Ability to check refrigerator temperature sounds really cool, but with great functionality comes great complexity. And with great complexity comes increased risk of failure and restricted ability to self-repair the device. Note that I am clumping not only refrigerator stopped working because wifi is out class of risk but also privacy implications due to increased PII exposure surface.
Compared to a smart refrigerator without an internet connection the only killer feature of this setup is notification that the door is open, even that is only relevant to people who have forgot to close the fridge problem.
The future is bright with fridge, oven, tv, toaster, phone, echo, thermostat, et. al. happily sending data about your usage habits which companies will resell until it gets combined into a gigantic database. Then someone will analyze that info and figure out how to make money by sending you personalized ads.
Also if your refrigerator was installed properly the door closes when it isn't fully open. For efficiency the refrigerator pump wants to be perfectly level and so the fridge comes with adjustable legs to precisely set the level. The people building it will have set the hinges so that once level the door has gravity slightly on its side until you open it very wide. Thus unlike most internal doors in a house if you leave it slightly ajar it will self-close.
This makes accidentally leaving a fridge door open pretty unlikely I would think. Unlike forgetting to lock a front door or close a window I've never even worried that I did this.
I've had it happen once or twice with an upright freezer I have in the basement. But, yes, a rare event. I've had an extended power outage more often during the same period.
The fact that they're for rare events is a problem with a lot of alert types because it means that:
- False positives are a big no no. You'll just delete the alert.
- They probably don't work for edge cases like power outages.
- Batteries die over time.
- If you're not at home you may not be easily able to do anything about the alert, even if you have confidence in it.
Arguably it's worth knowing that the temperature of this refrigerator got above X degrees for an extended period of time but that can still be handled by a cheap local device. And for a refrigerator at least, if I'm away for an extended period of time, it's not like I can do anything if there's an extended outage.
There is something to be said for detecting whole house temperature drops in winter, but that's probably because you lost power and mostly won't be able to do anything about remotely. I did once get an alert for this and the problem was that the power had been out as my neighbor confirmed.
Fill a small plastic pot with water. Place it on the top shelf of your freezer. When it has frozen place a penny on top. If you find that the penny has moved to the bottom of the pot then your freezer has defrosted at some point.
This is some advice I received while living in a third world country.
But as long as the power isn't out and wifi is working and the freezer is working and the linux stack in the freezer is working and the app stack atop the linux stack in the freezer is working and the app can connect to the server which is working and the company hasn't gone bankrupt and that server still exists and the OP's wife's phone has battery and the OP's wife's phone has connectivity and the client app on the OP's wife's phone can connect to the server and the ongoing cold digital war hasn't caused a nationwide internet outage, I fail to see how the penny and pot is preferable to the convenience of the app.
> And, because she really doesn’t receive enough texts throughout the day, the fridge’s app can message her if somebody (probably me) has left its door open so that we can go racing out of the restaurant just as the other kind of apps arrive
And since that doesn't happen often but now the app has permissions to send you notifications, some PM will get a huge bonus for using it to send you "offers" for other products that the company sells
I live in Japan but the oven I just got is IoT lol it can preheat the oven before I get home. It also tells me about recipes (in Japanese) whenever I’m waiting for something to finish baking, and then ends with them telling me to install the manufacturer’s cooking app.
> Of course, nowadays, everything in your kitchen can be “smart,”and I highly recommend replacing all your old, non-communicative appliances with ones you can control from anywhere in the world
Yeah I'm not so enthusiastic. I honestly just want stuff that doesn't break. "Smart" stuff seems to not work more often.
My Nest thermostat didn't keep the temperature controlled correctly and I had to revert. My smart outlets routinely lose connectivity to wifi. My Ring doorbell goes works most of the time but is unreachable at others, same with my sprinkler system. The time spent troubleshooting negates any time saved with "smart" functionality.
When I was recently getting a new fridge? Opted for the "dumb" Bosch. Same went for the oven and dishwasher.
Enthusiasm? Did we read the same article? The author is being sarcastic. He pretty clearly regrets getting a refrigerator with the ability to beep and text.
Sometimes it takes a generation or three for a technology to be worth it. It just means you may not want to be an early adopter.
For what is worth, smart devices are already ok - just not for all brands. Xiaomi has a smart chip in everything, including something as "dumb" as electric kettles, and it works. Or at least it doesn't break anything.
It seems that the most telling factor is what percentage of the software is new code.
Successive versions of a baseline like Android can solve a lot of problems, but how much new code is there sitting on top to achieve some new use case?
For new smart devices, either the manufacturer or an outside firm is tasked with writing new code to achieve some end, and that's where the problems usually are.
So it seems like as long as there are developers writing new code, our tech is going to be buggy and not quite living up to those futuristic expectations.
I'm enjoying all the skeptical commentary here, especially how the end case is guaranteed to be personalized ads for you. Followed by law enforcement subpoenas to appliance companies for all their data on you.
Pro tip: if your fridge & freezer get too hot or too cold, things will happen to the food and you'll notice. I do like it that it beeps if you leave the door open.
Also: if your estranged spouse claims in divorce court that you slipped out of the house to meet your lover, and you assert you were home, the fact that the refrigerator door got opened and closed repeatedly will tend to buttress your case.
But wait! He or she came over to the house, and the Ring camera data proves it. You lose.
I enjoyed the light amount of automation I was able to achieve, since my air conditioner is IR controlled I placed a switchbot (which can shoot out IR blaster signals via the web) on the table next to it and configured Apple Home to prompt me to turn off the AC with one tap whenever I leave home (my apartment has crappy insulation, I’m a renter, I’m not gonna fix it) - with that I never forget to turn it off anymore and Switchbot happily has no permissions to bother me since it’s going through Apple, seems like a good setup.
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 68.8 ms ] threadCompared to a smart refrigerator without an internet connection the only killer feature of this setup is notification that the door is open, even that is only relevant to people who have forgot to close the fridge problem.
The future is bright with fridge, oven, tv, toaster, phone, echo, thermostat, et. al. happily sending data about your usage habits which companies will resell until it gets combined into a gigantic database. Then someone will analyze that info and figure out how to make money by sending you personalized ads.
This makes accidentally leaving a fridge door open pretty unlikely I would think. Unlike forgetting to lock a front door or close a window I've never even worried that I did this.
The fact that they're for rare events is a problem with a lot of alert types because it means that:
- False positives are a big no no. You'll just delete the alert.
- They probably don't work for edge cases like power outages.
- Batteries die over time.
- If you're not at home you may not be easily able to do anything about the alert, even if you have confidence in it.
Really? Why is it cool? I think OP makes it pretty clear through sarcasm that it's totally useless. Or are you just making a pun. I'm so confused.
Most Internet of Things technology is so underwhelming.
There is something to be said for detecting whole house temperature drops in winter, but that's probably because you lost power and mostly won't be able to do anything about remotely. I did once get an alert for this and the problem was that the power had been out as my neighbor confirmed.
This is some advice I received while living in a third world country.
You just need a shot glass.
And since that doesn't happen often but now the app has permissions to send you notifications, some PM will get a huge bonus for using it to send you "offers" for other products that the company sells
https://bosch-iot-suite.com/iot-devices/bosch-ovens/
Yeah I'm not so enthusiastic. I honestly just want stuff that doesn't break. "Smart" stuff seems to not work more often.
My Nest thermostat didn't keep the temperature controlled correctly and I had to revert. My smart outlets routinely lose connectivity to wifi. My Ring doorbell goes works most of the time but is unreachable at others, same with my sprinkler system. The time spent troubleshooting negates any time saved with "smart" functionality.
When I was recently getting a new fridge? Opted for the "dumb" Bosch. Same went for the oven and dishwasher.
Enthusiasm? Did we read the same article? The author is being sarcastic. He pretty clearly regrets getting a refrigerator with the ability to beep and text.
It sounded just like one of my hopelessly-optimistic-about-all-things-futuristic friends.
In my defense, in 2021, satire reads a lot like sincerity for a lot of topics.
Sometimes it takes a generation or three for a technology to be worth it. It just means you may not want to be an early adopter.
For what is worth, smart devices are already ok - just not for all brands. Xiaomi has a smart chip in everything, including something as "dumb" as electric kettles, and it works. Or at least it doesn't break anything.
Successive versions of a baseline like Android can solve a lot of problems, but how much new code is there sitting on top to achieve some new use case?
For new smart devices, either the manufacturer or an outside firm is tasked with writing new code to achieve some end, and that's where the problems usually are.
So it seems like as long as there are developers writing new code, our tech is going to be buggy and not quite living up to those futuristic expectations.
Pro tip: if your fridge & freezer get too hot or too cold, things will happen to the food and you'll notice. I do like it that it beeps if you leave the door open.
But wait! He or she came over to the house, and the Ring camera data proves it. You lose.