Washing Machines don’t need to be Internet enabled.
Am I crazy, or is this trend of making random appliances and devices internet connected fucking ridiculous. I’d much rather that manufacturers focus their R&D money on making appliances that last longer or can be repaired. Adding wifi and shitty ‘smart’ features to these things is just a gimmick.
They don’t want devices that last longer, they want to make something that seems like a neat gimmick that makes you pick them over the competitor, and they want you to come back and buy another in 5-10 years right after the old one fails about 3 months past expiration of the manufacturer’s warranty.
It’s a gimmick and is scary as fuck. Look at open cameras like http://www.insecam.org/en/byrating/ and imagine people using the bare minimum setup on their devices out of ignorance and getting wrecked by scammers and creeps.
Even Amazon employees were busted looking into ring camera users personal cameras,searching for cameras called “bedroom”, “bathroom”, etc.
I was looking for a bbq thermometer yesterday and all I could find was smart wifi/Bluetooth thermometers. Why the fuck does a thermometer need wifi/Bluetooth?!?
I could see that being useful. Would be nice for barbecuing in bad weather. Keep an eye on temps without having to go brave the elements unnecessarily.
Thats are actually a pretty practical smart device. A smart instant read thermometer would be near useless, but the ones you’re describing replace the type that you’d leave in a hunk of meat while it roasts / rotisseries / smokes / slowcooks for hours at a time. In that case it’s super handy to be able to check the temperature to make sure it’s still at target without having to go back to the kitchen or out into the cold / rain, and they’ll actively notify your phone if either the internal temperature goes out of range or the ambient oven temperature does.
Not needing a wire to go to the probe part of it is pretty handy. Likewise, a washing machine that can send a push notification to my phone for “Hey, laundry is done.” sounds slightly useful to me as a forgetful person.
My problem with timers is it always goes off when I’m in the middle of something, so I turn it off because it’s annoying and then forget for another 2 or more hours that I needed to get it out. I remember faster without a timer to silence for some reason
My Bluetooth thermometer connects to my home assistant server and sends me notifications to my phone when I reach temp. It goovee app does it too, but now I’m off the cloud shit.
To me, a “smart” laundry machine should just be “derrr, I can click a button on this app which turns it on!”
Once it grabs my clothes from the basket, sorts then by colors/whites/delicates/etc, runs them through a way cycle, puts them in to dry and runs a cycle on that, then presses and folds them for me… THEN maybe I’ll consider putting it on the network.
My ancient washing machine already has a notification system, no smart features needed. When it’s making an awful noise it’s still washing, when I can hear myself think again it’s finished.
That’s actually a cool little gimmick of some of the smart features. Downloading extra finish jingles.
Of course these are only a few bytes (or so I’d hope). And limited to what they do. Still sometimes they have seasonal selections. It’s cute and gimmicky and totally unnecessary, sure. But that’s the charm.
Washing machines do not operate on a fixed timer. They show you a suggestion but if the load of clothes is lighter or heavier the wash cycle will take varying amounts of time. I can’t hear mine either and rely on the notification on my phone.
The problem comes from wanting something “simple” like “tell my phone when the dryer is done.” Because we lack anything resembling a “home wireless notification protocol”, the alternatives are practically non-starters for a range of reasons. Assuming that we need a wireless leg to the user’s device, here’s the state of the art:
SMS requires the dryer to also be a cellphone
Bluetooth range is too short to be useful for everyone
A private dryer network would require your phone/device on multiple WiFi networks at once
Email or any other online chat protocol requires the dryer be online too
Phone app that only talks across the home LAN WiFi (e.g. 192.168.x.x) requires user to understand IP networking*
Packet radio would work, but is non-private, would be a disaster in apartment buildings, and nobody has a receiver
A solution that uses a phone app that talks to an online service, and a WiFi connected device that does the same is the path of least resistance. And I say this as someone who really doesn’t like this fact.
(*A device that can display a QR code to auto-configure a phone app would work a treat, but dot-matrix displays cost)
There’s zwave and zigbee. Downside is that you need a central hub, alot of hubs I’ve seen (cough hue cough) only really work with their products. It’s a cool technology that has been ruined by corps refusing to play ball with each other, even when in different market segments.
The only two I can see that could possibly benefit from this technology are ovens and fridges.
Ovens: Turn them on 5/10 minutes before getting home to preheat, also useful to make sure it’s turned off if you go out. My mother and I have had plenty of times when we go, “Did I turn it off?”
Fridge: keeps track of what you do amt don’t have. Of you go out, even with a list, there’s bound to be something you forget. Also could be useful for recipes. Unless it’s basic stuff, I usually always use recipes, my memory is horrendous, having that on a big screen fridge would save the hassle of having to wash your hands, pick up the phone, put the phone down, wash hands again. The recipes could also be generated from what you have. I think, and I could be wrong here, samsung is trying this.
Anything else seems really dumb though. A washing machine? If you leave it on when you go out, it’ll turn off anyway. It makes even less sense when you consider that you have to manually put things in anyway.
A fridge keeping track of inventory is a massive PITA until all food has NFC chips in it and that raises further concerns.
I’d rather have a barcode scanner over the trash can if I’m gonna connect that much. Or even better, a full on camera. Then I can use it to scan barcodes on stuff as I throw it in the trash, plus semi-important mail and receipts.
as someone that forgets that they’re in the middle of doing laundry frequently, it was great getting notifications when it was done. I rented a place for a bit that had a smart washer, I actually really miss that.
maintenance and such I’m sure were worse, and I’d much rather it be all local and have open apis, but fundamentally, having a connected washer is actually really nice
I’ve tried vibration sensors on the current not connected wadher, but I can’t get anything reliable enough to be useful
On the did I turn it off part, I’d always be worried if the app actually did turn it off, or is it stuck, or did the app randomly turn it on in the middle of the night while updating, or did someone maliciously hack and turn on my oven, etc etc.
100% agreed. The only appliance I’d ever want with that kind of feature is an oven, just in case, but otherwise, I don’t need everything in my house to be internet connected 24/7. That just leaves way too many ways for people to mess with you if any exploits and stuff are found for the smart things you have.
don’t even need it on an oven just put a timer function on to turn it off automatically at a set time like a microwave that’s why I love using the oven setting on a microwave and hate actual ovens
Washing Machines don’t need to be Internet enabled.
Am I crazy, or is this trend of making random appliances and devices internet connected fucking ridiculous. I’d much rather that manufacturers focus their R&D money on making appliances that last longer or can be repaired. Adding wifi and shitty ‘smart’ features to these things is just a gimmick.
Gimmicks is how you justify planned obsolescence.
They don’t want devices that last longer, they want to make something that seems like a neat gimmick that makes you pick them over the competitor, and they want you to come back and buy another in 5-10 years right after the old one fails about 3 months past expiration of the manufacturer’s warranty.
It’s a gimmick and is scary as fuck. Look at open cameras like http://www.insecam.org/en/byrating/ and imagine people using the bare minimum setup on their devices out of ignorance and getting wrecked by scammers and creeps.
Even Amazon employees were busted looking into ring camera users personal cameras,searching for cameras called “bedroom”, “bathroom”, etc.
Why doesn’t the website support HTTPS?
Irony
I’m pretty sure CORS is why.
deleted by creator
Change their passwords. That’s called white hat hacking.
I was looking for a bbq thermometer yesterday and all I could find was smart wifi/Bluetooth thermometers. Why the fuck does a thermometer need wifi/Bluetooth?!?
I could see that being useful. Would be nice for barbecuing in bad weather. Keep an eye on temps without having to go brave the elements unnecessarily.
The weak don’t deserve BBQ.
The weak invented bbq.
Thats are actually a pretty practical smart device. A smart instant read thermometer would be near useless, but the ones you’re describing replace the type that you’d leave in a hunk of meat while it roasts / rotisseries / smokes / slowcooks for hours at a time. In that case it’s super handy to be able to check the temperature to make sure it’s still at target without having to go back to the kitchen or out into the cold / rain, and they’ll actively notify your phone if either the internal temperature goes out of range or the ambient oven temperature does.
Not needing a wire to go to the probe part of it is pretty handy. Likewise, a washing machine that can send a push notification to my phone for “Hey, laundry is done.” sounds slightly useful to me as a forgetful person.
I just set a timer on my phone when I start my laundry.
I’d need a reminder that I haven’t done laundry for too long, so I don’t run out of clothes
I always forget my laundry and then it gets smelly. Same with drying I forget to take it out and then it becomes all wrinkled
Set a timer on your phone
Lol that’s true feel stupid idk why I never thought of that
My problem with timers is it always goes off when I’m in the middle of something, so I turn it off because it’s annoying and then forget for another 2 or more hours that I needed to get it out. I remember faster without a timer to silence for some reason
I have one of these but I keep forgetting to use it.
My Bluetooth thermometer connects to my home assistant server and sends me notifications to my phone when I reach temp. It goovee app does it too, but now I’m off the cloud shit.
It’s a reccuring fad. In the 80s, ever household appliance used to get a digital clock as “feature”.
To me, a “smart” laundry machine should just be “derrr, I can click a button on this app which turns it on!”
Once it grabs my clothes from the basket, sorts then by colors/whites/delicates/etc, runs them through a way cycle, puts them in to dry and runs a cycle on that, then presses and folds them for me… THEN maybe I’ll consider putting it on the network.
Maybe if it does all those things you should buy it a nice apron and see how it does in the kitchen.
It will have an addon that binds it to your household. It comes in a form of a gold ring and costs half your money.
Soon
It can make sense if the dryer can talk to the power meter, and only turn on if the electricity is cheap.
How the hell else am I supposed to know the washer is done from the next room?
/s
My ancient washing machine already has a notification system, no smart features needed. When it’s making an awful noise it’s still washing, when I can hear myself think again it’s finished.
Yours doesn’t sing the song of it’s people?
That’s actually a cool little gimmick of some of the smart features. Downloading extra finish jingles.
Of course these are only a few bytes (or so I’d hope). And limited to what they do. Still sometimes they have seasonal selections. It’s cute and gimmicky and totally unnecessary, sure. But that’s the charm.
I lived in a house where the whole floor was shaking when the washing machine was spinning.
So when the floor stopped shaking the laundry was ready.
You’re joking but my laundry is in my basement and the app notification really is the only way I know it’s done.
Set a timer
Washing machines do not operate on a fixed timer. They show you a suggestion but if the load of clothes is lighter or heavier the wash cycle will take varying amounts of time. I can’t hear mine either and rely on the notification on my phone.
They do if you set a timer and don’t do the auto sense setting
Yea but why would you do that? You want the washer to run longer for heavier loads than lighter loads.
I agree.
The problem comes from wanting something “simple” like “tell my phone when the dryer is done.” Because we lack anything resembling a “home wireless notification protocol”, the alternatives are practically non-starters for a range of reasons. Assuming that we need a wireless leg to the user’s device, here’s the state of the art:
A solution that uses a phone app that talks to an online service, and a WiFi connected device that does the same is the path of least resistance. And I say this as someone who really doesn’t like this fact.
(*A device that can display a QR code to auto-configure a phone app would work a treat, but dot-matrix displays cost)
There’s zwave and zigbee. Downside is that you need a central hub, alot of hubs I’ve seen (cough hue cough) only really work with their products. It’s a cool technology that has been ruined by corps refusing to play ball with each other, even when in different market segments.
The only two I can see that could possibly benefit from this technology are ovens and fridges.
Ovens: Turn them on 5/10 minutes before getting home to preheat, also useful to make sure it’s turned off if you go out. My mother and I have had plenty of times when we go, “Did I turn it off?”
Fridge: keeps track of what you do amt don’t have. Of you go out, even with a list, there’s bound to be something you forget. Also could be useful for recipes. Unless it’s basic stuff, I usually always use recipes, my memory is horrendous, having that on a big screen fridge would save the hassle of having to wash your hands, pick up the phone, put the phone down, wash hands again. The recipes could also be generated from what you have. I think, and I could be wrong here, samsung is trying this.
Anything else seems really dumb though. A washing machine? If you leave it on when you go out, it’ll turn off anyway. It makes even less sense when you consider that you have to manually put things in anyway.
Hpw does the fridge know what you have though?
I just set up grocy for this, no smart fridge needed. I have a barcode scanner, then scan everything I buy, and again when I use it
It’ll be like those minibars in hotels which charge you as soon as you pick up something
Camera on the inside?
A fridge keeping track of inventory is a massive PITA until all food has NFC chips in it and that raises further concerns.
I’d rather have a barcode scanner over the trash can if I’m gonna connect that much. Or even better, a full on camera. Then I can use it to scan barcodes on stuff as I throw it in the trash, plus semi-important mail and receipts.
as someone that forgets that they’re in the middle of doing laundry frequently, it was great getting notifications when it was done. I rented a place for a bit that had a smart washer, I actually really miss that.
maintenance and such I’m sure were worse, and I’d much rather it be all local and have open apis, but fundamentally, having a connected washer is actually really nice
I’ve tried vibration sensors on the current not connected wadher, but I can’t get anything reliable enough to be useful
On the did I turn it off part, I’d always be worried if the app actually did turn it off, or is it stuck, or did the app randomly turn it on in the middle of the night while updating, or did someone maliciously hack and turn on my oven, etc etc.
100% agreed. The only appliance I’d ever want with that kind of feature is an oven, just in case, but otherwise, I don’t need everything in my house to be internet connected 24/7. That just leaves way too many ways for people to mess with you if any exploits and stuff are found for the smart things you have.
don’t even need it on an oven just put a timer function on to turn it off automatically at a set time like a microwave that’s why I love using the oven setting on a microwave and hate actual ovens
What the fUCK is oven setting on a microwave? LOL. They don’t even cook food the same way
there’s microwaves that are also convection ovens you just switch between the modes