Technology

So it's a billboard with a build in beer cooler?

No, won’t look like anything as I will never buy a product like that.

Never will I ever get an appliance that reports everything to the internet (advertisers) and forces ads into my home. Fuck them all, there is absolutely nothing they can offer that is worth the spying and intrusion.

Maybe we are all in the bad place.

Happy with my ad-free dumb fridge.

Let me know when the smart fridge can track when I'm low on essentials and toggle them unchecked on my shopping list, WITHOUT phoning home, and with no fucking ads. Don't need a screen either.

An old cooler with gas station ice is preferable to this bloated spy crap they're producing nowadays.

Unless you build it and code it yourself, do not get a smart device at any cost. Even if they're on sale for $5. (Unless you're just planning on reselling them I guess)

The irony of this article being paywalled is the chef’s kiss.

Cool, they're giving me a free $2,000 fridge? Because there's no way I'd have that fridge otherwise.

This is an amazing article. I'm serious. Very well written. This is my favorite part:

I asked Higby why they were bringing ads to the fridges. He said via email, “This pilot further explores how a connected appliance can deliver genuinely useful, contextual information. The refrigerator is already a daily hub, and we’re testing a responsible, user-controlled way to make that space more helpful.”

This is similar to the justification Panos Panay, Amazon’s head of Devices & Services, made to me last month when I asked him about advertising on its Echo devices. He said it was looking to be “elegantly elevating the information that a customer needs.”

Do these people actually believe this? Do they see advertisements in their own lives and think, "ah yes, that was useful and contextual. That was a helpful ad, elegantly elevating my information." I've seen some delusional people in executive-level roles, but that would be a special new class of delusion. Nobody likes ads. I recognize that some people have higher and lower tolerances for them, but nobody is actually grateful for them. Right?! I need to believe this is true.

Both companies claim they want to offer “curated,” “relevant” ads that might “enhance the experience.” I can buy that to some extent when it’s ads for features that your smart fridge or smart display offers. This tech is complicated and capable, and most people only tap into a fraction of what their devices can do.

That's generous. But ok, maybe I can grant the premise.

But there is no future where third-party advertisements will ever be welcome in people’s homes like this — even if they happen to show me a brand of pet food right when my dog is looking at me with hungry eyes.

Right. Exactly. No matter what, I can think of no situation in which an ad is serving the customer's interests. Maybe in the case of a coupon? But even then, I think it's dubious.

I believe I will continue to use the same fridge that has been in the house since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

I was ready gawk at what ads on my fridge would look like, and then this. I don't know what I expected.

Worth pointing out that that “Target figured out a girl was pregnant before her father did” story is almost certainly untrue: https://www.predictiveanalyticsworld.com/machinelearningtimes/target-really-predict-teens-pregnancy-inside-story/3566/

I agree with the article that getting ads on a device you’ve already paid for with no hint that there would be ads is intrusive and a sad sign of how tech is going (in the same week that it was announced that Apple are going to be adding ads to Maps, too). But I also can’t help but wonder - who the fuck wants a smart fridge? Like, legitimately, what is the advantage over a normal fridge?

Why. Why would anyone buy a fridge with a screen. We have lots of screens. A fridge does not need a screen. It is a fridge.