cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/37646129
Source: Reddit post— Private front-end.
Samsung Statement to Android Authority:
Samsung is committed to innovation and enhancing every day value for our home appliance customers. As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen that value, we are conducting a pilot program to offer promotions and curated advertisements on certain Samsung Family Hub refrigerator models in the U.S. market.
As a part of this pilot program, Family Hub refrigerators in the U.S. will receive an over-the-network (OTN) software update with Terms of Service (T&C) and Privacy Notice (PN). Advertising will appear on certain Family Hub refrigerator Cover Screens. The Cover Screen appears when a Family Hub screen is idle. Ad design format may change depending on Family Hub personalization options for the Cover Screen, and advertising will not appear when Cover Screen displays Art Mode or picture albums.
Advertisements can be dismissed on the Cover Screens where ads are shown, meaning that specific ads will not appear again during the campaign period.
Anyone who fell into the trap of buying a fridge with a screen in it kind of deserves this.
I hear what you are saying. But our society is pretty fucked up if you "deserve" something bad because you bought a product without imaging how the manufacturer can make it worse in the future.
The owners should be able to return the product if something like this happens, no matter how long ago they bought it.
Yes, some people think that naiveté is worse than malice or cruelty for sone reason...
Malice thieves on our naiveness.
Indeed, but it is more just and effective to stop malice before naiveness
We reached the point where companies do shitty things with all their digital services years ago. As long as it's not open source, you'll get shit "features". And even if it is open source, it can be reverted on a whim (hello bambulab).
Help! My spy machine is spying on me!
Yeah but imagine how cool stuff could be if companies didn't 100% of the time ruin their inventions
I don't disagree but what's also true is that some products are already as good as they can get and no longer need innovation. I know this is a bold claim but I'd argue that my dumb fridge without screen or internet connection keeps my food just as cool as the latest smart fridge.
I just saw a poster for a sort-of cool fridge innovation: It has a door-in-the-door that you can open to get out commonly used things without having to open the main door and let all the cold air out. It's called a "Conservadoor" refrigerator.
The kicker is that I saw this on Antiques Roadshow and it's from the 1950s.
I don't know why, but I remember seeing that somewhere, too. Fantastic idea. Ergonomic AND energy efficient. Though, I feel like adding in a mini door somewhat lowers the insulative abilities of the main door, so I'm not sure of the trade-off.
FWIW I don't think it's really all that energy-efficient. Air, being much less dense than solids, contains comparatively much less heat energy. The "cold" of a refrigerator is mostly stored in the things inside it, not in the air inside it, so letting all the cold air out to be replaced by warmer air does not have a huge effect on the overall temperature of the fridge. I think you're right that having a door which interferes with the insulating envelope is going to be worse than just opening the main door once in a while.
We need technology connections to make this experiment a reality
I'm a big fan of "make it actually better or leave it the fuck alone"
I literally can't imagine a box that makes things cold being made cooler by having a screen on it
"I can't see the value in this thing for myself, therefore it's stupid."
Some people use a whiteboard or notepad magnetically stuck to their fridge to keep track of things: shopping lists, to-dos, notes to other members of the household. Some people stick photos to their fridge. This has been a thing since John Fridgemagnet stuck the first magnetic plastic letter to his icebox in 1968.
Putting a screen in the fridge serves a similar purpose, with the added benefit of integration with modern online calendars, remote access to the whiteboard/notepad (in case you forgot the shopping list at home), it displays a rotating slideshow of photos, and adds things like weather and news reports that you can quickly check while you're grabbing the orange juice.
It's not a stupid idea for the people who would use that functionality, but the product itself becomes stupid when the company starts forcing ads into the system or intentionally hobbles the software that was available af time of purchase (yes, Samsung did that too).
I'd never buy another Samsung fridge, but only because the ice maker still doesn't work after three warranty replacements/upgrades to a "fixed" design. My family uses the screen feature all the time.
Aside: I really enjoyed your pun. 9.5/10
Yeah, but we do wildly inefficient stuff all the time
Right‽ Why the fuck would you buy a fridge with any more than a compressor and a fan?