cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/51856491
Here’s how to opt out.
Archived version: https://archive.is/20251027141201/https://www.theverge.com/report/806797/samsung-family-hub-smart-fridge-ads-opt-out
No that’s what the front of my fridge will never look like, no matter my net worth. I will never buy a smart refrigerator, certainly not this model from Samsung!
Every day an open source initiative for applicances makes more sense
Worth pointing out that that “Target figured out a girl was pregnant before her father did” story is almost certainly untrue: https://www.predictiveanalyticsworld.com/machinelearningtimes/target-really-predict-teens-pregnancy-inside-story/3566/
I agree with the article that getting ads on a device you’ve already paid for with no hint that there would be ads is intrusive and a sad sign of how tech is going (in the same week that it was announced that Apple are going to be adding ads to Maps, too). But I also can’t help but wonder - who the fuck wants a smart fridge? Like, legitimately, what is the advantage over a normal fridge?
Normal fridges are dumb. Smart fridge smart.
Not a “smart” fridge per se, but I can see the use of a screen on my fridge; something where we can see our family calendar, leave notes for each other, and maybe also be able to access the grocery shopping list. Weather would be nice too, though you can keep the news widget (yikes). Something in a visible location in our house, where we go every day.
I’m not sure what other features they advertise with a smart fridge, but those few would be nice; especially if I could just plug a raspberry pi into it and skip all of the Samsung nonsense entirely.
I don’t even like water/ice dispensers on the door. I love the interior water dispensers.
I agree with you there.
We already do all of that (except the weather) why would I need a screen?
We’re a family of six, and the kids don’t have phones. It’s tough to coordinate schedules already and it’s only going to get worse.
I recognize that I’m an edge case.
You’re not an edge case. My family isn’t that large but we still have challenges with this exact thing.
There’s a screen device that my wife gets incessantly advertised to her that is probably a better option than it being built into a fridge that has been engineered to last 3 weeks longer than the warranty.
I was trying to say there is paper. That’s what we always did.
And still do for that matter.
We’ve tried paper. And dry-erase. The problem is that we keep our calendars and todos and schedules on our phones, which don’t automatically update the paper; and by the second week, we tend to just stop manually updating it. There’s a paper calendar in my office that I just flipped to October last week (from August).
The only way that really seems to work, where we don’t forget an event, is having a single digital shared calendar.
and the kids don’t have phones.
So just the two of you?
Also, if you do end up sharing a digital calendar on a device you already have, what is the fridges for?
My wife and I have phones where we keep our shared calendars, yes. But we have four kids who also have their own lives and schedules, and they often want to know what’s going on, what our plans are, etc. They would value being able to see the day’s upcoming events, too; when the play dates are, when the dentist appointments are, when the days off of school are, what we’re eating for dinner, all of that. Currently, their only access to that information is through our phones.
Having a screen in the kitchen that only shows calendars and a couple of other pieces of data would be useful. We wouldn’t want to be able to watch videos or browse websites on it, though.
Unless you build it and code it yourself, do not get a smart device at any cost. Even if they’re on sale for $5. (Unless you’re just planning on reselling them I guess)
Literally LOL’d when I saw the ad.
“Smart” fridges are the dumbest shit ever; given that, pi hole or some ad blocking DNS? Block access to Samsung servers?
Don’t understand people who are willing to let all that data pass through 3rd party servers
I mean. Sure. Until they start putting SIM cards in them and using the cellular network.
How will that work? Will they cover the subscription fee for the sim anywhere in the world? Or do you mean the fridge owners will cover it?
In cars the car companies pay the costs.
I’m assuming they negotiate bulk discounts with mobile carriers to buy SIM cards en masse.
The same would be the case in any other appliance.
Perhaps they’ll be talking via a giant mesh of your neighbors doorbells, fridges, and televisions. Wouldn’t that be fucked up? Maybe they’ll stream to the police drones patrolling your neighborhood.
I always wondered how an “ad-supported” Kindle would show new ads on the home screen if you only transfer books via USB and never connect via WiFi or wireless? Does it just reuse the old ads? How will the fridge do it?
This is where it’s going, I think.
You’ll need to use wifi if you want any online functionality out of the device but it’ll communicate on its own via cellular for ads and any metrics literally whoever the fuck wants.
As long as a business is able to make more from ads and selling your data than whatever the wireless fees they pay are it makes business sense. It’s fucking evil and a dystopian nightmare but it makes business sense.
Can you pull it out and put it in your own device to get free service?
No, they would definitely use eSIM
I don’t know. I’ve heard of them being soldered to the board sometimes in cars. I’m sure it would be possible though.
“fridge, I need a 12 pack of beer and two large pizzas”. Uber eats shows up 45 minutes later. We’re all doomed! Ha ha ha.
I’m clinging to my “dumb” fridge for dear life
I can’t think of a single thing on a fridge that needs to be smart.
The people designing them should be smart. Should be…
Nothing needs to be, but I do like to monitor door status and temperature for my fridge and deep freezers with home assistant.
To Home Assistant! The cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems. 🍻
Have these functions actually proved useful? I think I’ve had maybe one fridge failure in my entire lifetime that resulted in a complete loss of contents. And many dumb fridges these days have open door alarms.
deleted by creator
The only time I’ve ever lost anything from a fridge was when an apartment complex preemptively cleared out the last of our belongings before we finished moving out.
And that was 30 years ago.
The door monitor mostly helps when a kid walks off leaving it open thinking they closed it.
The freezer temperature monitoring has saved the contents several times. A breaker had tripped once and I didn’t notice, it let me know that I needed a generator during a power outage, and one of the kids snuck an ice cream and left the lid wide open.
So yeah, it’s been useful. It’s not needed 99% of the time.
Hmm, my fridge is in my kitchen, which is in the middle of the house. I’ve never been in a situation where the fridge door has been open more than a couple minutes without me noticing, and I have three kids.
I’ve had two fridges die (well, the same one twice), and that sucked, but there’s not much I could do about it even if I knew a few hours earlier, and I use the fridge enough I’ll notice within a few hours. Refrigerator deliveries often happen after a few days, and I’m not going to keep stocking ice during that period, I’ll just consume what I can and move the important stuff to the mini fridge or chest freezer.
It would be cool, sure, but it’s not worth having it connected to the internet.
An alarm that beeps when the door is left open more than X minutes (say, 5 minutes) only requires a stupidly simple circuit and about $5 in parts.
No smarts needed (though it’s probably cheaper to make it with a microcontroller than have the timer circuit be done with discrete parts).
ads
its the same people that bought the 2k beds, and aws froze and heated up the beds.
Not 2k beds. 2k bed covers. You still needed your own bed.
I thought I read about beds also being stuck in a reclined position.
That version is significantly more expensive. Still requires you to bring your own mattress lol
that is so much worst, not even a bed, but a bed cover lol. people were discussing how they wernt pulling the plug on the 2k covers, because they would have to admit they spent 2k on a smart"bedc over"
Here’s what they look like on my fridge:
I would not buy appliances with ads,
I would not buy them, Sam-I-Am.I would not buy them here or there. I would not buy them anywhere. I do not like appliances with ads. I do not like them Sam-I-Am.
Not in my house
Not in a flat
Don’t make me grouse
I do not want that!
That’s the main issue here. This fridge didn’t show ads when people bought it.
So buying things that don’t show ads isn’t enough. You need to only buy things that don’t get updates.Yeah, that just makes this so sinister.
What I mean is that my fridge doesn’t have a screen. So if Panasonic decided to show me ads on a fridge where the most complicated feature is the ice maker, that would be a neat trick.
Receives a letter at home from Panasonic containing a message, a color printed sheet and a fridge magnet.
Message reads: “Dear costumer, please use enclosed fridge magnet to hang provided advert sheet on your Panasonic refrigerator”
Funny you say that, in Japan it’s common to get business magnets in your junk mail. Stuff like cleaners, in-home therapy, etc.
We did too… Like 10 years ago. I haven’t seen that nonsense in a while. The closest thing is a coupon calendar.
But… Do you need the LCD panel? Will the box still get cold without it? Cause I do have a hammer…
I would like to know why anyone would go out and buy a smart fridge. What amazing feature does it have that you cannot be without? I seriously don’t get it.
I think you can run DOOM on it
I think you can run DOOM on it
Running Doom on a Linux device with Wayland is not really that much effort once you have a way to execute 3rd party binaries.
But can it run crysis?
One thing I heard of that would be handy is cameras in the fridge so while out shopping you can check if you already have stuff or how much is left (depending on the container)
Does that work though because I can’t imagine you get a very good angle on things unless there’s multiple cameras and you get a composite image one for each shelf.
I haven’t tried one, but yeah, I assume multiple cameras and either composite or just letting you switch between them.
And here I am all old-school, just making a list for things.
Yeah, me too. But I’m not good at it.
That’s my partner. I just shop hungry and ask him to check the refrigerator for me while I’m out.
We also have a shared grocery app, which works nicely.
It’s a way of showing one’s wealth (and peak dunnig-krugger status when it comes to technology) to visits?!
I could see it if it was a screen I get to control, akin to a smart mirror. Fridge door would be a pretty good surface since I’m guaranteed to look at it a couple of times each day.
Other than that, push notifications if the door is open? That’s about the max when it comes to usefulness I can imagine. Is that a problem that requires a connected device? No, probably not.
However, depending on the model range, it becomes difficult to even get a model that doesn’t have the “smart” features. No one can force you to connect the device though (yet).
Yea, i pretty mich agree with all your points. Made me think of a situation with my neighbor a few months ago- one of their kids left the fridge door slightly open when they left. I think for a weekend trip or something, just enough that everything had spoiled. Lots of meat, too, so they had a blast with that. Some sort of push notification might have helped or prevented that, but otherwise…nah. Dont need nor want any of that always connected, smart, online, wtf ever mess.
They can program it in a way that means it will simply stop cooling your food if it doesn’t have internet(and/or if you haven’t given them permission to send ads to at least one other device) XD
It has been my general experience over the years that with just about all electronics devices with “everything and the kitchen sink” in them, you’re actually better off buying functional elements separatelly as discrete devices.
For example, you’re better of with a “dumb” fridge plus a good tablet and something to hang it on the fridge door. Another example is how a “dumb” TV and a TV Media Box separatelly are a better choice than a Smart TV.
This is because those things usually have different technology life-cycles (i.e. the time period were a tablet is expected to remain useful and performant is much less than for a fridge) and some parts are useful on their own and hence are more flexible to use if they’re separate (i.e. a standalone tablet has many more uses than one integrated in a Smart Fridge).
I believe I will continue to use the same fridge that has been in the house since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Only problem is they become noisy when the coolant leaks out. This is the technical problem they should be solving.
Guess what they look like on my 250 Dollar dumb fridge.
I can even keep my food chilled with it. Plus I can freeze stuff. Even has a light when I open the door. Super practical. You guys should come see it!
Pi-Hole?
in case someone only wants to use the block without setting up a server (& trusting others) https://fmhy.net/privacy#dns-adblocking
Opt out is idiotic. Don’t buy this shit! You to not own it. What fuckwit dumbass rents a fridge someone else controls for $2k. I bet it has a camera inside to sell grocers a list of what to mark up for your custom pricing nonsense because you bought a billboard that screams I’m a gullible moron with more money than sense.
If you eat like shit, that info can be sold to health providers, insurance for that sweet sweet premium increases too.
I need my refridgerator to be a box.
A box that gets cold inside.
Thats it. Just a cold box.
I also want it dispense cold water. That’s not a requirement, just nice to have.
I just wish I could buy a cold box, a hot box, a spinny-arm water box and a spinny-drum water box without computer chips in them at all.
So we need a robust, failsafe open source motor controller with minimal firmware or just heavy duty relays and analog timers.
It needs a brain, but only enough to record the cycles from the factory controller and then replay them after replacement.
