?
- duxup 1y agoI don’t think I own one, granted mine is perpetually offline too.
- SomeoneOnTheWeb 1y agoMost people's TV show ads nowadays, be it Samsung or a competitor. The thing is, people don't care about ads. They just deal with it. Hence how Samsung gets away with this sh*t.
- gryfft 1y agoThe fact that this is true feels like we as a society just shrugged and gave up about something like, say, ubiquitous lice or ticks. "Yeah, everyone just has those, all the time."
- dragonwriter 1y agoHey, so remember COVID?
- dns_snek 1y agoWhat about it? That's not something that "everyone had all the time" and just accepted it, like ads. We only saw that attitude towards COVID because it affected people for a relatively short amount of time, and majority of them suffered relatively minor symptoms. People not caring about others isn't exactly noteworthy. People not caring about themselves is different.
- fullshark 1y agoThey care but not enough for "the free market" to generate an ad free competitor that can be trusted to never show ads for the lifetime of the product. Especially because they'd have to charge more for that product. Government regulation is the only way to stop this.
- Jensson 1y ago
- inferiorhuman 1y agoSamsung appliances are already well known to be among the most problematic around with about the worst warranty service (and lowest rates for techs who work on them) in the industry. They probably figure anyone who's okay with that nonsense is also okay with a few ads.
- dmitrygr 1y ago> I don't get how that gets through the usual meetings Sadly, I can imagine it easily. I've been in a few such meetings across a few past jobs, and often found myself the ONLY advocate for sanity. Counter arguments were often usage count goals or "our userbase is sticky and switching costs are high. It'll be OK, quit worrying." One leader honestly said "KPIs - up now, blowback - after i switch teams"
- npteljes 1y ago>there's no sense of "people won't like this, they will associate our products with obtrusive ads". One, I don't think people mind it too much. By too much, I mean two things: actually stating that they don't give a damn (even though they are just as susceptible), or grumbling about ads, but still doing nothing against them. Two, price is everything. People put up with ads ever for a pittance. They listen to an ad every 15 minutes for hours a day, just to not pay $5 for the ad-free tier. That is how low this barrier is. So ads not not much a problem PR-wise. You'd think, you'd hope, but it isn't.
- reify 1y agoIve noticed an increase in white goods appearing in my network-managers SSID list. I currently have a Samsung fridge/freezer and a delonghi espresso machine in the list in nmcli dev wifi. My friend has recently moved and bought a new Samsung fridge/freezer for her new home. I did a quick wifi scan on my phone and there it was. The new samsung fridge/freezer waiting to be connected to the internet via the app you have to download. It works fine without connecting to the internet. I told her not to install the app or connect it. So she hasn't. Maybe in the future, if you are obese, or struggle with food, the manufacturers will be able to monitor the contents of your fridge, how often the door was opened, how much food is eaten, take a quick photo of you each time you open the fridge to monitor your weight, and, if it has become a problem, lock the fridge so you cant eat any more food. The fridge then contacts all the local fast food restaurants and supermarkets you use, to prevent you from buying any more food until you lose a few pounds. The new wegovy-ai-fridge. cool!
- jonbiggums22 1y agoMore likely they'll identify you as having a weakness for junk food using your image and fridge contents and show an ad for cheezy blasters every time you walk by the fridge.
- atmavatar 1y ago> The fridge then contacts all the local fast food restaurants and supermarkets you use, to prevent you from buying any more food until you lose a few pounds. That may be how it works in other countries, but I can assure you in America, it will target ads towards those things you consume the most and related items so you consume more.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 1y agoMine doesn't have screens but it has a BS wifi network that shows up. I disabled it via button controls but it came back so I had to open the back of the fridge and disconnect it from the board. Very annoying!
- Someone 1y ago> The fridge then contacts all the local fast food restaurants and supermarkets you use, to prevent you from buying any more food until you lose a few pounds. Where’s the money in that? They’ll tell them to bombard you with weight loss adverts for expensive products that don’t work well or at least require you to keep buying them for life.
- htatche 1y agoI’m just picturing a scenario where the fridge won’t open its door unless you finish watching an AI generated, very low quality, scammy ad. Looking at you, YouTube…
- prettyblocks 1y agoPhilip K Dick's worst nightmares are coming true.
- antisthenes 1y ago"Should you really be having that 3rd ice-cream today?" the fridge said. It sounded smug.
- ndsipa_pomu 1y agoThere will come a time when it isn't 'They're spying on me through my phone' anymore. Eventually, it will be 'My phone is spying on me'.
- foxyv 1y agoRay Bradbury's worst fears came true a long time ago. The Pedestrian Short Story https://xpressenglish.com/wp-content/uploads/Stories/The-Pedestrian.pdf https://xpressenglish.com/wp-content/uploads/Stories/The-Ped... Blind Man Arrested for Walking with Cane https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3UOccxRHCYw https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3UOccxRHCYw Man Arrested for Walking Home in Snow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gawzO3afNKw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gawzO3afNKw
- strifey 1y agoYou should read Ubik
- ndsipa_pomu 1y ago“The door refused to open. It said, “Five cents, please.” He searched his pockets. No more coins; nothing. “I’ll pay you tomorrow,” he told the door. Again he tried the knob. Again it remained locked tight. “What I pay you,” he informed it, “is in the nature of a gratuity; I don’t have to pay you.” “I think otherwise,” the door said. “Look in the purchase contract you signed when you bought this conapt.” In his desk drawer he found the contract; since signing it he had found it necessary to refer to the document many times. Sure enough; payment to his door for opening and shutting constituted a mandatory fee. Not a tip. “You discover I’m right,” the door said. It sounded smug. From the drawer beside the sink Joe Chip got a stainless steel knife; with it he began systematically to unscrew the bolt assembly of his apt’s money-gulping door. “I’ll sue you,” the door said as the first screw fell out. Joe Chip said, “I’ve never been sued by a door. But I guess I can live through it.”
- Havoc 1y ago2025: you need an ad blocker to keep your beer cold
- jdalgetty 1y agoIf there's a screen, there will be ads.
- fsflover 1y agoNot if it runs free software.
- npteljes 1y agoFree software is not immune either, like in case of Ubuntu, or Firefox. But honestly, it's nitpicking, free software is humanity's real chance of having ethical software, and the situation in open source land is orders of magnitude better in this regards, than in proprietary land.
- fsflover 1y agoBoth Ubuntu and Firefox aren't free software but a mixture of free and non-free software. Also they both allow to easily remove the ads unlike any fully proprietary software.
- the_third_wave 1y ago"The cause of the recent crash of flight ADZRUS-666 has been determined to be a badly scheduled ad impression which covered all screens in the glass cockpit to show aan ad of a dancing hippopotamus in a tutu selling skin care products while the plane was on final approach in IFR conditions."
- lawlessone 1y ago"We have determined removing the ads will cost us more in lost revenue than compensating victims families the occasional time this happens."
- juntoalaluna 1y agoI confirm I will never buy a Samsung fridge.
- emorning4 1y agoI own the bare-bones, bottom tiered Samsung dishwasher and fridge. They're both pretty good. Just refuse to pay for fancy crappola.
- matthewdgreen 1y agoOk, I know we always say this kind of stuff on HN and then the product is hugely successful anyway... But seriously, why am I even interested in buying a fridge with a display? That seems annoying even without the ads, and the ads are a product-killer.
- jsbisviewtiful 1y agoSamsung appliances are notoriously not worth buying.
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 1y agoIt's probably best to expand that to any kitchen appliance that connects to the internet and has a screen.
- port11 1y agoI'm in the process of selling the 3 Samsung devices we have at home. It seemed like a no-brainer to buy affordable quality from a reputable brand. Then the TV got annoying, slow, pestered with ads and new Privacy updates every month; our oven has some bugs that need a software update and the clock resets without Wi-Fi; and god knows when the washing machine will do something similar. Samsung is a massive company, it really doesn't need to be doing this. Extremely rich is rich enough, shareholders!
- kstrauser 1y agoNo, it won't, because it will never, ever enter my house.
- dekken_ 1y agoThis should be considered theft, they are stealing electricity to perform rendering/computation
- toephu2 1y agoIt's already bad enough we pay $1k+ for a TV and cannot turn off ads coming from the OS (ahem Roku, Fire TV). Now refrigerators?
- t1234s 1y agoAny statups working on where a homeowner can just "subscribe" to their appliance set for the house? With appliances getting more and more high-tech, low-quality and not worth repairing its not sustainable to keep replacing appliances every few years.
- pickleglitch 1y agoHow about a subscription service that just sends you a new fridge full of food every week and takes the previous fridge back to be refilled. Instead of doing dishes we could also have a subscription service that delivers a whole new set of dishes and cookware every week. No more dishwashers!
- mschild 1y agoYup. A little known company called Bosch started offering this in Germany and Netherlands. https://www.bluemovement.com/nl-en https://www.bluemovement.com/nl-en
- t1234s 1y agoNice.. you will own nothing and be happy!
- cschep 1y agocan you imagine allowing this into your house? who is this for? I guess maybe if they give the fridges away.. oh god don't give them ideas.
- thatgerhard 1y agoI'll take the free fridge and jailbreak it
- general1465 1y agoCareful, they will likely make you sign an agreement that you are not going to reverse engineer, jailbreak or gain access in any unauthorized way to the electronic systems. At least car manufacturers are doing that.
- pickleglitch 1y agoNo, they won't give the fridge away. It will be like Smart TVs. They will be slightly cheaper (allegedly) because they are "subsidized" by ad dollars.
- mrkeen 1y agoDon't give them ideas you say? What if they develop an iconic fridge and dial up the brand recognition to 11 via an intensive and prolonged ad campaign. Introducing... The KAGE No embedded ads yet. Then they wait for the reviews in all the usual places to be released. After the dust has settled, they push the ad update remotely. You don't connect your fridge to the internet, like some kind of Luddite? No worries, they thought of that and bundled a sim card with it.
- xnx 1y ago"Smart" devices have become so ubiquitous that we don't use the "Internet of Things" buzzword, but this Twitter account is still doing god's work documenting the insanity: https://x.com/internetofshit https://x.com/internetofshit
- someotherperson 1y agoHow long until this is in computer monitors as well? Seems like that's the last frontier of Samsung screens that don't come with ads.
- nicce 1y agoMany Samsung monitors are not monitors anymore. They are mini TVs with ads.
- aldousd666 1y agoA few years ago someone showed a BMW concept car with an LCD Panel as the entire body of the vehicle. I called it back then, we're going to need Ad blockers for everything.
- pflenker 1y agoIt would be fine if you willingly buy stuff which shows you ads. But what happens is that you buy stuff without realizing it shows ads, or - even worse - it starts showing ads long after you bought it. Case in point, my echo show first showed ads months after I bought it, but only once every few days. Now, it shows ads almost all the time. I wonder how this is even legal here in Germany.
- summermusic 1y ago> Samsung is calling it a pilot program for now, which — I kid you not — is meant to “strengthen the value” of owning a Samsung smart fridge. [0]https://www.theverge.com/news/780757/samsung-brings-ads-to-us-fridges https://www.theverge.com/news/780757/samsung-brings-ads-to-u...
- Refreeze5224 1y agoFor a while now Samsung and LG have been on my list of appliance makers not to buy. And this simply confirms that decision. I do not want smart features in my dishwasher, laundry, stove, or any other appliance, and I sure as hell don't want them to be internet-capable.
- jsbisviewtiful 1y ago> I sure as hell don't want them to be internet-capable There isn't really a good reason for appliances to be online-capable and in some cases it puts homes at risk. If you have that and like it, cool - good for you, but that's "innovation" for the sake of having a reason to sell a new product... a product that can be hacked to break or shutdown via a firmware update.
- mrleinad 1y agoOr zombified to make requests on a specific target, to harm them or you.
- horsawlarway 1y agoI can't possibly see how this wouldn't warrant an immediate full refund for the fridge...
- Taek 1y agoIt frustrates me greatly how little people, and especially regulators, value attention in modern society. Your behaviors as a human are largely driven by the things you pay attention to, and advertising is a form of driving your behaviors by bringing your attention to things that are good for them (and not necessarily good for you!). In other words, advertising is a form of mind control. By hijacking your attention, it hijacks how you think about the world and changes what sorts of things you focus on every day, pulling your mental cycles into products when maybe without seeing that ad you'd instead be thinking about family. I really think the social and societal cost of advertising is immense, and that it should be strongly regulated. Especially because most people greatly under-value their own attention and under-estimate how much seeing ads in their kitchen every day is going to disrupt and hijack their normal thinking patterns.
- fsflover 1y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43595269 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43595269
- npteljes 1y agoRegulators don't "value attention little", they did the exact opposite, harnessed the power of the internet to grab unreal amount of power. They are doing the exact mind control you are writing about, and what they care about is whether they control the minds or not. How we fix, I have no idea. Personally, not many ads make it into my private life. Other than this, I got nada.
- burnt-resistor 1y agoIn the US, regulators exist largely as rubber stamps and are 99% captured to do the bidding of megacorps while throwing roadblocks in front of small businesses and ordinary people.
- lousken 1y agoframework will now also have to make fridges
- gamblor956 1y agoSamsung fridges were not great even before they started showing ads. The back of my Samsung fridge constantly freezes itself into a solid block because it doesn't defrost properly.
- sys_64738 1y agoWhat surprises me is that they don't forcibly try to connect to an open wifi network. I'm thinking the Comcast xfinity network. It feel like something that they would do.
- olyjohn 1y agoThat's what Amazon Sidewalk and things like the "Find My" network is for, and one of the big reasons for the 5G push despite it basically being total shit. It's coming.
- jasonpeacock 1y agoThis is why I de-Alexa'd my house. I was fully invested in Alexa & Echo devices to have a voice-activated computer agent in every room, but each new "feature" was launched enabled-by-default, and every interaction started including "follup-up" prompts....which is all just ads. I know that such devices are another sales channel (funnel?), but when you compromise the customer experience in the name of increasing sales that's a failure of the product. The Kindle doesn't inject ads into the books you're reading because it's a successful product that already drives increased book sales by good at what it does. There's an ad-supported Kindle, but that's opt-in for a discounted device price, and the ads are non-intrusive while reading a book - unlike Alexa/Echo where the ads get in the way of using the product :(
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- hermannj314 1y agoThe right-to-repair opponents would like to remind you that if you attempt to disable these ads you will impact the safety of the temperature module and thus everyone you love.
- throwawa14223 1y agoWhen tech stops working for us we should fire that tech.
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- puppycodes 1y agoI have a phillips sonicare toothbrush and I was baffled when it emitted a loud beeping sound when it was done charging. There is no reason on earth my toothbrush needs to alert me of something. When you hire people to "innovate" they will whether its a good idea or not.
- jacquesm 1y agoI have a whole box full of buzzers and beepers that I've liberated from their original equipment environments. Needy electronics are not in line with my idea of a quiet environment. I've made an exception for a pretty powerful Lithium-Ion/LiPo charger, that thing has the potential to burn the place down and I like the fact that it only alerts when it needs to and never 'just because'.
- Aloisius 1y agoHuh. I'm on my third Sonicare toothbrush and none of them have done this.
- puppycodes 1y agoHaha wow maybe its a bug. Imagine submitting a PR to fix your toothbrush.
- Bender 1y ago- Is this behavior obvious before purchasing or is it a surprise? - Does this give corporation and government control over cooling temperature? - Is there telemetry? - Could devious people replace the ads with porn; or worse, AI generated content at some point?
- rolph 1y agothe deviantly devious ones will wait until latchkey kids get home and parents are still working, then groom your kids and invite them to a boyscout picnic.
- Lio 1y agoLOL this is why I don’t buy Samsung products of any kind. They have interesting hardware but their software is so egregious I never want anything to do with them.
- npteljes 1y ago>It’s still unclear which exact refrigerators are getting the ad infestation You know the ones that won't? The ones without a display. Wherever there is a display, there is software. Whenever there's software, there will be updates. Whenever there are updates and a screen, ads will show up - and consent will be trampled. We will just see the different iterations of this, ad infinitum.
- mdotk 1y agoJust another reason not to buy Samsung. They're already notoriously fragile fridges.
- xracy 1y agoThey're gonna have to make these sooooo cheap if they're hoping to sell any quantity of these. Like $100 fridge with nice amenities cheap... And even then it's hard for me to imagine this making the cut.
- ndsipa_pomu 1y agoUnauthorized Bread: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-...
- TrevorFSmith 1y agoThis reminds me of gas station pumps that play ads on sub-par displays and tiny crackly speakers. I'm already paying for gas and now you think you can force crap ads on me? If an ad starts I immediately stop pumping and go to a different gas station. The fridges in people's homes. Expensive fridges! That's a hard pass.
- stein1946 1y agoLooking forwards to hearing about how we should let the market sort it out instead of regulating the shit out of this dystopian abomination.
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 1y ago"What's the password for the fridge?"
- kcplate 1y agoAll I know is mine would be “SuckItJianYang”
- ninalanyon 1y agoHow is this legal?
- BrandoElFollito 1y agoNot in Europe. This is forbidden, it is the same case as smart TVs. I was confused at first when I read about TVs showing you their ads (and not the broadcaster's)
- jgerrish 1y agoI found a really interesting potential dark pattern on a Smart Samsung washing machine the other day. I had never connected the machine to the Internet since it was purchased. It always defaulted to Heavy Duty for the wash cycle. After connecting it to the SmartThings app and updating the firmware it now defaults to Normal for the wash cycle, which has a shorter run time and less energy usage I assume. I can't prove it was intentional, but I know myself and what I might brainstorm in a product development or executive conference room. It's cynical, but I can see a company pushing online connectivity and using these kinds of "accidental" "post-manufacturing" issues as reason why. It's not quite Greenwashing but it is exploiting environmental stewardship. I know this could bite me in the future, but I also want the knowledge out there regardless of who benefits or doesn't.