Get ready to see ads on your… Samsung refrigerator
Get ready to see ads on your… Samsung refrigerator
Samsung is rolling out an update to its refrigerators with displays that will enable them to show advertisements.
Only if you buy one.
The only smart feature a fridge needs is a beeper for when the door has been left open or water filter needs changing. It sure as heck doesn't need WiFi.
What it actually needs is a little motor to close itself. If it knows I left it open it should be capable to close itself instead of crying like a useless piece of junk.
Mine is so "smart" that it doesn't properly detect that it's open with a cm or so gap. At least it beeped furiously when it detected that the freezer section had a dangerously high temperature half a day later.
But how else will you know you need to make an unnecessary purchase?!
I used to work at a popular electrical retailer in the UK, and Samsung had come to our offices with some of their latest appliances, including a fridge freezer with a screen like this. They were trying to demonstrate the feature where you could look inside your fridge so you didn't need to open the door, amongst other things, but it was of course a horrible laggy mess. I told the rep that nobody is going to use this after the first time and it's just easier to open the door and look inside. You could tell he thought it was shit too but couldn't come out and say it, but his smirk said it all.
knowing samsung they prolly force retailers to have at least one of these things on display if u wanna sell samsung products
it was of course a horrible laggy mess.
So the freezer froze?
Windows exist
In classic fashion they're doing it in a way where you can choose to not have them by not using particular display options, so that they can say with a straight face that they're not forcing ads on you. Then once this bullshit is normalized and into everyone's homes, making it non-optional on all screens is a much smaller leap in comparison.
Who could have possibly seen this coming...
This was always the endgame of smart homes, creating continuous ad revenue from everything you own. It was never about consumer experience for big companies.
Gross, my fridge got hit with ransomware again and now all the food inside is encrypted. Time to see if my canned backups are any good.
...Where did I put those backups?
Wait a second... you're into something here. What if a fridge could lock and unlock sections by Face ID? It could make sure my kids aren't drinking my beer! Or eating my lunch for tomorrow. Or half a birthday cake. What if I could require my kids to grab an apple with a soda?
That would be kinda neat if I had money I couldn't think of a better use for.
...drinking my beer! Or eating my lunch for tomorrow. Or half a birthday cake.
Could've just said "eating my lunch", it's obviously a beer and half of a birthday cake.
Someone hacked my fridge and gave it a virus. I ate the food and got gastroenteritis.
The food encryption was unnecessary, I already got DDOS'd when my wife and kids got there first and ate all the cake Before I got home from work.
The FBI called to help, maybe they can sort things out for you too. Thought they'd be busy with other stuff right now but I guess they need these Apple gift cards to upgrade my security...
Get ready to buy good quality, inexpensive refrigerators, without tech connectivity. Automatically adding tech to everything, just because it is new and shiny, isn't always the right way to build your products. It sure fucked up the car industry.
Those will die off soon enough, through forced obsolescence and an inability to compete with ad-subsidised junk that spies on you.
On the plus side, considering the average lifespan of Samsung appliances, you probably won't have to put up with it for very long.
Who could have seen this coming!?
To enhance our service and offer additional content to our users, advertisements will be displayed on the Cover Screen for the Weather, Color, and Daily Board themes.
I really hope that Steam games don't head down this path over time. Internet-connected refrigerators I'm willing to avoid, but that's not the only vector for this sort of thing.
EDIT: And as has been pointed out on here before, some Internet-connected cars are starting to have updates to show ads on their UIs pushed out. Any time you've already spent the money and are kind of locked in and the manufacturer has Internet connectivity to the device and can update the thing subsequent to purchase, you're kind of in a bad position regarding leverage.
Valve, fortunately, has already codified a ban on advertisement in games sold and on the steam platform itself (The store page is curated by an algorithm fetching popular games or game genres desired by the player rather than advertisers) https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/advertising
Edit: There's an exception for cross promotions and in-world/in-universe assets (giving logos on a race car in a racing game as an example)
Ah, thanks! Well, that's one lone ray of light.
Oh god don’t tell them about ATMs.
They do have a screen and Internet connectivity, but I don't think that ATMs are actually a great route (unless they force people to stop and wait to get their money, which I don't think will fly and will cut into capacity). There isn't much eyeball time on them. The reason a car or a refrigerator works is because you're likely to be around it a lot.
I will say that the rise of gas pumps at gas stations that play back advertisements is pretty obnoxious, though.
Well fine. No smart refrigerator then.
Btw, you could also just slap a tablet on any fridge.
I'm more than ready. I'm so ready that won't ever buy a refrigerator with an internet connection in my life
Show me an ad in my own kitchen and that screen is going to be broken.
I moved to Germany. It's been an experience because the tech status dialed back about 15 years. One area I don't miss is the ever pervasive drive to have screens with ads on every surface.
I've been hearing about how shitty Samsung appliances are since 2018.
Who is buying these?
Enshittification, in my kitchen?!
You have to be pretty naive to not have seen this one coming from a mile off. But hey, at least people can see what's in their fridge without having to open the door, what a luxury.
Samsung makes shit appliances that are particularly non-repairable anyway.
Whoever bought a smart fridge deserves watching those ads
I mean, nobody REALLY deserves it. Driving consumerism seems misanthropic. Marketing and Sales people feel like a drain on society. Anyone is welcome to change my opinion. Sell me this pen.
Sell me this pen.
Here WE have our latest advancements in manufacturing pens all combined in this new masterpiece. Made from the highest quality materials we could find this pen is made for those who need equipment capable of withstanding all weather conditions. This pen is not for those who worry about getting their hands dirty, its made for the explorers of our world, those who have a desire to advance humanity and are not afraid to go through hell for it and their mission should not fail because of some bad quality products. For just 10.99€ you too can become part of our global movement to advance humanity beyond its limits.
Writing this felt horrible.
To be honest, I'd judge people who have fridges with a screen. Completely unnecessary. This problem is easily solved.
People that need to buy the newest, biggest, most expensive shit out of vanity always get judged. Just not the way they'd like.
Much better than my current Samsung fridge where that obnoxious Samsung rep has to come every week to plaster a new ad on the door. At least it won't leave glue all over the floor.
What?
Yeah, there's no way I'm buying an internet connected fridge with a giant screen.
Sammobile apparently has 1660 "partners", the fuck?
I do not understand people. Why did you need a fridge with a display in the first place?
I'm finally sure my fridge predates the internet it came with the house and cost £50 I have zero interest in replacing it what does having a display give me?
Frankly if you're buying these fridges you're part of the problem, of course they're going to put advertisements on it, what else are they going to put on it. You all damn well know you don't use the display anyway.
It will break much faster which is great for the economy
Just in this thread to say Fuck Samsung
Suck Famsung
The good news is that it's going to break soon anyway and you'll have to buy another. Maybe try one without a screen on it.
So this reinforcers my policy of not buying Samsung. They really do just retroactively add ads to every product with a screen.
I don't mind smart products, though I'm not sure what problem is solved by a screen on a fridge. That said, I do hate it when these devices need to rely on the cloud to function, and Ads I can't tolerate--I usually try to block the DNS address for things that like to spy on me or show me ads.
This sort of stuff damages the Samsung as a brand. It makes me unlikely to consider Samsung for other products like TVs.
Hahaha. Who would pay so much for a smart fridge. In the words of Gilfoyle, all it needs to do is keep my fucking beer cold.
Honestly, it doesn't cost much more than fridge without a screen. I was trying to buy an LG with the window that you can knock on to see inside (not screen) but it was out of stock... and ended up with one of these fridges. The software is stupid though, I use it to play music sometimes when I'm cooking. It has some menu options for controlling the fridge too. I would love to load up custom ROM though... What annoys me the most is lack of RTC battery, because the time resets whenever there's a power outage.
But, can it play Doom?
First world problems
Don't buy dumb smart home devices or you get exactly what you deserve.
Oh fuck no.
Lololololololilolololololollol
I could have sworn this was already the case.
nope.
Why would your refrigerator have a screen?
Why would you buy such a refrigerator?
I recall the hype was to keep track of groceries or some such gimmick. I feel it to be unnecessary tech. How convenient that it shows ads. In any case, do not buy a Samsung appliance. They are total shite and will break down on you. Fridges, washing machines, dishwashers. All garbage. The televisions are fine.
Their TVs suck too. The remotes barely respond and they’re bogged down with ad-riddled garbage to the point I had to set up a parental lock just so I wasn’t force-fed trashy, outdated reality TV at 300 decibels when I power the damn thing on. Or worse, when the power goes out and it decides to blast at 3 AM. Unfortunately I didn’t make the choice to buy this thing.
Their phones are also locked down proprietary horse arse. I don’t understand the people who repeatedly pick the brand, but oh well.
To keep track of groceries? Just I don't know, LOOK inside the fridge. Oh the cabinets and drawers don't have screens, just slap a few of them on there to keep track of that shit too! Why stop at the fridge?
I'm not a huge fan of my Samsun monitor either actually. There's a lot of stuff in there that I don't want or use, and most of what is in there feels pretty half-assed. Will definitely be trying another brand when it comes to replace it.
Agreed. Bought a washer/dryer set and the washer literally shit out in a year, with repairs costing as much as the purchase. Fuck them.
Any company that pushes this shit doesn't deserve your money. Don't buy their TVs.
Most of my groceries are in the pantry not the fridge. This tech was always for people who have a kitchen that is for show and never used.
I'm not against my refrigerator having a screen that I can control
But why have a screen at all?
I would love a monitor on my fridge (it'd be better than most of the dusty old shit on mine right now. ) But I would want to have complete control of the hardware attached to that screen
I hope a DIY mod community springs up to help people take back the machines they own.
Yeah a small screen showing time, day, weather, moon phase, sunrise/set, moonrise/set and daily/weekly schedule would be awesome. I have friends who keep a weekly meal/social schedule on their fridge and when I was staying with them mid move it was really convenient to have what's going on so prominently displayed
I haven't been able to get home assistant working but I imagine it has something for home displays like that with a fair amount of customizability
Ads and the news are two things I absolutely don't want on my refrigerator. This is a large eye level object in the room that days begin in. They're putting ads there because they know its a really convenient place to display useful information.
Why do gas pumps have screens?
Everyone should know this. Share it.
To display ads.
Especially lately. The screens used to just be for controlling the pump or letting the station show a silent ad or two for products in their convenience store. Or community ads.
NOW THEY BLARE RANDOM ADS AS YOU GAS UP YOUR VEHICLE.
It's bliss after hours when the gas station is about to close and the ads stop. You can pump up in peace. Although when the ads crash the pump, have fun paying for gas.
Only in banana republic would customer be less valuable than ad revenue
Normal ones, yes, even 3rd world countries:
have counters only (minimalism).
This is actually why I got a Costco membership. 90% of gas stations in my city have a TV screen now and fuck that noise.
"because I'm a dumbass"
"because I'm a dumbass"
--dumbass
So you can see the inside of your fridge while never seeing the inside of your fridge. /s
Well I suppose that would be sort of a useful feature especially if you could access the camera remotely while shopping but if you think about it that camera angle is impossible.
Just open the fucking door.