[Technology] "I don’t want to connect my coffee machine to the wifi network"

[Shropshire Seagull]

I have Hive and Ring which I find very useful.

Ring is interesting, I would guess about 90% of delivery drivers won't press the Ring, just knock the door. Can only assume they don't want to waste time having a conversation with someone who's not home?

Hive is brill for controlling hot water / heating and sockets on timers, either from home or out and about. Put the heating on 30 mins before you get home. No need to adjust the time twice a year either for BST / GMT. The schedule timer for sockets can use sunset times which is ideal for lamps and the daily change though the year this entails.

Can't see the usefulness for dishwasher, cooker or washing machine myself.

 

[Charles 'Charley' Charles]

Haha. Indeed.

Don't get me started on the new A/C heating touchscreen/sensitive controls either

 

[jcdenton08]

In truth, the reason why dishwashers - to take one example - have wifi functionality is because the perceived added value far outweighs the cost of manufacture.

Let’s say you have two new identical models on release, but one has wifi.

You can uplift that model by 20% in price from the previous model to reflect the “modern features”, with a 5% manufacturing cost difference. It’s a 15% margin for a feature few people actually want. You make more money per unit.

Decide you don’t need the wifi? No problem, here’s an identical cheaper model without wifi for 10% less cost. Which is still 10% more expensive than the previous model’s release.

It’s as old as the hills this one.

 

[CheeseRolls]

Interesting rant(s) - I am not particularly bothered about passwords. If you have a decent password manager and you should have, this is manageable. The one exception is those see you next Tuesday parking apps. My mobile phone number is NOT a username you idiots and no I haven't forgotten my password, you have just changed you app since the last time I used it and it is still relly shit and incovenient.

I have loads of Internet conected devices at home and these are generally very useful. Washing Machine, not just cycle finish, but custom downloadable washes such as anti-crease, sportswear, denim. Dishwasher reminder to top up the rinse aid and salt, if someone has forgotten, oven turn on and off if out. Somethings on apps are easier, so setting up the coffee machine for a different type of bean, or getting recommedned oven settings for a particular dish. I could go on. What I do have is a separate WifI network for all this stuff, so that it is segregated from my work network.

Where I do draw the line and agree with the op is around subscription services. You pay a fortune for a particular device whether it is a smart watch, smart speakers or indeed a host of other gubbins and they then want you to pay monthly for premium services. The value of a virtual californian fitness coach whooping and a hollering encouragement to me to exercise more is not a positive number.

I am looking at Car cameras at the moment and one particular option is about £500 for front and rear cameras and about the same annually to store your recording in the cloud. This is just bloody greedy, although I am sure some will pay out for the convenience, just not me.

 

[Arthur]

I have Hive and Ring which I find very useful.

Ring is interesting, I would guess about 90% of delivery drivers won't press the Ring, just knock the door. Can only assume they don't want to waste time having a conversation with someone who's not home?

Hive is brill for controlling hot water / heating and sockets on timers, either from home or out and about. Put the heating on 30 mins before you get home. No need to adjust the time twice a year either for BST / GMT. The schedule timer for sockets can use sunset times which is ideal for lamps and the daily change though the year this entails.

Can't see the usefulness for dishwasher, cooker or washing machine myself.

Ditto and agree with everything you say....apart from the cooker bit. My pal rings his kids just as he's about to leave the pub to put the oven on to warm up. I would use it if I had a smart cooker. Sadly they are mind blowingly expensive at the moment

I'll also add Phillips Hue and Blink to the list. I use Blink to keep an eye on my dogs to see what they are up to and Hue is handy for putting the lights on so they aren't sitting in the dark and more importantly it makes it look like someone is home.

As for the original rant disagree 100000% about the adding a teams (or google meet in my case) meeting to the meeting invite. The amount of times I and many of my colleagues have added a meeting and forgot to add a call is a lot. We now have it set as default.

 

[Change at Barnham]

I think I'm going to tell my wife that when I die to get the secateurs and chop off my finger so she can easily get access to my laptop when ever needed to sort all my shit out.

 

[Change at Barnham]

Recently I walked out of the Amex with my mate who was doing something on his mobile.
By the time we got back to the Uni car park about 10 mins later, his Honda SUV engine was running, the heaters were on and off we drove in a warm and cozy car.
I somehow doubt this is very good for the environment.

If everyone did this it would be chaos. I'm surprised it's allowed.

 

[CheeseRolls]

Ditto and agree with everything you say....apart from the cooker bit. My pal rings his kids just as he's about to leave the pub to put the oven on to warm up. I would use it if I had a smart cooker. Sadly they are mind blowingly expensive at the moment

I'll also add Phillips Hue and Blink to the list. I use Blink to keep an eye on my dogs to see what they are up to and Hue is handy for putting the lights on so they aren't sitting in the dark and more importantly it makes it look like someone is home.

As for the original rant disagree 100000% about the adding a teams (or google meet in my case) meeting to the meeting invite. The amount of times I and many of my colleagues have added a meeting and forgot to add a call is a lot. We now have it set as default.

Had a recent one, where a colleague sent out an invite to a candidate for me to interview them. Outlook had added what appeared to be the CVs of all of the other candidates as attachments. It turns out this was a Co-Pilot suggestion, only visible internally highlighting what it thought might be relevant files. I tracked down this new feature and hit it hard with a sledgehammer. There are a million and one shitty things Microsoft could improve in Outlook, without layering more useless crap on top.

 

[maltaseagull]

Ah, good old fashioned technology!

So, does it have a parallel port, or just a serial connection?

Hot water, cold water, AND a plug!!

 

[Fungus]

Hot water, cold water, AND a plug!!

Well, that beats my dishwasher… cold water only, no hot and no plug.

 

[trueblue]

Don't get me started on the new A/C heating touchscreen/sensitive controls either

Definitely a retrograde step!

 

[Blues Guitarist]

I thought this would resonate with a few folk on here...

(You need to read the whole thing)

So - you don't like the interweb thingy, and you login to an online social media platform to make the point.

 

[Wozza]

So - you don't like the interweb thingy, and you login to an online social media platform to make the point.

What did you expect him to do? Write in to Readers Digest?

 

[Bry Nylon]

What happens when your fridge is 10 years old and no longer receiving firmware

Trying not to worry unduly about it. My impulse purchase of a bottle of Yazoo banana milkshake will still have 3 months left on it.

 

[Winker]

Cookers, washing machines, dishwashers, is no-one else married?

If I have to have a password of eight characters I go with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

 

[jcdenton08]

In truth, the reason why dishwashers - to take one example - have wifi functionality is because the perceived added value far outweighs the cost of manufacture.

Let’s say you have two new identical models on release, but one has wifi.

You can uplift that model by 20% in price from the previous model to reflect the “modern features”, with a 5% manufacturing cost difference. It’s a 15% margin for a feature few people actually want. You make more money per unit.

Decide you don’t need the wifi? No problem, here’s an identical cheaper model without wifi for 10% less cost. Which is still 10% more expensive than the previous model’s release.

It’s as old as the hills this one.

Actually I just copied this into ChatGPT asking for a business term for what I’m describing.

 

[Official Old Man]

I love gadgets.
Best I purchased (was free after a review) was a fridge camera. You show it a product and it remembers it and you simply then tell it what the product is or it reads barcodes. It then takes a picture when you open and close the door. Any item removed is added to the Tesco shoping list. You can also check the latest picture to see the contents of your fridge.
It lasted a week before it fell off and broke.

Thanks for the and here is the gadget

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Smarter-SFC01-FridgeCam-White/dp/B07JNYYCG2

 

[Official Old Man]

Recently I walked out of the Amex with my mate who was doing something on his mobile.
By the time we got back to the Uni car park about 10 mins later, his Honda SUV engine was running, the heaters were on and off we drove in a warm and cozy car.
I somehow doubt this is very good for the environment.

If everyone did this it would be chaos. I'm surprised it's allowed.

Reminds me to leave early Friday night and look for a car with its engine running, free lift home.
Just a side note though, it's illegal in Brighton to leave a car engine running when stationary, but I'm presuming it's electric. Can he not program it to come and pick him up?

 

[Change at Barnham]

Reminds me to leave early Friday night and look for a car with its engine running, free lift home.
Just a side note though, it's illegal in Brighton to leave a car engine running when stationary, but I'm presuming it's electric. Can he not program it to come and pick him up?

Is it a local bye-law in Brighton not to allow a car to have the engine running when stationary or is it a national law?

 

[Official Old Man]

Is it a local bye-law in Brighton not to allow a car to have the engine running when stationary or is it a national law?

bye-law. Buses and Taxis exempt along with waiting at traffic lights. But stopping at the side of the road requires you to turn off the engine.

Brighton and Hove: Motorists face fines of up to £40 for 'engine idling'

Brighton & Hove City Council says the £40 fines will be reduced to £20 if paid within 10 days.

www.bbc.co.uk