Don't forget to patch your dishwashers, people!

[Red Squirrel]

Of course it's just wifi ... and people set it up because they can then easily stream from Netflix, Amazon, Hulu etc.

I made the mistake of allowing my new-ish Samsung TV to connect to my wifi for streaming capability and forgot to turn off automatic firmware updates. Well, since buying it, they pushed an update that simultaneously broke the ability of the TV to route audio from its built in apps through my receiver and speakers, and started showing stupid ads in the "home" screen where you choose an app or select inputs.

Yep, after I bought it, they actually pushed an update that shows ads that you can't opt out of in any way, save disconnecting the TV. And at the same time broke a feature I use.

Needless to say, I thought about selling the TV on craigslist and buying a replacement from a Samsung competitor ... but settled for disconnecting it, buying a Roku and never purchasing from Samsung again.

Sounds ridiculous that they can inject ads into your content like that or otherwise control your content. A TV should be nothing but a screen with basic controls for the inputs, and a tuner for OTA and cable (though regular cable is kinda dying so I could see that go away eventually). I wonder if LCD modules use a fairly common standard. I could see it become common to bypass the electronics of a TV completely and just talk directly to the LCD panel inside. Could be a module that you buy, connect the flat flex cable to and then it would just have a bunch of HDMI inputs. I guess it would also need it's own remote. Of course I doubt Samsung is not going to design their product to make this easy if it catches on. They can just put the smart stuff directly into the LCD controller (the board that has the actual LCD matrix hot bared on, good luck changing that!) itself then it would get too complicated to mod.

Suppose if it gets really bad, then we can move on to projectors, at least until they decide to make those "smart" too.

 

[Darwin333]

Now that I honestly think about it. I could use this. Every single day my wife asks me if the dishwasher is clean or dirty despite the flashing "clean" information display on the dishwasher. Her family does this too at their homes. My response is always the same "Either look at what the dishwasher says, or open it and look at the dishes; why should I get up to look for you when you are standing right in front of it". But, if she could instead go to a dishwasher's website to see if it is clean, I would be spared that repeated question.

You have a defective wife, you should bring her in for repair ASAP.

 

[Carson Dyle]

You are going to get the lowest bid for a job like this and therefore the lowest quality of code that does 75% of what is needed, regardless of how bad it is programmed.

You're going to get the lowest bid only if you _seek_ the lowest bid. My guess is that companies of any size are doing the development in-house, and those who aren't, are working with developers who specialize in such things, and who they're comfortable working with.

Probably more lacking than technical expertise leading to such a (common) bug is the testing of such things. It's a f'n dishwasher. Security concerns are likely very low for anyone implementing software for it. Like anything else, that typically only changes after someone makes a vulnerability public.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Companies always seek the lowest bid,that's why they outsource everything they can. They don't actually care about the quality. They just care about the share price.

 

[mxnerd]

Put everything on the internet is crazy and just asking for trouble.

 

[shortylickens]

Companies always seek the lowest bid,that's why they outsource everything they can. They don't actually care about the quality. They just care about the share price.

Speed Queen still cares about quality.

 

[Mike64]

Besides if you want to upgrade to a more expensive dishwasher with extra features and cycles it would be just a case of paying for an upgrade to the app running on your cell phone. Lower manufacturing costs and extra revenue stream from the customers.

More like, you'll be told to just buy a new dishwasher when the old, otherwise perfectly functional one isn't supported by the latest "upgrade" to your phone's operating system because... " what kind of cheap-ass neo-Luddite are you anyway? Get with the times!"

 

[Red Squirrel]

More like, you'll be told to just buy a new dishwasher when the old, otherwise perfectly functional one isn't supported by the latest "upgrade" to your phone's operating system because... " what kind of cheap-ass neo-Luddite are you anyway? Get with the times!"

Pretty much this. We had a sound guy try to sell us a digital mixer for our church but you pretty much need an ipad to use it. I cringed at that idea, because the entire sound board would be a paperweight the minute an OS update breaks the app for it and they no longer support it. I hate this whole deal with so many items depending on a phone. There's too many variables such as whether or not it's even going to be compatible with your particular phone/device, or how long it will be supported for etc. No thanks, I want a device that works on it's own, with actual physical buttons and knobs or at very least a self contained interface.

Was looking at drones for a while and it seems it's the same deal with those. Most of them require a phone.

 

[dullard]

You have a defective wife, you should bring her in for repair ASAP.

Everyone has something they don't like about their spouse. I'm glad that my problem is only a minor annoyance.

 

[SlitheryDee]

There is no logic to it. Her whole family is ingrained with the idea that you can't touch the dishwasher until you ask someone what state it is in (as if that person would have any clue because they too have to ask what state it is in). So, I'm just hoping that if she asks her phone what state the dishwasher is in, that the answer would suffice. This is just one of those areas where men don't understand wives or their families.

The phone doesn't have to be correct, because the answer is determined as soon as the dishwasher is open. She just needs to have something to ask. So maybe I can just start a website with a random answer. That might be good enough without the security risk of internet enabled dishwashers.

Every time she asks you, just say yes. Sometimes you'll be correct, but on the times you aren't she'll be right there to start the dishwasher. Bonus points for when she eventually stops asking because of your notorious unreliability.

 

[dullard]

Every time she asks you, just say yes. Sometimes you'll be correct, but on the times you aren't she'll be right there to start the dishwasher. Bonus points for when she eventually stops asking because of your notorious unreliability.

But now you have stumbled onto my annoying flaw. I do not knowingly tell lies.

 

[nakedfrog]

But now you have stumbled onto my annoying flaw. I do not knowingly tell lies.

I'm sure there's a way out of this. If she says "Are the dishes clean?" you can safely say yes, knowing that the dishes in the cupboard are clean. Still out of luck if she explicitly says "in the dishwasher" though.

Perhaps you could tell her the dishwasher runs on a quantum matrix, and the only way to know whether the dishes are clean is to open it?

 

[13Gigatons]

Of course it's just wifi ... and people set it up because they can then easily stream from Netflix, Amazon, Hulu etc.

I made the mistake of allowing my new-ish Samsung TV to connect to my wifi for streaming capability and forgot to turn off automatic firmware updates. Well, since buying it, they pushed an update that simultaneously broke the ability of the TV to route audio from its built in apps through my receiver and speakers, and started showing stupid ads in the "home" screen where you choose an app or select inputs.

Yep, after I bought it, they actually pushed an update that shows ads that you can't opt out of in any way, save disconnecting the TV. And at the same time broke a feature I use.

Needless to say, I thought about selling the TV on craigslist and buying a replacement from a Samsung competitor ... but settled for disconnecting it, buying a Roku and never purchasing from Samsung again.

It'd be nice if the smart TV was so smart that you could downgrade the firmware back to the version that actually worked. BTW what model is it?

 

[ImpulsE69]

Smartphones have been hacked for a long time. Even if you become a total Luddite, everyone else around you has one, so they're gonna get you anyway!

Yeah, did you not watch Nolan's Batman movies?

Pretty much this. We had a sound guy try to sell us a digital mixer for our church but you pretty much need an ipad to use it. I cringed at that idea, because the entire sound board would be a paperweight the minute an OS update breaks the app for it and they no longer support it. I hate this whole deal with so many items depending on a phone. There's too many variables such as whether or not it's even going to be compatible with your particular phone/device, or how long it will be supported for etc. No thanks, I want a device that works on it's own, with actual physical buttons and knobs or at very least a self contained interface.

Was looking at drones for a while and it seems it's the same deal with those. Most of them require a phone.

Yea, I am not a fan of this either. I get that it can be nice to have the 'option', but that isn't the direction things are going. They are looking at it as a cost saving 'feature', with little care about the long term issues and completely removing the alternatives that make sense...mostly because they don't care, and want you to buy another one. Companies only care about short term now. With forced phone updates being crammed down our throats every other week I don't want anything that is solely ran by a phone.

 

[repoman0]

It'd be nice if the smart TV was so smart that you could downgrade the firmware back to the version that actually worked. BTW what model is it?

It's too smart -- it knows that means it would no longer be free to serve up ads and rake in more money for Samsung who already sold the TV. Can't serve up ads without an internet connection though.

The TV is this one, but all of their semi-recent TVs get similar firmware updates:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-UN55KU6300-55-Inch-Ultra-Smart/dp/B01E69WHP6

 

[mxnerd]

I don't want connected dishwasher.

I want a robotic chef.