Internet of Things (IoT) Hate Thread - If an appliance can't be managed with an app or doesn't have built-in ad displays is it even worth buying?

[Breadbassket]

Sold as the future of convenience, but has the tendency to be revealed as pieces of a digitally connected dystopia thanks to cybersecurity vulnerabilities and corporate business schemes.

 

[Celebrate Nite]

My parents recently bought a new stove. It's similar to the one they used to have but it now has the ability to connect to the internet with a companion app so you can cook through your phone.

Why is this a thing?

 

[herefortheactualthreads]

literally any furniture with internet slapped on it sucks niggercock

 

[Colon capital V]

literally any furniture with internet slapped on it sucks niggercock

That was before, now it's all about "AI" and how it can enhance your clothes, food and penor, somehow (don't ask questions and just consume new thing goy).

 

[analrapist]

CS luminary Carl Hewitt (developed the Actor model, which was an inspiration for Scheme) wrote a paper on IoT backdoors. https://hal.science/hal-01152495v11

 

[Tremolo]

Feels like this is a retreaded tech trends you hate topic.

IoT is a great way to show an industry of companies whose entire business strategy relies on selling consumers products to solve problems they do not have, mostly for subsidiary purposes like consolidating user data and selling it off to info brokers. Or just scamming people with the standard of useless and overpriced dogshit consumer items (with ads!).

Technology in general has made people become more retarded by offloading cognitive work to machines instead of the individual person, for better or for worse, but smart* devices are a strong step further in trying to evoke a state of making humans helpless blobs who are conditioned to need voice activated services to cook their food for them, the only person that needs an IoT device is a paraplegic or otherwise physically disabled person, "accessibility" as a concept got gatewayed through features impossible to conveniently opt-out of to force ideas unto the general consumer.

Spoiler: *

The smart moniker is fucking stupid but obviously I'm preaching to the choir here. A smart air fryer that does the same thing as a normal air fryer but with less physical input isn't "smart", devices aren't even supposed to be fucking smart anyway they're just supposed to do what I tell them to do when I need to do it. Smart beds for example are for retards and perhaps also money launderers. The best I can accept are smart watches and even those are bloated messes who also just want to harvest as much user and health data as possible.

 

[Dagoth AMOGUS]

Bill Engvall did a skit once about ridiculous products in Skymall magazine which was a very interesting catalogue you could find on airplanes to pass the time. Lots of ridiculous gadgets, like headlights for your slippers or massive spiked cleats for shoes so you can “aerate your lawn”. Basically products Billy Mays would be too embarrassed to endorse

But one I remember was a flyswatter that could connect to the internet and record how many flies you’ve swatted. And there were even ranked scoreboards against other competitive fly swatters lmao.

if they can make technology whimsical that way I am all for it.

 

[█████████]

Apparently there's IoT toasters and toilets.
Not sure if it counts as IoT, but there's also a buttplug-sync mod for the tranny game, Ultrakill, made by one of the devs.

 

[Combustion Engine]

Very specific hate thread. I don't own any, but I'm eagerly awaiting the day all those internet-connected, data-harvesting, privacy-invading backdoors in your house won't even need you to grant them your magic Wi-Fi password, and they'll communicate over a mesh network between each other and route all traffic through the first one someone connected to the net (or somebody's else that has no protection) and using tricks like DoH to bust through simple filters, with the same regard for protecting data they have now (none). It seems like the obvious evolution to me.

 

[ArgonianVoter]

gee I can't wait for my fridge to start cursing slurs out at me and reporting me to the NSA for choosing the wrong breakfast cereals. when I first saw IOT come out I absolutely hated it right from the start. but most people don't have the know how to understand why X things are bad or GOOD until it's way too late

 

[User names must be unique]

Apparently there's IoT toasters

several toasters

$400 for a toaster with a smartphone glued to it so you can display pictures of black women and have to navigate through 3-4 sub-menus to make a slice of fucking toast.

also kettles, these are devices that should have one button! Why in the name of fuck do people buy this garbage?

 

[Markass the Worst]

Has been said a million times before, but it bears repeating. The S in IoT stands for security.

 

[monk]

I really love that most of the action cams and dashcams now require a chinkphone app to even use. The two most widespread are probably the "smart" TV and "smart" thermostat. I've also seen Wifi-connected chinese camera doorbells that conveniently send a live video of your front porch directly to China, while the app that's required to use it vacuums all the data from your phone.
I won't even mention the abomination of internet-connected cars, that auto-update their firmware over the cell network, give you convinence features like remote start and location tracking, but the smart auto-manufacturers have decided it's a smart idea to make subscription activations for features that your car already has, like heated seats, unlocking extra horsepower, and so on. Your car will literally have microtransactions built in. It will also send your precise GPS location to the feds at all times.

 

[Changed later]

I hate how I need to specify that I specifically want a "dumb" device when shopping instead of that being the default presumption.
My personal pet hate is adjacent to IoT and that's wearable devices like the failed Google Glass. A lot of techwear exists for pure vanity and/or spying and, on top of that, fails to at least have a raison d'etre to exist. Smartphones might as well be tracking devices but at least they actually fill a purpose.

 

[Jason_Cruiser]

My parents recently bought a new stove. It's similar to the one they used to have but it now has the ability to connect to the internet with a companion app so you can cook through your phone.

Why is this a thing?

To collect your data. It's a very, very lucrative business .

I hate how I need to specify that I specifically want a "dumb" device when shopping instead of that being the default presumption.
My personal pet hate is adjacent to IoT and that's wearable devices like the failed Google Glass. A lot of techwear exists for pure vanity and/or spying and, on top of that, fails to at least have a raison d'etre to exist. Smartphones might as well be tracking devices but at least they actually fill a purpose.

I hate that shit too. I swear unless you buy a moniter, every tv has some spyware "smart" features.

 

[Postal_Rat]

My parents recently bought a new stove. It's similar to the one they used to have but it now has the ability to connect to the internet with a companion app so you can cook through your phone.

Why is this a thing?

I can see why smart thermostats are a thing if you travel a lot you might want to shut off or at least turn down the heat/ac but be able to you know turn that shit back on a an hour or two before you get home, but why in gods name would I want to cook from my phone? that seems at best pointless and at worst like negligent you know given that you should be physically present while your doing the thing that could burn your house down.

 

[CEO of Autism]

Don't you love ADS on your $1,800 smart fridge?

Samsung confirms ads will now be shown on its $1,800+ fridges

Say MCDONALDS! to open the fridge. Or starve to death, your choice!

 

[hylene]

Any device with internet connectivity inherently has a wider threat model.

CS luminary Carl Hewitt (developed the Actor model, which was an inspiration for Scheme) wrote a paper on IoT backdoors. https://hal.science/hal-01152495v11

Archived. (wayback) (archive.md) (megalodon.jp)
Document: (wayback) (megalodon.jp)

Don't you love ADS on your $1,800 smart fridge?

Samsung confirms ads will now be shown on its $1,800+ fridges

Say MCDONALDS! to open the fridge. Or starve to death, your choice!

Spoiler: Local Archive

Samsung confirms ads will now be shown on its $1,800+ fridges​

If your Samsung fridge is connected to your wifi, then you'll start receiving commercials
By Joe Yates


Samsung have confirmed that those who have splashed out more than $1,800 on one of its high-tech fridges may be forced to sit through unwanted commercials in their own home.

It sounds like something straight out of Black Mirror, although obviously much less twisted. However, reports started circulating earlier this month that some Samsung refrigerators were receiving updates that quietly introduced ads to the Family Hub screen.

For those unaware, that's the touchscreen on the door you use to check the weather, play music, or see what's inside without opening it.

Initially, some users believed it was a mistake or a one-time glitch. But Samsung has now confirmed it's very much intentional.

The tech giant issued the following statement: "Samsung is committed to innovation and enhancing everyday value for our home appliance customers.

"As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen that value, we are conducting a pilot program to offer promotions and curated advertisements on certain Samsung Family Hub refrigerator models in the U.S. market.


Samsung will start playing commercials on its high-tech fridges (SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"As a part of this pilot program, Family Hub refrigerators in the US will receive an over-the-network (OTN) software update with Terms of Service (T&C) and Privacy Notice (PN). Advertising will appear on certain Family Hub refrigerator Cover Screens."

It continued: "The Cover Screen appears when a Family Hub screen is idle. Ad design format may change depending on Family Hub personalization options for the Cover Screen, and advertising will not appear when Cover Screen displays Art Mode or picture albums.

"Advertisements can be dismissed on the cover screens where ads are shown, meaning that specific ads will not appear again during the campaign period."

So, unless you're actively displaying artwork or family photos, don’t be surprised to see an ad sitting where your weather widget or calendar used to be.


If your Samsung fridge is connected to your wifi then you'll start receiving commercials (Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

While Samsung says the ads can be dismissed and won’t reappear during the same campaign period, it doesn’t look like there’s an option to turn them off entirely.

Meanwhile, over on Twitter the news hasn't gone down too well. One user blasted: "Sorry Samsung, I refuse to watch ads whilst drinking milk . . . Not buying your products - YOU LOSE !!

"On a related note, when I'm filling up my car with petrol/gas at the bowser, I am subjected to ads on the bowser's LCD screen.

"If my car needs 20 litres of gas I usually buy 21 lt . . . . 20lt for the car and 1lt to spray all over the Bowser's LCD screen."

While a second typed: "If an appliance needs an internet connection, don't get it. Security is usually one of the last things on their mind, as well as what happens when your service provider or the servers for the ad network got hacked."

"Do you really want your home network hacked due to your fridge."

With a third adding: "Yeah but I won’t connect it to wifi so who’s the loser then? Huh."

 

[Munchin' on Some Grindage]

Don't you love ADS on your $1,800 smart fridge?

Samsung confirms ads will now be shown on its $1,800+ fridges

Say MCDONALDS! to open the fridge. Or starve to death, your choice!

I've never understood the reason why anyone would buy a refrigerator with a fucking screen on the front of it. If it ever came to the point where that was the only option, I'd probably just rip the thing off.

 

[Curry Teafag]

My only 'smart' device is an RGB lamp I can configure via a phone app. It will store the settings, so turning power on and off is not an issue. I have blocked it from accessing the Internet, but it is in my LAN, has a lease/IP address, etc., as soon as it's turned on.

Do you think it's more dangerous than all those little QoL apps I have running on Windows in Ring 0 mode that inject stuff into processes? (AV scanners hate them.)