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by andrewia 1249 days ago
Thinking in terms of the average consumer, I think cybersecurity isn't a major concern, but the hassle of setup is. Most people expect an appliance to do its job with minimal fuss. (This can lead to problems, like how car owners can ignore oil change reminders and disable lane keep assist.) But in general simplicity is a good thing - it reduces the mental overhead needed for home life.

For appliance makers, they need to have a better selling point for connectivity. Only a few appliances benefit from automation and remote commands (like thermostats and some light fixtures). Other appliances, like ovens and clothes washers, require physical presence at the start of the cycle, have a predictable runtime, have simple interfaces, and can't predict failures (due to a lack of sensors and cost of further firmware development). So connectivity isn't beneficial.
4 comments
phpisthebest 1249 days ago
The pain setup is a long term play.

If you already have a GE Washing Machine, with an account when you go to replace your Fringe you will be more prone to buy a GE Fridge so you do not have to setup a Samsung or LG or Whirlpool account...

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IMSAI8080 1249 days ago
I bought a smart tumble drier but never connected it. For me it was a combination of factors.

The smarts doesn't really do a lot for me. My house isn't that big, I can hear when it's done because it stops rumbling in the distance. Getting a notification on my phone isn't very useful.

It was offputting that it needs an app, and the app was rated 1 star on the play store. Do I want that on my phone? I didn't look into why it was rated like that.

Then I started wondering about exactly what Chinese data centre either the drier or the app connects to and decided I didn't need a smart tumbler drier. Not enough in it for me to risk whatever problems it may bring.

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cwkoss 1249 days ago
Appliances that ever need to grant privileged access to an external party (ex. manufacturer webserver or support) should have a physical switch for disabling that capability.
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dontlaugh 1249 days ago
Lane keep assist is deadly on imperfect roads, even. It should be possible to permanently disable it.
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