Grill, Dehumidifier, Air con, Fridge, Dishwasher, Washing Machine, Lightbulbs, Ovens, Doorknob…
None of that should be smarter than “press button, get action”.
I once wondered why the fuck an oven should need WiFi.
Then last week I was stuck in a traffic jam coming home from work, and took 2 hrs to do what should’ve been a 1 hr drive. (45km distance)
Then I had to make dinner, and I had such little time to have dinner, clean up from dinner, shower, walk the dog, and settle down for bed for work in the morning, I was angrily wishing I could preheat the oven while I was on my way home from work. That’s when I realized the reason for a WiFi oven.
Also, being able to say “hey Google lights out” when I’m tired as fuck about to go to bed and the light switch is on the other side of the room opposite direction from the bedroom, is nice too.
Actually, as someone who has little free time when not stuck at work or in traffic, I’m probably more likely than the average person to appreciate things having wifi.
Doorknobs though, I’ll draw the line there so we can both at least agree on something together
Or we could just have better wages and shorter work weeks.
A lot harder to buy that at the store unfortunately.
Reliable public transportation that doesn’t cause or get stuck in traffic jams, also.
I’m worried about anything that can be controlled through a third-party online service. The amazon doorbell thing is a prime example of what can go wrong, but it can be more subtle, too. And I’m not even talking about obsolescence. Frankly, I’d still be worried if it was a self-hosted, properly configured system where I’m the only one with a legit access.
I understand the convenience of all this. I also have to deal with the risk balance of security vs convenience, which causes me to not tolerate that “too tired to go across the room” justifies “a third party have full control over my doors, lights, heating, ovens, etc.” (not shooting fire at you, see this as a generic example).
The bare minimum would be a fully self-hosted solution, which is possible, although difficult because hardware manufacturers don’t always play nice. And even then, proper, secure setup and maintenance is not for everyone. In the meantime, yeah, I’ll have to move myself when I want to turn on my dishwasher.
Though I’ll admit, I have some lights that are controlled wirelessly… my old phone have an IR port, and they have IR remotes… Technically, an attacker could probably turn them on/off/change colors from behind a window :D
Yeah, like Idek how I would self host any of my gear, beside running it through my NAS, which also runs with its own software, which is no different than running stuff through the apps they came with. If I knew how to program stuff myself, and had the fuck around time to do it, I would.
So for now I’m just living with the easy option of using my roomba, and my cameras with the apps they came with
I was angrily wishing I could preheat the oven while I was on my way home from work. That’s when I realized the reason for a WiFi oven.
Maybe a better oven is better than wifi. It only takes my oven a few minutes to get up to temp.
I come home, turn it on, fiddle with “getting home shit”, and by the time I’m done it’s ready to go. No wifi needed.
Rental. I’ve got no choice than to use the shitty Samsung crap they put in these apartments, which you have to set 25 degrees higher than all the cooking instructions in the world say to, and it still takes 50% longer to cook than it says.
Besides, electric ovens always take FOR EVER to preheat no matter what
Connected HVAC can be pretty damn great depending on your house. It’s changed my energy usage a lot, and I like being able to adjust temps without walking downstairs in the middle of the night. Although having your thermostat lose cloud support ever 10-15 years is pretty shitty.
Connected doors are also great for handing out virtual keys and ensuring that stuff is shut and locked when you’re away.
The Honeywell thermostats support z-wave. So no cloud shenanigans.
I ended up going down the matter, home assistant, HomeKit route so I have some options for local network control.
That’s primarily what I seek out, but my rental has the Honeywell.
Have you found a decent matter thermostat? I’d love to get one when I get a house
If you are into that: then tplink kasa switches and plugs can be reconfigured via hs100 app on git hub, so that they only look local and don’t try to reach out to a remote server. You can use the app to connect them to your local WiFi. Then you can control them via home assistant locally (or remotely) and not rely on a corporate server and android app for use
I actually have a few of the Matter supported Kasa smart switches.
They work incredibly well, but they still haven’t been updated to Matter 1.3 so no power consumption statistics in Home Assistant.
I’m warry of electronic, wireless, and sometimes third-party cloud dependent services, having a say in how I lock my doors or control heating.
I’m a bit old fashioned, but also have to work with solutions where considering the consequences of a compromised entry point is vital. I’d be ok with a way to check that the door is locked, but something that can lock (and, so, unlock) my door remotely? Not a chance. At least, not for a place a value.
Re the locks - my general thought is that if you really want to get into my house, you’re going to get into my house. A rock or brick is very effective.
Locks just lower the potential for easy crimes of opportunity.
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PLEASE tell me you sent this message via smoke signals.
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Convenience. You can start it and keep an eye on it without even having to go out to the grill.
Why does a grill need a screen and buttons? Maybe I’m living in the stone age, but what I call grilling involves putting charcoal to a flame.
It’s a smoker, with a port for a temp probe in the meat.
When you smoke something for 10-12 hours it’s nice to get temp readings from wherever. It might also have automatic control for temperature management.
Why that needs to be connected to the internet is an entirely different matter though.
So you can get updates while you are at work.
That’s a pretty basic program with simple software needs.
If the programming is such shit there is a chance they need connectivity to update it or patch the code once it’s gone into production, it might be best to look into another product.
When you want to intergrate your smoker into homeassitant so you can adjust it from the office.
It’s a smoker add on. I’d assume so you can adjust the temperature without actually opening it.
Iirc, these grills are wifi connected so you can remotely monitor and control temperature. Makes sense if you are bbqing something that is gonna be in there for 12 hours. But then, you kind of lose one of the benefits of bbqing - sitting next to a grill and drinking beer with your friends for 12 hours.
For this you could have a timer on the thing you set when you start it up and can then walk away from. You don’t need the damn net to have a clock in the appliance.
I mean, I personally am not going to buy one. But if someone was adamant that this would measurably improve their life, who am I to contradict them?
Yes, and doors should be as simple as this
oh, wait…
Probably a security update to try and keep it from being part of a botnet maybe? What would work better though is never connecting it to a network or even better, just don’t make it smart for no dam reason, lol.
Probably a security update to try and keep it from being part of a botnet maybe?
Then we’re back to the same question. At what point a grill have anything that could be part of a botnet :D
Anything with a network connection (unfortunately).
I have a friend who’s really big in to smoking meats for hours and hours and days at a time. He loves this kind of thing because he can monitor the smoker without physically being in front of it.
I think he’s crazy af for involving the damned internet in it but I guess it is what it is when you’re “cooking” something for 9 hours.
I love my charcoal grill
Fuck yes! Let 'em try to figure out how to require internet connectivity for lighting shit on fucking FIRE.🔥🖕🏻
With cooking normal beats all.
Gas, coal > electric shit
eh, induction stoves are nice.
Ovens?
It’s my oven and I’ll put my head in it if I want to
I have a Christmas tree with built-in LED lights where I can change their colors and make patterns and animations. Every year I get it out I have to do a firmware update on my Christmas tree before I can use it 😂
If they are WiFi controlled that’s actually a good thing, as it sounds like the manufacturer is still supporting it & hopefully updating it to prevent security issues & hacks!
But this is also why I personally try not to buy WiFi enabled gadgets unless it really needs to be remotely accessible.
But supposed they invented a whole new kind of meat and your grill wasn’t ready to deal with it? How would you feel then? Pretty darn silly, that’s how!
The nosy kind. Seriously though, I’ll stick with my old obsolete brinkmann
poor baby. who grills out on thanksgiving? also my charcoal grill never does this
It’s very possible, dare I say preferred, to have a traditional Thanksgiving spread getting made in the kitchen while someone grills up some veggies.
My dad’s gas grill doesn’t do this either. Sometimes the boomer inability to understand technology is a blessing. Now if only he’d stop downloading sketchy slots games and getting viruses…
Now it can run Crysis
Looks like it is a crysis already.
the hazards of living in the burbclaves
Forwarded this to someone at Traeger. Will let you know if I hear back 🙂
