this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2025
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"Alongside the jokes, the discovery prompted conversation around the trade-offs between privacy and convenience as our lives become increasingly connected with data and data collection."
What fucking convenience can come from a smart washer. Three settings and a bell. That's it. There is nothing an app can do that offsets the complication of having an app and more settings for a washing machine.
Here we go:
Speed
Temperature
Time
Ding
Nothing else. No other setting is necessary or convienient.
How the fuck are people falling for all this dumb shit.
"Oh the fridge texts me when I need milk". You're right opening the door was too difficult. Almost as difficult as remembering you finished the fucking milk. Better get a smart fridge.
"I can program and adjust the thermostat from my phone" thermostats have been programable for 30 years and didn't need the internet and an app to do it. Who adjusts the device so often they have to be able to do it on the fly from anywhere? The entire purpose of a thermostat is to adjust the tempurature AUTOMATICALLY SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO.
"I can turn on the oven before I'm home and read the tempurature from anywhere" was preheating time a major problem before? At least you have another reason to look at your phone while driving home. And by the way, my oven tells me the tempurature too. By beeping when it's at the tempurature I fucking set it to. I don't need to have a live feed, because if it's not exactly where I set it, it's fucking broken.
"I can control every light in the house from my phone." You don't need to control lights in rooms you aren't in. Just say you're too fucking lazy and the seven steps to the switch will wind you.
Smart appliances are the dumbest shit and you're dumb for buying them.
I have a cheap camera pointed at my washer and dryer. Not one that hits the cloud or anything, rtsp and some bridging.
All I want to know is when it's done. A notification would be cool but not at the expense of feeding the manufacturer's data set. It's too far away to hear the beep, doesn't carry past the top of the basement stairs.
But the main reason is because the countdown timer is a fucking liar. Washer runs way longer and dryer stops way earlier.
Machines with mechanical dials may be less efficient but at least they were predictable.
My washer is also a fucking liar. I consider that a sepparate issue though, which is every appliance sucks shit whether it's smart or not.
I don't have a solution for that one yet.