look, i wouldn't mind a dashboad where i could see when the dishwasher was run, that the rinse fluid is low, the temperature in the fridge ans freezer over time, how many times the ice machine refilled, when the AC on....

smart devices could have been cool.

what we got was the ability for the power company to turn of my fridge, requiring a broken app to run cycles on a dishwasher, and spying for no benefit in every device.

The idea has promise and i hold a small glimmer of hope for home assistant. But, like so many things companies did not give anyone what they wanted.

not as bad as those people buying a SMART MATRESS.

That's nothing. We had to install a firmware update on a chef's knife! 🤣

I know right? Yet people buy them.

Like SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world

They have.

But failing safe doesn’t get them monthly subscriptions.

That's because no one has designers, or listens to them anymore. I have absolutely no clue where new design students are even getting work.

Perhaps being able to turn the fridge off remotely was always part of the plan? We're in the age of enshittification, where companies don't see enforcing a mandatory subscription onto their pre-existing customers as problematic. I honestly wouldn't put it past a modern company to keep such an ace up their sleeves just in case.

Oh but then you would own part of the device... Can't have that

its pretty easy to get a fridge still without a touch screen. The 1st two pages on costco here (I didn't go further) don't have one.

You can sill get "dumb" appliances.

even fridges within the last 10-15 years are crappy. only the ones from early 2000s, or pre-2000 last a long time.

It's part of a social model that needs everyone to work, even if said work has negative value.

We as a species have the resources to create a leisure society for all.

Instead we are trying to make conscious fridges that can't freeze things.

I can only think of one good reason, and only for a refrigerator: Fridges could tell you what's inside without opening them and order shit for you automatically when low on something.

But that would require the AI to not suck complete ass at doing those things. You're better off with just making the door see through and ordering shit when you see something low with your own eyeballs.

There is desire and benefit in these things being smart devices and AI is just the stupid label slapped on every smart device after 2024. A benefit of a smart washer is that it can, theoretically, do a more thorough and more efficient job of washing various amounts, sizes, thicknesses, and materials in the load by measuring water usage, balance, weight, and output water condition. A smart fridge can, theoretically, do some lofty things that aren't nearly as desired as just being a media hub. Streaming videos, reordering groceries on Amazon, displaying recipes, displaying weather, displaying pictures, etc - really mor elike a tablet stuck to the fridge.

Implementation of said benefits is a different story. They are obviously consumer surveillance devices with sales pitches to make them "the best" faster than the competition.

The update probably triggered something buried in the code that’s there solely to hold your fridge hostage if you don’t want to pay for subscriptions.

It's a smart fridge and that's a dumb idea!

AI makes everything better.

All smart devices should fail into a safe and functional mode when the smart features inevitably stop working.

I'm horrified that you could possibly advocate for allowing the consumer to have any real control of their own devices. Have you considered the security implications of not requiring devices to be 100% dependent on the manufacturer's server? Users might be able to use the device without first installing the company's app! The user might be able to use the device without the company knowing about it and selling that data for additional profit or using it to train it's AI.

Of course not. Failing into a safe and functional mode doesn't get people to buy more fridges

Somehow, a billionaire will swear up and down that what you're saying is beyond cost efficient as he donates his parent's legacy and graves to his AI idol statues.

an 2-3k AI fridge at that.

Yup. I was always grappling with form/ function and balance that benefit the user. Seems it’s now ennshittification and subscription are the drivers.

I can see the brief now.

1. Must have at least one subscription feature
2. Should make the user mad
3. Every aspect should have control but is… Extra bonus if does not ever en fulfil its purpose.

"Engaging lock as per your command of maximum 4 snacks per day"

First thing I thought of!

If I bought an AI Fridge and this happened, I would most certainly immediately decide and accept "This is the direct consequence of my choices. This is my fault. I had this coming. I deserve this."

especially one that is controlled by AI.

That exists. Well, guess it has buttons too

My guess is they tried to save money by reducing controllers.

A smartly designed fridge would be much like a car. In a car you have a number of relatively dumb computers that handle things like the engine or battery and motors. And then you have smart connected computers for things like infotainment and app access and self driving. The smart computers have a relatively simple data path to send instructions to the dumb computers like 'start the engine' and get data back like 'engine temperature is 190F'. In a fridge you would have a dumb controller that handles the compressor, defrosting, temperature control, fan speed, lighting, etc. Then whatever internet AI bullshit would be on a separate smart computer that sends the dumb controller commands like 'set fridge temp to 37f'.

It sounds like in this case they put the smart controller in charge of everything. That is, the touch screen computer is also telling the compressor when to start and stop. This is not great design for a few reasons, and is actively dangerous in a car- imagine if the users kid slams both hands on the touch screen, the computer locks up because it wasn't expecting 10 touch points at once, and suddenly fuel is injected during an exhaust stroke and the engine explodes. And as we see here it's not smart in a fridge either- touch screen crashes and all your food goes bad.

Personally I think the smart play is stay the hell away from all of these smart connected appliances. They offer very little benefit for the user, but provide a pathway for the manufacturer to harvest tons of lifestyle data and sell it.

The update may have made changes to the underlying kernal, to fix unimportant bugs identified by AI - that would brick the whole thing.

Vibe coding for the win !