• nucleative@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Solution in search of a problem.

    I guess a mobile alert that lets you know the cycle is finished could be handy? Ability to schedule a load to start later? Maybe a maintenance or problem alert? Depleted detergent and fabric softener reservoir?

    Possibly an energy usage chart for the nerds out there who like that kind of thing?

    But damn, all of that shouldn’t need more than a few kb a day max.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I always thought a simple analog speaker output could solve most of those. Let us string a wire to a remote speaker nearer to where we’re likely to be

    • Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de
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      10 months ago

      For most of these events an internet connection isn’t necessary at all.

      My machine shows the time that is needed for the program when I start it. I know when it will be finished right from the beginning. There’s no surprise, no message necessary. If I tend to forget the time, then I can set a reminder in my smartphone.

      I can program the machine while I load it to start the washing later. Why load the machine but then program it from a distance? Makes no sense.

      Detergent is filled in before each washing cycle. There’s nothing to be depleted.

      A maintenance or problem alert would be the only thing that could be worth a message function. But: My machine works without problems for 15 years now. So: what should it be messaging me? We can really live better without these useless electronics that only push up the price and the distraction.

  • Etterra@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Now the Chinese government knows exactly how many socks have gone missing, but no it won’t tell you where they all went.

  • stoly@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I dunno, isn’t the homeowner an idiot for putting a smart washer on WiFi in the first place? We don’t need smart devices, they aren’t making our lives better.

    • MyNamesNotRobert@lemmynsfw.com
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      10 months ago

      To the average person, putting that much thought and effort into it is for elite hackers only. I know a guy that does cybersecurity and still has smart everything in his house.

        • Pennomi@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Anyone I know who’s actually deep into cybersecurity avoids extra devices, including smartphones. If you’re not hyper paranoid, you’ve missed the majority of what the nation states are up to.

        • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Or they run everything locally or on a subnet without Internet. It’s very possible to have a smart house that doesn’t rely on the Internet and does everything locally.

          It takes more work, but it’s definitely worth it.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    10 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    A tech-savvy San Francisco resident has sparked conversation online after he shared a perplexing discovery about his LG washing machine’s seemingly voracious appetite for data on X (formerly Twitter).

    The connection to a Wi-Fi network allows the user to operate functions from a smartphone, download additional wash programs, and receive alerts when a load is complete.

    Results found that smart washing machines are collecting a significant amount of user data, including personal information such as date of birth, location, and even access to photos.

    article said that LG washing machines require users to provide their date of birth to use the associated app, while Samsung and Miele request access to photos and location data.

    Lee is keen to embrace technological advances in everyday life but was baffled by the behavior of the washing machine and shared what he had found on X, hoping to prompt a laugh or two with his followers.

    The unexpected attention prompted a wave of reactions and jokes, touching on issues including AI, bitcoin, privacy, downloadable content (DLC), and the ever-growing impact of technology on our lives.


    The original article contains 553 words, the summary contains 181 words. Saved 67%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • sgh@lemmy.ml
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    10 months ago

    These old posts really get me mad.

    Not only this is three months old, it’s three months old and has since been debunked, but no mention of such a debunk is ever mentioned in these old ass articles.

    This was an ASUS router misreporting data usage.

    The washing machine was barely using 1MB.

    Nonetheless, since these shitty websites only rely on dumping out clickbaity content, they obviously never bother to update their contents with a boring ass truth, thus 95% of the readers here aren’t aware about what was really going on here.

    https://m.slashdot.org/story/423831

    https://twitter.com/Johnie/status/1745194782463508672

  • njm1314@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    You already have a phone in your hand just put an alarm on there. There are you eliminated the supposed use of internet on a washer.

      • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        10 months ago

        my personal favorite is the part where the washer/dryer is noisy. And you can just hear it not running, and then remember to not forgor about it.

    • tiredofsametab@kbin.run
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      10 months ago
      1. I rarely carry my phone at home unless I’m also going to be outside.
      2. Washer can be variable on time and such (and mine’s not even an IoT/“smart” one)
        • tiredofsametab@kbin.run
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          10 months ago

          My phone can send alerts to my watch up to like 30m away, so I would still get notifications anywhere inside and many places outside my house.

            • tiredofsametab@kbin.run
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              10 months ago

              Not that I’ve found, actually. Certainly not on any that I set by default. Also, if I don’t know how long the washer will run, I can’t just set an alarm for it, now can I?

    • rbn@sopuli.xyz
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      10 months ago
      1. Newer washing machines vary in time depending on how dirty your clothes are. So the same program may take 50 minutes or 90 minutes. This cannot be solved with a regular timer.

      2. If you have a job with varying hours, you might want to start the washing mashine when you’re heading home. Then you’re clothes are ready to be hung as you arrive and they aren’t laying around for hours.

      3. If you own photovoltaic, you might want to time energy intense home appliances such as washing machines, dish washers etc. to a period of overproduction.

      Not saying, these issues are super important but there definitely are use cases for smart devices. However, I’d always recommend using a local / self-hosted rather than a cloud-based solution.

        • rbn@sopuli.xyz
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          10 months ago

          Not a washing machine technician but I guess an optical sensor measuring the light permeability of the water (over time) should do the trick. Similar to a smoke detector. But I guess weight is a thing as well.

      • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I just want a washer that can work with the water softener to determine if there’s enough soft water for a load or if it should request the softener regenerate first. So the smart home I’d like to have is one where sometimes it will advise against doing laundry until I’ve acquired more salt. All without any data leaving my home network, and if I’m accessing it remotely, it’s by accessing my home server without any other computer needing to be involved.

        • 4am@lemm.ee
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          10 months ago

          If smart options were actually smart you could do that.

          With the right devices I’m certain this can be done with HomeAssistant, but everyone who makes these appliances wants to wall you into their cloud ecosystem and harvest your activity data.

  • servobobo@feddit.nl
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    10 months ago

    Botnet node? 3GB sounds excessive even for a company that’s notoriously invasive.

    • racemaniac@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      10 months ago

      As someone else already posted, the 3GB was incorrect, it was a router reporting incorrect traffic.

      But that doesn’t seem to stop everyone here from continuing to post how the thing that didn’t happen in the first place is ridiculous…

    • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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      10 months ago

      I’m sure this got posted before and the most likely reason was that it was downloading some sort of update and failing to apply it repeatedly.

  • silliewous@feddit.nl
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    10 months ago

    At this point I suspect that washing machine vendors are running botnets themselves. People won’t care anyway what happens with their appliances without consent anyway.

  • wahming@monyet.cc
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    10 months ago

    This nonsense keeps getting reposted, when it was discovered previously it was a router reporting error

  • mectag@feddit.de
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    10 months ago

    When your washing machine tries to download Baldurs Gate 3 because it’s bored too