Samsung accidentally freezes its smart fridges with a software update

The R in IoT stands for reliability.

• fooqux · 20 hours ago

  And the S stands for security.

  • sebastiennight · 19 hours ago

    We have RIoTS already... two more letters and we get a Scrabble.

    • someonebaggy · 19 hours ago

      If we'd had RIoTS this stuff might've already been fixed.

      • thesuitonym · 15 hours ago

        I feel like a lot of the problems in our world would be fixed by RIoTS.

• Sharlin · 20 hours ago

  The Q in Samsung stands for software quality.

  • pjmlp · 19 hours ago

    Every single time I see Tizen, I get reminded of this, https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/04/samsungs-tizen-is-ri... https://pvs-studio.com/en/blog/posts/cpp/0519/

  • OptionOfT · 19 hours ago

    The E in MBA stands for experience.

  • anon48293 · 19 hours ago

    Certainly not in their QLED technology..

  • ThrowawayTestr · 18 hours ago

    Remember that Samsung is more of a kingdom of feuding lords than a single unified company

• pimlottc · 18 hours ago

  No, it stands for Respect for the Customer

The fridge compressor answers to software? Idiocy. It need be nothing more than a relay attached to a thermocouple. I can see having a smart screen to deliver aps/ads and to collect data on people in the home, but why on earth would that need to actually manipulate temperatures?

• chii · 20 hours ago

  Fridge sellers dont want their product to be seen as commodities, because they can't charge a high margin on those type of products.

  • hylaride · 19 hours ago

    In 2006 shortly after I bought my (first and still only) home, I bought the cheapest Kenmore fridge from Sears (~$600 at the time) as the one that came with the house failed soon after moving in - it was probably 26 years old with metal grill shelves. I was stretched for money for a bit due to dealing with closing costs, etc. I figured it'd last 5-10 years and I'd just get a new, "better" one when my cashflow wasn't acutely tight. Despite having since remodelled the kitchen (again spending more than expected as one does when renovating), I kept the fridge...it's still working fine 20 years later, though the plastic drawers are starting to degrade. Next to higher-end German appliances it looks a bit well worn and out of place in an otherwise very nicely renovated kitchen, which my wife and I semi-seriously joke gives the place character. Every once in awhile I'll wander through an appliance aisle and sigh. Similar fridges feel cheap and are much more expensive. In fancy fridges, I just see more components that'd fail. I'll I really want is a freezer and a fridge. I want need an ice maker (especially after learning how gross they can get). Ideally I'd have a standard old-fashioned sized fridge that had a good separate temperature control for the freezer and is common enough that I can get replacement parts 20 years from now. The kicker was I now realize the old 26 year old fridge probably just needed a coolant top up. Maybe that wasn't possible as I'm not sure when freon was banned and if it would have been possible to do that.

    • f6v · 19 hours ago

      Old fridges last over two decades. I don't think that Samsung and others want these to last as long.

  • gedy · 19 hours ago

    I guess the sellers and industries should have thought of this when they offloaded manufacturing to cheap countries that can and will undercut them.

    • pjc50 · 18 hours ago

      Samsung fridges are made in Korea. i.e. not outsourced. They're just very bad at software.

      • boelboel · 18 hours ago

        Most non high-end samsung fridges aren't built in Korea, lower-end fridges are made in Vietnam and midrange fridges are made in China or Thailand. Regardless of Samsung outsourcing they still have to compete with outsourcing firms. There's only so much demand for fridges, 100-200 million fridges a year worldwide, and most of the consumer fridges end up primarily competing on price.

• vlovich123 · 19 hours ago

  Because the temperature is adjusted and they want to be able to display the current temperature as well as the target on said display? And once you’ve done that, your bean counters will pressure you to shave the BOM. Not saying it’s smart, just laying out a plausible sequence of events on how they reached that decision

  • avian · 19 hours ago

    > they want to be able to display the current temperature Do they really? When replacing my 20 year old fridge (that had an actual mechanical temperature gauge) with a new one I specifically bought one that had a (now digital, of course) display for the current temperature. It turned out that the temperature display is completely faked. It always shows exactly the set temperature, from the moment you power it on. I guess because of (actual or imagined) customers complaining why their fridge shows e.g. 7°C when they set it to 4°C. Incidentally, my new smart AC does exactly the same thing. Subjectively it's worse than the old one at keeping the place not too cold and not too warm, but it makes damn sure to never show the actual measured temperature anywhere. Everything is getting dumber.

    • sandworm101 · 19 hours ago

      It probably has more to do with consumer fridges being a bang-bang controller situation where temperature will always fluctuate several degrees either side of the desired number.

      • avian · 17 hours ago

        Well, yes. Hence my comment. Or are you saying old fridges didn't have a bang-bang controller and hence could have an honest thermometer built in?

• Hizonner · 19 hours ago

  A thermocouple won't drive a relay.

• Grombobulous · 19 hours ago

  My non-Samsung fridge lets me change the temperature settings from my phone. That’s why the compressor answers to software. How else would I change the temperature remotely if it didn‘t? I find that the anti-smart device brigade among tech enthusiasts is very detached from the reality of what consumers want. The general public does demand smart features and they want them to work well. The sin here isn’t that the fridge is smart, the sin is that bad software was pushed out. My particular refrigerator also has a purposefully limited set of features. You’ll notice that real luxury brands like Sub-Zero don’t pack their refrigerators with crazy feature lists and touch screens. Their smart apps are basic and focus on essentials like “door left open” or “change filter” notifications and remote temperature adjustment. They don’t have complicated features like craft cocktail ice and even basic stuff like water dispensing is an optional extra (since it’s assumed that luxury clients may have a separate dedicated reverse osmosis and sparkling water machine for that). They don’t push out frequent updates and they keep their smart functions as modular components since it’s assumed that the refrigerator will remain installed permanently for decades (e.g., you can add a newer control system with touch screen and WiFi to your older Sub-Zero fridge). It would be nice if non-luxury brands followed some of these philosophies a little more.

  • cesarb · 19 hours ago

    > How else would I change the temperature remotely if it didn‘t? ...why do you need to change the fridge temperature remotely?

    • Grombobulous · 19 hours ago

      I paid $11,000 for my luxury built-in refrigerator, I expect that functionality to exist since it’s trivial to implement. I could implement that in a weekend on an ESP board.

      • crtasm · 18 hours ago

        When you had an offline fridge did you ever find yourself in a situation where remotely setting the temperature would have been useful?

        • Grombobulous · 17 hours ago

          I’m away on vacation and weather reports say there might be a thunderstorm at my house with high probability of power outage, so maybe I lower the temperature setting to try and extend the life of the contents. Kids/nanny/housekeeper changes the temperature against my wishes. I’ve left the house for a long vacation with the fridge emptied and I’d like to change the temperature to consume less power while I’m gone, forgot to do it before I left. And again it’s trivially simple functionality that costs almost no money or development effort to I implement.

          • epcoa · 17 hours ago

            > so maybe I lower the temperature setting to try and extend the life of the contents. Bullshit. The ideal refrigerator temperature is already close enough to freezing that any small adjustment you could make is unlikely to do any good. If this was actually a good idea then by your logic (similar to odd love for printer manufacturers) the all wise manufacturers would have already incorporated this into their “smart” fridges.

            • Grombobulous · 16 hours ago

              Well, basically all manufacturers have this functionality, so I don’t know what to tell you.

              • epcoa · 15 hours ago

                They have the functionality that if the local weather is predicted to be bad they will preemptively lower the temperature? Really, which ones? That you can remotely control something isn’t “smart”

                • Grombobulous · 8 hours ago

                  That is not the feature I described.

          • crisnoble · 16 hours ago

            So you spend 11k on a smart fridge, have a nanny, but maniacally control the temperature depending on contents, possible weather scenarios and and if you are vacation. Makes sense. Maybe that is why I'm still poor, imagine all the money I've wasted never once adjusting my fridge temp remotely (or even manually) in the last 14 years.

            • Grombobulous · 16 hours ago

              I’m just listing examples, not saying I engage in them. The smart functions that have been very useful to me have been water filter reminders and door left open reminders. In the case of one of the door open reminders the person who was at home didn’t realize the door was left open.

              • tocs3 · 6 hours ago

                I said it above but I will say it again, if your fridge has a door open sensor it should have a close the door function. This is especially true if you spent $11k on it.

            • epcoa · 12 hours ago

              "Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience” - Albert Einstein

      • Boxxed · 17 hours ago

        By that logic there's a whole lot more useless crap it should do.

        • Grombobulous · 17 hours ago

          Would you buy a car that cost $50,000 without air conditioning even if you don’t need air conditioning? Do you think a $50,000 car that doesn’t have air conditioning is a good value?

          • Boxxed · 14 hours ago

            I'll just say that if you honestly think AC in a car is a comparable feature to a network enabled fridge then we're never going to agree on anything.

  • CWuestefeld · 18 hours ago

    My non-Samsung fridge lets me change the temperature settings from my phone. That’s why the compressor answers to software. How else would I change the temperature remotely if it didn‘t? I can't tell if you're serious or sarcastic, so I'll bite: why on Earth would you ever want to change the temperature settings of your fridge?

    • Ensorceled · 17 hours ago

      Check out his comments in this thread, this guy appears to be a corporate apologist.

      • kstrauser · 17 hours ago

        Check them out on other threads, too. I think he’s just a garden troll.

        • Grombobulous · 17 hours ago

          I don’t really appreciate being assumed to be a troll just because I’m holding a contrary opinion. That’s very much against the guidelines of this site. I think if you are the type who is interested in digging up comment history you’ll find plenty of comments from me that show that I’m pretty much a regular person who has respectful conversations. I apologize if I didn’t follow the popular “corporation bad” narrative. Like, I do recognize that ink is grossly overpriced and all that. At the same time, I don’t really think we are held hostage by printer companies these days. I buy ink once a year or less and it’s not even a laser printer. It isn’t a significant expense or inconvenience.

• account42 · 19 hours ago

  Does a relay with a thermocouple get you the cycles required for no-frost features? I agree that there should be adequate safeguards at every turn but its not like computerized control of fridge temperature doesn't make sense.

• gausswho · 17 hours ago

  2028 headline: Coordinated attack causes all fridges in Topeka to explode, causes city-wide fire.

Better to freeze a fridge than to cook it

• amelius · 19 hours ago

  This holds for most things, actually.

• iAMkenough · 19 hours ago

  Reminded me of the August incident where the freezers at multiple U.S. Department of Defense commissionaires were remotely triggered to enter into "defrost" mode and cooked all their refrigerated food overnight.

Not as bad a putting a mime in the fridge screen, I suppose...

Reminds me of when Nest thermostats stopped turning on the furnace without an internet connection. If your product fails at its primary job because of some other priority its junk. A thermostat can be as simple as a coiled spring with a mercury switch - no software. Same here, what stupid functionality was so important they failed to ensure the fridge would fridge? IoT is not for me.

• ex1fm3ta · 19 hours ago

  ioT is nice but only for people who know how to make softwares.

  • pixl97 · 19 hours ago

    The problem here is there is almost always incentive to make that software shit.

  • WarmWash · 19 hours ago

    I am not an SWE, rather a hardware guy with light software experience, and the next home project on my docket is getting AI to write the code for my own ESP32 thermostat (with a nice e-paper display too). We have a mix of splits, central air, and gas baseboard, so being able to customize all that to fit our utility pricing time slots is a dream.

• cryptoegorophy · 19 hours ago

  Similar to when printer stops printing black when color is gone.

  • whizzter · 19 hours ago

    That probably means you've been wasting toner on "enhanced darkness" (check if it's turned on/off).

    • account42 · 19 hours ago

      Color inkjets demand color ink for tracking dots even if it isn't used for anything else.

      • jiveturkey · 17 hours ago

        inkjet printers to not print the tracking dots. it's laser printers that do it.

        • Groxx · 16 hours ago

          I've had multiple that do it. they're quite visible in the right light. you can also see it when your yellow cartridge runs out, despite printing exclusively black and white, while the other color ones are full. "most" might not, I can't claim anything there and EFF claims most don't, when they were checking on it in 2015-2017. I'm pretty darn sure that some do though.

        • autoexec · 15 hours ago

          As far as I know, the most common form of tracking in inkjet printers is in the ink itself. Companies add chemical markers to their inks which can show when the ink was made, and which company made it. The FBI collects that data in the International Ink Library https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Ink_Library There are also databases cataloging the specific printing characteristics of various models of printers and research has demonstrated that it's possible to trace documents back to individual printers based on slight variations in how they print.

    • pygy_ · 19 hours ago

      No, it’s because it can’t print the yellow dots watermark for tracking. That "feature" and incompetence at The Intercept leaked the identity of Reality Winner.

  • Grombobulous · 19 hours ago

    I have never understood the negative controversy around this. I expect the printer to use whatever inks it has on hand to print in the best quality it can. The use of ink is an inevitability. It always struck me as one of those things analogous to “I don’t understand why my car needs oil when I already put gas in it.” Just give the machine the stuff it requires to operate.

    • Ensorceled · 19 hours ago

      This is disingenuous; a car needs both gas and oil to run. A printer should only need black ink to print black and white documents.

      • Grombobulous · 18 hours ago

        That’s what you think, though, you didn’t design the printer. I assume you don’t have a background in color theory or chemistry or whatever else you need to produce ink. For all you know, the black ink isn’t really a perfect black and the color inks are used in conjunction with the black ink. I also think a lot of people are just being cheap about it. It’s just not a big deal. In my experience a color inkjet printer makes a much better print than a black and white laser printer. If you are willing to sacrifice print quality then buy a black and white laser printer.

        • Ensorceled · 17 hours ago

          > That’s what you think, though, you didn’t design the printer. I assume you don’t have a background in color theory or chemistry or whatever else you need to produce ink. Do you? Monotone printers are a thing and have been since the 60's.

          • Grombobulous · 17 hours ago

            I agree, monotone printers are available technology, and monotone printers have worse output quality than a color inkjet printer. If you want a monotone printer, buy one. I just have a little bit of confusion around the situation where people who bought color inkjet printers aren’t willing to put color ink in the printer.

            • hamburglar · 17 hours ago

              You’re aware, aren’t you, that a color inkjet that only squirts ink out of the black cartridge is, technically speaking, a black and white inkjet printer? A color inkjet is literally a superset of a black and white one.

              • Grombobulous · 16 hours ago

                You think there is zero chance that the ink formulation differs between a color printer versus a black and white printer? I’m pretty sure the reasoning for color ink cartridges relying on both sets of cartridges is that the “black” cartridge is no longer perfectly black in that configuration.

                • AngryData · 15 hours ago

                  Ive seen older inkjets share inks cartridges between color and black and white only models. And the only reason you don't see that commonly nnow is because people who use primarily black prints bought laser printers now which are chwaper than in the past.

        • hamburglar · 17 hours ago

          You are bending over backwards to justify this user hostile practice. Most people wouldn’t choose to not print at all just because it “isn’t really a perfect black.” They’re just trying to get their homework printed. I bought a color laser in 2004 and I’ve never replaced the C M or Y toner because I almost never print color. Miraculously, it is still happy to print “imperfect” black and white, which is exactly what I want.

          • Grombobulous · 16 hours ago

            But now we are diving deep into personal preference. I personally never want to print stuff that comes out wrong and looks bad. I think that this definition of “user-hostile” depends on a deliberate misinterpretation of the requirements of running the device. If we just change our frame of reference to hold the expectation that “all ink supplies supplies must be sufficient for it to operate” it seems perfectly reasonable to me. I dunno, maybe I just have an aversion to broken shit being in my house. Maybe you’re right, maybe it would be better to have some kind of “emergency” functionality for the times when I forget to refill ink. I also just keep spare ink cartridges so I’m never rushing out to buy another one. This is, to me, part of being a functioning adult. I wouldn’t really allow the things I own to be broken or out of supplies if they’re things I rely on. These are $30-50 ink cartridges, and many inkjet printers have cheaper refill supplies with the popularity of ink tank designs where you can refill them yourself including third party ink without the need to buy new ink cartridges. There’s just so much outrage around this subject for no reason if you ask me. People barely print anymore anyway, I think it’s time we get over it.

            • AngryData · 15 hours ago

              The solution to your issue is a warning about low ink and quality, not refusal to print at all.

        • IAmBroom · 13 hours ago

          > I assume you don’t have a background in color theory or chemistry or whatever else you need to produce ink. You don't, either. Black ink is all that's required to print B&W documents. Period. No one designs a black ink to be supplemented by another color before it achieves "full blackness". That's literally the entire point of black ink.

    • jaapz · 19 hours ago

      Your engine explodes when it doesnt have oil. A printer can still print black when color ink is gone

    • xattt · 19 hours ago

      A device like a printer can work without certain inks without damage, but at the cost of quality. Humans have historically been able to decide when quality is low enough that replacement/repair is necessary in these situations. This goes for almost anything: appliances, farming equipment, clothing, etc. Having a device/appliance/tool that decides for you that “it’s time”, especially when the manufacturer has a vested interest in coercing you into a buying a replacement right away, takes away that owner agency.

      • Grombobulous · 18 hours ago

        My printer could theoretically print a black and white page in magneta when my black ink runs out, too. But logically, it doesn’t want to do that. I just don’t think it’s a big deal to consider the printer a device that requires all inks to be present to function properly. If the printer is consuming some color inks in order to print black colors better the implication is that less black ink is being consumed. Either way you’re buying ink. Some people are just cheap.

        • kstrauser · 18 hours ago

          It’s not cheapness. My kid couldn’t print her homework because I was low on cyan. It’s not that I don’t want to buy more ink, but that the thing I was printing only needed black. If it weren’t a color printer, the output would’ve been identical and it wouldn’t have needed cyan.

          • Grombobulous · 17 hours ago

            Alternatively, the printer allows you to keep going regardless of status of the print ink and then the printer gets bad reviews and complaints about bad print quality. Your unpreparedness on your kids’ homework isn’t the fault of the manufacturer. I can’t blame Ticonderoga if I run out of pencils. If you ran out of black ink you’d be similarly in trouble.

            • epcoa · 17 hours ago

              This is the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard. A standard mono laser printer can somehow print adequately without ANY color toner.

              • Grombobulous · 16 hours ago

                Because it has a different ink formulation that’s designed for mono-colored printing. Let’s make another analogy: two wheels fall off my car. You tell me “hey, motorcycles exist, you can still use that car!!” But my car isn’t a motorcycle, it’s a car. If you buy a printer that requires two cartridges to function then you keep both cartridges filled to keep it functioning. I’ve always felt like this whole discussion has mostly surrounded people who are penny pinching to an extreme level that doesn’t make sense. You didn’t run out of color ink because you never printed in color. And if you never printed in color you wouldn’t have bought a color printer. You’ve gotta refill your color ink eventually. This is the same thing as people who add water to their liquid hand soap to try and make it last longer. It just makes the soap gross and saves 10 cents at best.

                • simonra · 12 hours ago

                  The reason to buy a colour inkjet printer is that it's the cheapest thing you can get your hands on. Usually because the various education systems throughout the world somehow fail to centrally handle printing of course material. Either that, or you're one of the couple of dozen people who prints photos, and additionally in the subset that hasn't also decided to pay for someone else to deal with the cursed product category.

                  • Grombobulous · 8 hours ago

                    Cheaper than the Canon imageCLASS LBP6030w for $87? I can find some Brother monochrome laser printers for $70 on eBay.

                    • simonra · 3 hours ago

                      After a quick check I found the "HP Deskjet Plus 4130" new for 350 NOK (so about 37 USD, which includes 25% VAT and a 2 or 5 (probably 5) year warranty mandated of the vendor). Seems similar to the others that come up when sorting by price on one of the local price comparison sites. So 70 USD would for most people appear to be about twice as much money up front for something that needs to produce the bare minimum and otherwise be easy to dust.

            • xattt · 16 hours ago

              > Your unpreparedness on your kids’ homework isn’t the fault of the manufacturer. I can’t blame Ticonderoga if I run out of pencils. That analogy doesn’t hold up. You have other colour pencils at hand, but you can’t use them because the blue pencil is worn down. Let me use my goshdarn pencils.

        • kakacik · 18 hours ago

          No, its tracking dots if you send a criminal printed letter for ransom, they will track you down very quickly. Some people don't like being tracked continuously. There are 0 other reasons, you being ignorant of basic facts and repeating your weird mantra doesn't change that.

          • Citizen_Lame · 18 hours ago

            He also supports ID verification on phones/computers. Probably some troll.

            • Grombobulous · 17 hours ago

              Having opinions doesn’t make me a troll, please don’t assume mal-intentions. I am presenting my opinions and having good faith discussions.

          • AngryData · 15 hours ago

            Ehh, the tracking dots don't mean anything if it isn't a commercial unit and your printer isn't seized. Its not like there is a database of where every shitty printer made in the last 20 years is located and who owns it and what dots it prints. In consumer models it is security theater for politicians to claim prints can be tracked and for the consumers to use/waste more ink and buy more.

    • IAmBroom · 16 hours ago

      No, the better analogy is that your car won't drive because you are out of windshield wiper fluid. It doesn't need that to operate, except in certain situations. The odds of being hit by a windshield-high wave of mud by a passing truck, when the sky is clear, are very low.

      • Grombobulous · 15 hours ago

        I’ll revise the analogy. My car lost two wheels. I should be able to drive it because motorcycles exist. That doesn’t hold up because I didn’t buy a motorcycle, I bought a car. If you buy a color printer it needs two cartridges to have ink in order to function. If people would just realize that and accept it as reality the issue becomes much less of a big deal. Let’s keep in mind that plenty of tank style inkjet printers exist where refills are trivially expensive and third party refills are allowed. This whole subject is just one of those “I dilute my liquid hand soap to save 10 cents” issues where it seems super unappealing to me. These hypothetical scenarios where we run out of color ink the day before the big homework assignment is due and now my draconian printer won’t let me print…I dunno, it just seems like blame shifting. How hard is it to keep a spare ink cartridge around?

• xattt · 19 hours ago

  There was a brief period before IoT turned to IoS, when the first manufacturers seemed to make an effort in implementation.

• 21asdffdsa12 · 18 hours ago

  IoT need standardized inter-connection APIs enforced on every participent. If you can defect to another supplier- and ecosystem and he can revive your device after a e.g. a "downdate"- the lock in effect disappears and the competition reappars.

• quickthrowman · 18 hours ago

  A bimetallic strip thermostat with a ‘cool/off/heat’ mode switch and ‘on/off/auto’ for fan control is all anyone actually needs with a fixed speed compressor and generic furnace with a fixed speed fan. If you have a fancy modulating furnace and variable speed compressor or a variable speed heat pump, a thermostat that uses a PID would work better.

  • vablings · 18 hours ago

    Fixed speed compressors are okay for AC condensers but for tighter applications like heat pumps a variable speed drive offers a good efficiency gain, the problem is there is no standardization established for the driving of say a variable motor since they are all redesigned and unique so when the controller goes kaputz you are out 3-4000 dollars for something that costs 30 dollars to manufacture

• liveoneggs · 18 hours ago

  Nest/Google also hid microphones in products so ...

• autoexec · 16 hours ago

  > If your product fails at its primary job because of some other priority its junk. As far as the company is concerned it's primary job is personal data collection and being an ad platform. Anything else it does, like keeping your food cold, is an optional feature that can be remotely disabled at any time.

  • liendolucas · 16 hours ago

    This is the most accurate definition of Samsung products I ever read.

Likely not just rotten food but also spoilt medicine. Content of my fridge is a lot more expensive than the fridge.

• sarjann · 19 hours ago

  Imagine a lot of insulin gone to waste.

  • gumby · 19 hours ago

    Yes, freezing insulin destroys it, which is a problem for me when I’m outdoors in the winter.

  • boelboel · 17 hours ago

    Biologics (of rare diseases) cost well over what insulin costs, a patient could have medication in their fridge equal to the cost of a car.

  • SapporoChris · 14 hours ago

    I do not think so. Most insulin can last 28 days outside the fridge, but not frozen insulin. Source: https://learn.mdsdiabetes.com/wiki/how-long-insulin-unrefrig...

• tosti · 16 hours ago

  Especially if you're a heisenberg.

I have yet to understand what the value proposition of an internet-connected refrigerator is.

• tocs3 · 19 hours ago

  I do not disagree with your sentiment. We have had refrigerators for 100+ years [citation needed] after all. Still there are likely cases where it is useful. Looking in on elderly family members might include picking up things from the grocery store and having a list of staples needed might be an example. There are plenty of ways to deal with this but one might be a connected refrigerator.

  • Am4TIfIsER0ppos · 19 hours ago

    > Looking in on elderly family members might include picking up things from the grocery store and having a list of staples needed might be an example You would turn up unannounced with things you think are missing from the fridge surveillance camera? Here's how that should go: Visit old person. Check fridge. Check cupboards. Visit store. Visit old person.

    • whizzter · 19 hours ago

      You jest but having elderly parents tens of miles outside of town it's a timesaver, luckily I can still request photos of things.

  • thesuitonym · 19 hours ago

    Here's a crazy thought, you could just talk to your elderly family members.

    • tocs3 · 18 hours ago

      I live with an elderly person (as a caretaker) and find that elderly persons are not always good sources of information about needs. It could be that I am completely wrong about the usefulness of a connected refrigerator (I just look in out 1980's era fridge).

  • kergonath · 16 hours ago

    > We have had refrigerators for 100+ years [citation needed] If you’re thinking about the domestic appliance, apparently since 1913 [1], so close enough (what a stupid name, though). AFAICT the first one with something that looks like the modern cooling loop is the first Frigidaire from 1916. But the concept of refrigeration to keep food for longer is older. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOMELRE

• bell-cot · 19 hours ago

  Marketing demands products that sound awesomely cool and new and shiny and feature-laden. Why should anyone care about stuff that happens after Sales has gotten the customer's money?

• account42 · 19 hours ago

  As someone who is bad at tracking what food I have in there and how long I have to eat it until it spoils, I can see the use for some automation here and that would be complex enough for convenient updates to make sense. Similarly, when I'm at the store I don't always know if I still have enough of $perishable or if I should get more. I however have zero trust in our tech industry making this work without abusing me at every possibility so I will never buy such a product.

  • kakacik · 18 hours ago

    Your fridge must be a complex place to navigate. We have 70cm wide tall Siemens one and what we have vs what is missing is a question of maybe 10-15s check. This covers 4 people. Chest freezers would be more tricky if full and could take maybe up to a minute but we don't have those. If you are bad at tracking, make a list. No, we really don't need 'smart' fridges and people should vote with their wallets.

    • account42 · 1 hour ago

      I did not claim that we need smart fridges, only that I can see uses for them. If you can't see that or if you are too upset to be willing to see it that's your problem.

• cesarb · 19 hours ago

  I can imagine one good use: plotting graphs of inner temperature, configured set point, motor on/off status, door open/closed status, and power consumption. But that use case does not require having control of the fridge compressor...

  • quickthrowman · 18 hours ago

    I’d just throw an analog min/max thermometer in there and investigate if the max temp goes above 40F, sounds a lot easier than adding a temp probe and door switch to a residential refrigerator.

    • tocs3 · 17 hours ago

      There is already a door switch in all the refrigerators I have used. It controls the light (at least I think it does, I have never seen the light go off:)

      • tosti · 16 hours ago

        Close the door very slowly. If you do it right, you'll see the light turn off. Or, y'know, press the switch yourself.

      • quickthrowman · 12 hours ago

        Oh yeah, I forgot about the built in door switch, good call XD

  • tocs3 · 17 hours ago

    If there is a door open sensor there should be a close door function.

  • bluGill · 16 hours ago

    If the temperature goes out of acceptable range than then it is defective. The only people who need that plot are the lawyers for the class action lawsuit for a defective appliance. There are scientific reasons to need the plot, but that is not normal and they likely need a special fridge with tighter controls or something anyway.

• xxs · 18 hours ago

  ...oddly enough: - it notifies if your kids (or spouse) have left the door open. - you can use as a tool to check if the power company (or the road maintenance one!) has managed to reconnect the power back (or cut it, as in literally) - Other than that not so much.

• toast0 · 18 hours ago

  It might be nice to email me about errors and warnings. But at least my fridge will post errors on the temperature displays, and it's usually the same error (compressor is running too long; better clean the coils). Plus, since it's a Sub-Zero, it's got a pretty cool finishing move.

Did Gilfoyle hack Jian Yang's smart fridge again?

freeze-in-hell.bat man! https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/0def6aed-0b5b-4856-874a-d97...

Suck it JinYang.

I hate news websites so much. Everything has to be a fucking joke.

We ended up with a Samsung fridge in our new home. It has no external display or any other indication that it is a "smart" fridge. I only found out when a friend visited who has a Samsung phone and the phone offered to connect to the fridge. We spent the next 30 minutes removing panels from the fridge and found the wifi/bluetooth antenna on a small board under the top-right hinge cover. The board was disconnected and the fridge continues to operate normally. I am now eyeing my dishwasher very suspiciously.

• snarfy · 19 hours ago

  Yeah, my hot water heater has an app. I'm not happy about this.

  • autoexec · 16 hours ago

    "Never buy hardware that requires and app to use" has been my rule for a long time and I've never once regretted it. If the need for an app wasn't disclosed before purchase the item gets promptly returned.

• cogman10 · 19 hours ago

  Samsung has made garbage appliances for my entire life. A family member went through about 3 different samsung fridges before they swore them off for good. The compressor would routinely break after only a year or 2 of service. I will never own a Samsung or LG appliance. They are built almost explicitly to force you to get a new one in a couple of years. Then couple that with both companies trying to use weaselly legal maneuvers like putting the EULA that agrees to arbitration on the outside of a box and saying "If you open this box you agree to the EULA".

  • konfusinomicon · 19 hours ago

    damn I really like my samsung fridge and dishwasher that ive had for just over 2 years. Hopefully my fate is not the same cause that dishwasher is quieter than a church mouse. if it is, back to the scratch and dent appliance store for something else I guess

    • bluGill · 17 hours ago

      Samsung has been around for a while now. I wouldn't be surprised if they finally decided to fix their issues and new ones work fine. However I still won't be allowing them in my house for a few decades at least to be sure. Partially because I was burned in the past. Since you already have them I wish you luck. Maybe they now last.

  • malfist · 19 hours ago

    Why are you throwing LG in with Samsung? They routinely have some of the most durable appliances, check consumer reports if you don't believe me. They even offer ten year warranty on their direct drive washer and dryers

    • lmz · 19 hours ago

      There was a US lawsuit against them for their linear compressors: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/consumer/fridge-failures-...

      • throw0101c · 17 hours ago

        > There was a US lawsuit against them for their linear compressors: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/consumer/fridge-failures-... Out of all the fridges that LG sold, what percentage had issues? LG sells a lot of units, so even small percentages may end up with 'critical mass' of problems that gains wider awareness. An article from an appliance retailer that has their own in-house service department, and so has statistics on repair rates of the various OEMs that they sell: * https://blog.yaleappliance.com/lg-compressor-class-action-la... Looking at service rates in total (for all issues), LG has the lowest number out of all the manufacturers they sell/service: * https://blog.yaleappliance.com/the-best-counter-depth-refrig... * https://blog.yaleappliance.com/most-reliable-counter-depth-f...

      • brycewray · 17 hours ago

        Yes, recently replaced an LG refrig with that issue. Its second linear compressor in eight years was dying the way the first one had (four years after purchase, with the sympathetic repairman telling us this second compressor was the “fixed” model and should last for quite a few more years), so we bailed on it. Its 1985-vintage Whirlpool predecessor had worked for 32 years, FWIW.

    • KetoManx64 · 19 hours ago

      Must be a different branch than the TV's, which spy on what you're talking about

      • serf · 18 hours ago

        I understand the axe to grind, but what about their spy tech hurts durability or warranty prospects; the thing your comments' parent was talking about?

        • KetoManx64 · 17 hours ago

          Do you not think it's relevant to mention to people that the appliance that they have in their house might be listening to everything they're saying and uploading it to LG's servers? A quick Google search shows that LG has WiFi enabled dishwashers/washing machines.

          • IAmBroom · 16 hours ago

            Simply providing a "smart" appliance is not damning the entire product line.

          • joquarky · 14 hours ago

            If you can disable the spying, then it's an irrelevant factor in the purchasing decision. Would you prefer an A-grade quality appliance that can spy but that spying can be disabled, or a B-grade appliance that doesn't spy but needs replaced in three years?

            • KetoManx64 · 13 hours ago

              I would prefer not to financially support a company that doesn't spy on me, even if it costs me a few hundred dollars more.

    • someotherperson · 19 hours ago

      There's other reasons to avoid LG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToP9xfLDSME

    • downut · 18 hours ago

      Huh, two houses back I had a really fucking POS dryer that I got expert at replacing the "Dryer Thermal Fuse" (pick your own youtube video walkthrough) and my foggy memory says in my ear that it was an LG dryer. So I'm thinking, this commenter malfist, doesn't know what he is talking about and I'll go look in my notes.org and... NOPE! It was a Samsung DV42H5000EW/A3 model! Sorry malfist for thinking bad thoughts. I've redirected all that negative energy back to its rightful owner: Samsung. The washer next to that dryer was an LG, and in my notes I never touched it. Always good to reattach to reality. Ah, I see that the washer/dryer pair we bought new 4 years ago and hauled across the country are LG ThinQs. Very happy with them. Apparently can be "smart" but I shut that down.

    • SlightlyLeftPad · 18 hours ago

      LG washers and dryers have consistently been one of the most reliable appliances I have owned. Other than minor design flaws like lettering that wipes off if laundry detergent contacts it (older models), that was the only issue I’ve had in 11 years.

      • vladvasiliu · 15 hours ago

        I have an LG combined washer/dryer (I've used the drying less than 10 times in 3 years). I picked it because it wasn't too deep, so it could fit nicely in my small bathroom. I'm happy with how it cleans, but sometimes it will have an issue where it won't start spinning fast, because it has some sensor that detects that the unit shakes too much. It actually does shake, but it seems to have a hard time spreading the clothes so that it doesn't. Sometimes it will waste a good hour trying to start spinning. Not sure if it's somehow actually broken (like a busted damper or whatever), but this issue seems to have increased in frequency. And it does it both when there aren't many clothes and when it's rather full.

      • tstrimple · 12 hours ago

        My LG washer and dryer are just over 10 years old now. They haven't been flawless. I've had to repair both of them once. The washer had a pump go out so the clothes stayed soaked. The dryer had one of the rollers wear out. Both easy fixes under $50 following youtube videos. But we also have models before "smart" appliances were really becoming common. I'm still impressed by the washing machine. It gets cloths to "damp" before it's done. Far better than any other washing machine I've used before and cuts down on the work the dryer is doing.

  • branko_d · 19 hours ago

    Is this lack of quality a US thing? Where we live (Kazakhstan), we had a Samsung fridge, AC and TV for about 7 years without any issues whatsoever. After moving to a new apartment, we bought another Samsung fridge and it has been quietly humming along for over 2 years now. I never heard anybody complaining about Samsung.

    • toast0 · 18 hours ago

      Could be more features lead to more problems. Ice makers are highly desirable and often problematic. Could be that US runs on 120vac and that means a lot of different parts. Could be the US market gets more advanced compressors and what not to meet energy efficiency requirements (and maybe reduced noise) and Kazakhstan gets a simpler refrigerator that just keeps working.

  • martin_a · 19 hours ago

    > Samsung has made garbage appliances for my entire life. When I moved into my first own flat, family, friends and colleagues pressured me to buy good appliances. They will last longer they said. Buy Miele for a washing machine, nothing else, they said. I didn't had the money for that, so I bought a washing machine for 250 Euro. It has been going for 11 years, moved two times and doesn't show any signs of going out. Another friend told me he only buys Samsung fridges. Best machines, one shouldn't buy anything else. I bought a fridge for 200 Euro because I liked the retro look and its red color. Also going strong for 10 years and moving two times. He has got the third Samsung fridge in 10 years now. Yeah, that's anecdotal but I haven't really found the part where buying something more expensive really helped with expanding its lifespan, rather the contrary where "high tech" broke earlier or more often.

    • kakacik · 18 hours ago

      Samsung/LG don't know how to build reliable white home appliances, or don't want to. Or black ones for that matter (remember FUBAR with Samsung bricking their expensive surround system for good? Not so long ago). No reason to buy those when you have ie some basic Bosch stuff. TBH smart stuff should be left to computers and phones, rest should be dumb as brick. But folks keep buying it for some reason (ie hey Samsung makes good phones, lets buy their fridge), hence crapware everywhere.

      • bayindirh · 18 hours ago

        In my family we have 3 fridges, 2 washers and 2 dishwashers, and our experience a bit different than the rest of the thread. The fridges are dead-silent and working great for 7+ years. Washers are also nice, washing for a bit too long but don't wear the clothes down and have better stain removal performance than their peers, and dishwashers are extremely slow and not designed for European market. Their baskets are not suitable for our dishes, we can't fill them efficiently even. So, from experience their fridges are A-OK, washers are great with some caveats, but dishwashers are not good. My first choice is still BSH group and Beko, but Samsung is acceptable if required, but LG? Ain't nobody got time for that.

        • riffraff · 17 hours ago

          My Samsung fridge worked fine for ten years and then broke down. Apparently it was the first generation of some new compressor or something and it was known to be problematic. The new ones come with an extra long warranty on that bit

          • bayindirh · 17 hours ago

            The fridges we have at least 10 year warranties on the compressor, that's right. Considering the last fridge we had worked for ~20 years, I'm eager to see how planned obsolescence will play on these, yet they work pretty nicely. My own Siemens fridge is with me for ~14 years, as well.

            • themaninthedark · 10 hours ago

              Right now all the new refrigerators seem to have 2 year warranties, even the ones from Costco. At least they give you extra extended. Last fridge I had was a Kenmore Elite with 10 year warranty, it failed to the same compressor issue that has been plaguing the LGs. It was replaced once under warranty but that failed 3 years later. Just got a GE; first one was DOA, didn't cool at all. My thermometer is saying it's replacement is currently sitting at 44F when it is set at 34F, I have had it for 2 weeks....

        • epcoa · 17 hours ago

          It’s pretty well known in the US that LG washers perform better and have a far better parts and service network than Samsung. You think whatever you want though.

          • bayindirh · 17 hours ago

            I'm not in the US though. The models, their performance and service networks are way different. I have replaced shock absorbers and power switch of a 15 year old Beko washing machine last year, and it cost me 6$ plus workmanship to get genuine parts installed in 20 minutes. I bet that won't be very possible over there, though.

          • IAmBroom · 16 hours ago

            > It’s pretty well known in the US that If you're going to get snitty, cite your claim.

    • michelb · 18 hours ago

      >It has been going for 11 years, moved two times and doesn't show any signs of going out. I replaced my AEG washing machine last year after ±10 years of service. The new one, also roughly 200 euro, uses a fraction of the energy, and cleans better. I should have swapped it out way earlier to save money.

      • M95D · 13 hours ago

        > I should have swapped it out way earlier to save money. Repeat that calculation after 9 more years.

    • serf · 18 hours ago

      >Yeah, that's anecdotal but I haven't really found the part where buying something more expensive really helped with expanding its lifespan, rather the contrary where "high tech" broke earlier or more often. buy professional stuff that's expensive, not consumer gadgetry expensive. a samsung fridge is expensive because of the gimmicks and high tech integrations. a sub zero fridge is expensive because of the build quality and manufacturer network , part re-use and larger consumer part availability and market.

      • bbatha · 17 hours ago

        Funnily sub-zero fridges are considered the samsung of the semi-commercial brands. They prioritize things like customizable doors and easy to break but consumer loved features like ice makers and water dispensers. You will never see sub-zero in actual commercial kitchens.

        • diskzero · 15 hours ago

          Yes, I could have done without the ice maker. It never broke, but it did have a tendency to turn the ice cubes into a solid block.

      • diskzero · 15 hours ago

        The previous house I moved from had a Subzero fridge in it from 1990. It was serviced in 2012 and was still running strong when I left. One thing that pleased me was the easy access to a parts catalog and the ability to easily order replacement parts. Some of the tray slides had cracked and I just ordered them online after consulting the catalog. I know the unit cost a fortune in 1990, but decades of service and the ease of ordering parts was certainly nice.

    • e2le · 17 hours ago

      > buying something more expensive really helped with expanding its lifespan Expensive consumer appliances aren't always the same quality as expensive professional appliances.

    • bluGill · 17 hours ago

      Many 250 appliances are targeted at landlords who care that the applicance is cheap and works for years without complaints. They don't care about features - they will never use them - just that it is good enough to check the box and the users don't get so mad they complain. They also don't care that it looks good so you get things that look cheap but last. Note that I said many above. there are also 250 appliances built for the penny wise and pound foolish - they will break in a few years (just long enough that the warranty is up). Even knowing that though, often there are features of the more expensive appliances that while not needed are nice enough that I'm willing to pay extra.

    • kergonath · 17 hours ago

      > Buy Miele for a washing machine, nothing else, they said. I didn't had the money for that, so I bought a washing machine for 250 Euro. It has been going for 11 years, moved two times and doesn't show any signs of going out. Washing machines are a solved problem and it does not need a high tech solution. A good, reliable motor and good weights is pretty much it. No need for brittle over-engineering, fragile touchscreens or temperamental sensors. When I had to buy one, I got a basic Beko* because they are usually good with replacement parts, and it had the bare minimum in terms of electronics. It was also one of the cheapest, but that’s a consequence of the other criteria more than something I optimised. I would be reluctant to get a no-name Chinese one, even if it is cheap. Anyway, it’s been going for 5 years now just like on the first day. Very happy with it. > He has got the third Samsung fridge in 10 years now. Fridges are also a solved problem. It’s just a cooling loop with a radiator on one side and a pump in the middle, and good thermal insulation. Using three of them in 10 years is not very impressive, decent ones should go forever. There is no reason why one should fail before 10 to 15 years. > Yeah, that's anecdotal but I haven't really found the part where buying something more expensive really helped with expanding its lifespan, rather the contrary where "high tech" broke earlier or more often. Definitely. But I would not say that going for cheap is the best strategy. Going for simple and sturdy is, and it is usually correlated with being cheap. But there’s also a lot of cheap disposable crap. * I am not sure how well they are known around the world, it’s a Turkish brand. Their stuff is built mainly in Turkey and in my experience sturdy and easy to fix and repair, if a bit bare bones features-wise.

      • frereubu · 17 hours ago

        > I got a basic Beko because they are usually good with replacement parts Can confirm this. My mum has broken two drawer fronts in her Beko freezer and I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to get replacements.

      • fool0 · 15 hours ago

        The curious thing about fridges is RV fridges run off propane/DC/AC, have no moving parts, and when in use are constantly jarred due to road motion, and never break down -- nothing to break. Unfortunately, these absorbtion fridges tend to retail for high prices. I saw a Brazilian made one running off unscrubbed digester gas fed from the excreta of two immense pigs on a farm in Belize in 1996. My 2004 RV has one and runs whenever I need it. I'd insall it in my house but I'd need to build a cabinet, chimney and gas piping for it first... so instead I have to listen to a compressor spinning when it runs. No obsolescence, no spare parts, no breakdown, no posibility for continuing profit. Bad ideaQ

        • 4d4m · 15 hours ago

          Awesome tech! Just generates heat and is inefficient compared to a compressor so it is less popular in the US. There are also electric absorption fridges.

        • Kirby64 · 11 hours ago

          They’re also substantially less efficient. No full size fridge would ever use them because they’d chew tons and tons of power to cool in a residential house.

  • gambiting · 18 hours ago

    I wonder if it's a regional difference. Here in the UK I have their fridge and dryer - both came with 5 year warranty. My inlaws have their fridge in Poland, that came with a 10 year warranty on the compressor. They've had it now for 8 years and it's been working fine. Obviously it's anecdotes, but if a company offers 10 years warranty for something I tend to see that as a strong signal it's going to be at least somewhat reliable.

  • mc32 · 18 hours ago

    From what people say, if you want french door fridges, Bosch and Fisher Paykel are the ones to go for.

    • lotsofpulp · 17 hours ago

      I’ve had 3 LG french door fridges for 5 to 10 years and none have had any issues, and they cost half or a third as much as Bosch and Fisher Paykel. I feel like I save a lot more money just buying whatever decent rated LG stuff on Costco and replacing it whenever it breaks (hasn’t happened yet).

  • runjake · 17 hours ago

    I think it may depend on the LG appliance. Their washers and dryers are generally rated pretty well and last a long time (personal experience). They are generally pretty self-repairable and parts aren't obscene (again, personal experience). That said, next go around, I'm buying a top loader Speed Queen Commercial washer and dryer. The ones with analog knobs. But yeah, I'd never buy a Samsung appliance and that seems to be universal advice among the clued.

    • axus · 17 hours ago

      My Speed Queens with buttons/LED have been good for ~10 years now, only rare minor problems and none with the "electronics".

  • gamblor956 · 15 hours ago

    As a counterpoint, my Samsung fridge has survived for 15 years, which is significantly longer than my mom's Maytag and Whirlpool fridges. Those two brands guarantee parts availability for decades...but that's because you'll need to fix them constantly.

  • sekh60 · 15 hours ago

    I'd never buy one of their TVs or fridges (given the whole shoving ads into everything, probably nothing of theirs with a screen), but we did have a great experience with one of their washer and dryers. The dryer lasted us seven years, and we replaced the washer at the same time though it still worked. It's lifetime included our child's cloth diapers phase, they saw some heavy use. They were plain dumb devices.

  • joquarky · 14 hours ago

    > If you open this box you agree to the EULA That's especially ridiculous if you consider that many customers will never see the box if they have someone else install it.

  • bwiggs · 11 hours ago

    I once asked an appliance repairman which refrigerator brand to buy, to which he responded: "If I had a choice between a Samsung and an LG, I'd pick a Yeti cooler!"

• b3lvedere · 19 hours ago

  What you should have done is install a webcam, connect it to some SuperMarket AI App Api (tm) and supply your credit card info. Now you never have to worry about food anymore. :)

• whizzter · 19 hours ago

  Ugh, I've avoided connecting my TV to Wifi to avoid all "smart" crap but it does support some "wireless" display from Windows that seems to be local based and I do get periodic requests to connect to other devices (My conundrum now becomes, is the TV safer with or without remote connection/updates).

• account42 · 19 hours ago

  A lot of devices have optional "smart" functionality. I don't think that's nearly as bad as devices actively connected to the internet.

  • IAmBroom · 16 hours ago

    Really hard to tell them apart from marketing blurbs, though.

• hansvm · 19 hours ago

  There's an old joke floating around if anyone remembers where it's from: A tech enthusiast has the latest and greatest smartphones, voice assistants, and everything else cool and flashy. A programmer has a single inkjet printer from the 90s, and they keep a shotgun by their bedside in case it makes a noise.

  • wolfi1 · 19 hours ago

    if it makes an unexpected noise, to be precise

  • jonah · 19 hours ago

    I'd go with an ancient boat anchor LaserJet but, otherwise, yep.

  • fg137 · 18 hours ago

    The earliest that I can track down is https://www.tumblr.com/michaelblume/169525456166/tech-enthus...

    • six_seven · 18 hours ago

      What was your process to find the oldest reference?

      • fg137 · 16 hours ago

        Google search. P.S. only the oldest that I can track down.

  • BLKNSLVR · 18 hours ago

    Real tech people don't own printers. (to ruin an otherwise good joke)

  • jjice · 18 hours ago

    I always joke with people that I hate software in anything but a traditional computers _because_ I'm a software engineer. I want the car with the fewest smart features, a normal door bell, a non-smart washing machine. Software sucks a lot of the time and it often gets in the way, at least the way it's deployed over the last decade. Very few things in my home should connect to the internet. My phone and computers. Begrudgingly my TV now. Also, those things that connect to the internet but don't let you have control? They get EOL'd, despite having paid a premium for them. I've never had a stove from this century and they all work fine, because why the hell wouldn't they?

    • robocat · 16 hours ago

      I've become oversensitive to UI problems and bugs. I get triggered when watching my family or friends struggle with egregiously poor design. I have avoidance techniques, so I can avoid facing the most anger inducing software. I just feel lucky I'm not a graphic designer or architect or writer. How does someone with good taste even survive facing the outside world?

      • joquarky · 14 hours ago

        I did UX for over 20 years, and the profession is now cooked. Nobody cares about quality anymore. I'm angry and bitter. If you have any avoidance techniques that are easy to articulate, please share them.

        • robocat · 13 hours ago

          Quitting work years ago helped, even though I still enjoyed software development. I had intended to instead work on my own investments, but I stopped that after I figured out money is a joyless and meaningless motivator. Mostly just saying no to helping anyone with computer problems. Fortunately changed from Windows 7 to Linux, so I can be mostly honest when I tell people I don't understand their laptop problems. Said no to helping family with with any printer issues after ~2005. I often print stuff, but I use the printer at my local library or printshop. I still occasionally dabble, but only for those people I dearly love. I'm still very good at tech support, I just don't do it. I've got my tech frustration level down to about the background radiation level (as politics or taxes).

• jasode · 19 hours ago

  >I am now eyeing my dishwasher very suspiciously. Appliances with mandatory wi-fi is a bad trend. The mid-tier dishwasher from Bosch locks the Eco(nomy) energy saver cycle, delayed start, etc functionality behind a smartphone app. This requires connecting the dishwasher to wi-fi and using the smartphone to create a Bosch online account. That's what the whole Jeff Geerling complaint video was all about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M_hmwBBPnc&t=4m21s

  • nicoburns · 19 hours ago

    Aside: I heard that "eco mode" is typically not actually the most energy efficient mode on most washing machines. Apparently it's a standard mode they have to add so that energy efficiency can be measured across machines, but that means it can't be optimised. You're typically better off looking for some kind quick/fast mode. Or even the "regular" mode. (YMMV, look things up for your specific model)

    • gambiting · 18 hours ago

      It's one of those "optimize for X/Y/Z, pick two". The eco mode is usually the best for water usage, but it might use more energy. The fast modes might use more water but less energy. It's hard to do both and still get good results.

    • piltdownman · 18 hours ago

      That's not true in the EU anyway. Under EU Commission Regulation (EU) 2019/2023, washing machines sold in the European Union must include a mandatory standardized program called "Eco 40-60". The whole point is to enforce strict legal limits on maximum water and electricity consumption per cycle based on the machine's rated capacity. This it the reason they tend to run for hours - it uses less water and energy than a standard cotton cycle by having longer soak times and using less electricity to heat the water. In 1995 it took 94 litres of water and 350 kWh/a for a cycle in the average EU washing machine. These measures, amongst others, reduced that to 36 l/cycle and 96 kWh/a in 2020 and an expected 30 l/cycle by 2030. https://energy-efficient-products.ec.europa.eu/product-list/... https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELE...

      • dingaling · 17 hours ago

        The irony being that Eco loads are necessarily smaller, for soaking and to draw less current through the motor, so to do the same amount of clothes as one 'planet killer' wash you need to do at least two 'Eco' cycles. TLDR: there aren't really any shortcuts to getting dirt out of clothes.